A Business Made Of Stone
Photo/Livia Gershon
P. Kevin Condron, chairman and CEO,
The Granite Group
P. Kevin Condron seems to be involved in just about every corner of the Worcester business community. The CEO of The Granite Group Wholesalers LLC, he’s also a director of The Hanover Insurance Group and TD Banknorth Inc. He’s a former chair of the Worcester Redevelopment Authority, the Worcester Area Chamber of Commerce, Safety Fund National Bank and the Worcester Business Development Corp. He also serves on the board of Catholic Charities, and, just recently, he was elected chairman of the board for The College of the Holy Cross, his alma mater.
>> How is the downturn in the construction market affecting The Granite Group?
We feel it, particularly the residential side of our business. The commercial side of the business has been pretty brisk. So all in all it hasn’t been bad.
>> You have stores all over New England. Any plans to expand beyond this area?
We do have plans to go beyond that, but it’s a delicate balance. We try to grow when the opportunity presents itself. In a business you’re either growing or you’re dying. You can’t stand still. We’d like to grow it outside New England if we could, and we will in time.
>> But you don’t have any immediate plans for expansion?
Most of what we’ve done has been by acquisition and those are just opportunistic moments in time that you come upon and you have to take advantage of them
>> Do you have any particular goals for your term as chairman of the Holy Cross board?
During that six years it’s likely that there will be a transition in the presidency. It’s likely that there will be another capital campaign. Those would be the two overriding things that I’ll deal with in the next six years.
>> Holy Cross seems to inspire strong involvement from its alumni. Why do you think that is?
It certainly was true with me. I came to Worcester to go to Holy Cross. That’s how I got here. It was a transforming event in my life. I think there are a lot of people who feel that way and who feel connected to the college and feel proud of the college. And so they’re passionate about their support of the school.
>> Why are you involved in so many Worcester organizations?
I never sought any of it. I’ve always felt that whatever you do, you want to do it better than anyone else ever did it. And when an opportunity comes along, you want to do it and do it better than anybody else did it. That’s how you end up having people ask you to be chair of the chamber of commerce or chair of the WBDC or chair of the Worcester Redevelopment Authority.
>> And how did you end up where you are with your business?
When I got out of Holy Cross I taught school for a while and then I went to work on Wall Street. In 1972, my father in law and I purchased Central Supply. It was a $2 million sales organization that had multiple owners and had not grown for 10 years. Through the ‘70s I just went about learning the business. And then I kind of focused on growing the business. Now we’re 26 branches and $160 million in sales.
>> Worcester has a reputation as a city with a bit of a small-town feel. Do you feel like you see the same faces over and over again working with Worcester institutions?
Among the leadership in the business community you see the same faces because it’s relatively small and active.
>> Are there new people coming up to take on those kinds of leadership roles?
I see some of that, although it’s different. What existed when I first came to town, the large corporations, Norton Co., Wyman Gordon, probably 10 different banks, they’re all gone now. So it’s different. So you see people coming in through those entities, younger people, and stepping forward.
This interview was conducted and edited for length by Livia Gershon.
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