Jennifer Keida, Standard Heating, Cooling, and Insulating

*Note: The following text is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

Bill Berthel: Joining me today is Jen Keida. She’s the CEO of Standard, Heating, Cooling and Insulation, right here in Marcy, New York. We’re gonna take an amazing drive through Utica. I haven’t been to Utica in years. A really great conversation about her leadership and what really drives her to lead an amazing organization in central New York. Come on. It’s gonna be fun. Yeah. So, tell me a little bit about how the business started and how you became, leadership of this.

Jen Keida: How much time do we have?

Bill Berthel: We have time. We have time.

Jen Keida: Well, the Standard Insulating has been around since 1928, so well, before my parents got involved in it. And my, parents both graduated from Mount Markham. And, my father went into construction, but down in Florida. And then very quickly they learned that they were pregnant with me. I’m the oldest of four daughters. And so, with the encouragement of my grandparents, they moved back to New York. And my father took two jobs. One was pumping gas, and one was, filling hopper for an insulation company. And at the time, it was just one truck.

Bill Berthel: Yeah. Yeah. Just doing the installation work.

Jen Keida: Yep. Just doing the installation work. He did that for seven years.

Bill Berthel: Wow.

Jen Keida: And the owner at the time, Henry, fell ill and didn’t have an exit plan or, you know, a legacy. So, my grandparents lent my mother and father the money, and they bought Standard Insulating, which at the time was a used truck and a used piece of equipment. and they moved it into our home in West Winfield.

Bill Berthel: Wow.

Jen Keida: Quite honestly, I ran away from it. It was one of those things that it was, ah, overwhelming at home. It defined who we were as a family. And that was hard.

Bill Berthel: Kind of consuming that way.

Jen Keida: Yeah, for sure.

Bill Berthel: What do you mean you ran away from? Was that college?

Jen Keida: Oh, I went to college, yeah. First person in my family to go to college. And I was a very good artist in school. So, I went to school to get a BFA, a bachelor’s in fine arts. I have a four-year degree in painting.

Bill Berthel: You do?

Jen Keida: I do, yeah. Somewhere along the lines, nobody didn’t stop me and say, ah, I don’t know how you’re gonna create a career out of this. My plan was to go on to school and get into art therapy. Very cool. That was the plan. But life has different plans for you. And so instead, I started a family. And I found myself. My family was in buffalo, and we were struggling and not happy. And my father had opened a branch office in Connecticut. The company was still very, very small, and he was struggling out there, trusting people out there, that type of thing. And he offered me a position there.

Bill Berthel: In Connecticut?

Jen Keida: Yes.

Bill Berthel: Okay.

Jen Keida: So, we relocated my daughter and my husband, and we relocated to Connecticut when I was 25 years old.

Bill Berthel: Yeah. Wow.

Jen Keida: and that’s how I started at Standard. So, I learned the company there, and within about two years, I said, we need to close this and bring the trucks back to Marcy.

Bill Berthel: Okay.

Jen Keida: actually, it was Utica at the time.

Bill Berthel: There’s no presence in Connecticut.

Jen Keida: There’s no presence currently. After that point, we closed that shop down and we brought the trucks that were there here. and at the time, we were so small, my father said, great, come back, but you’re going to have to be a commission salesperson, because, you know, we don’t have the resources at this point. And so, I joined the team here as a commissioned salesperson, and Rich my business partner, was the other commission salesperson. And suddenly I found myself having to go to Syracuse and thousand islands and Saratoga because Rich’s territory was here in Utica, and that area.

Bill Berthel: So, you were kind of on the fringes of that existing territory, in a sense, with the growth.

Jen Keida: Right.

Bill Berthel: Growth focused.

Jen Keida: Yeah.

Bill Berthel: Yeah.

Jen Keida: I had to go out and knock on doors because they didn’t know who we were. And then my family transitioned and my parents, were leaving the business. And so, I stepped into a leadership role of keeping things running while all this transition was happening. And it took many, many years, a lot of heartaches and different things happening. But that’s when I kind of learned more of the role of the finance part and the p and ls and all those good things. Remember, art degree?

Bill Berthel: So, tell me about, what had you sticking with the company, sticking with the organization.

Bill Berthel: And aspiring to be in this leadership role. What is it about you that did this?

Jen Keida: I think it goes back to being the oldest of four girls with a family who worked very hard. So, my parents were both working hard, became that person that, organized and took care of the family in those cases. by that time, I had two small girls of my own, and so taking, care of them was really important and giving them a life that I hadn’t been able to get either. So, part of it was I didn’t really have any other skill set, you know, at certain points in my life. And I knew that. I knew that this could be bigger and better than it actually was. So, then I started diving into doing my own, education. I got involved with a program called Goldman Sachs 10,000 small businesses, which is the Goldman Sachs program.

Bill Berthel: Yeah. Yeah.

Jen Keida: And it was like a mini-MBA. I did it down in New York City, and it opened my eyes to the potential that the company had. And I got really excited. I came back here, and there’s some key people here where I said, you know what? We can be a $10 million company. We can have 40 employees. And there were some people that believed me and embraced it and other people that said, you know, for 40 years, we haven’t been more than a $4 million company. What do you think? And you’re crazy.

Bill Berthel: That could be big change. That could be kind of scary.

Jen Keida: Yeah. And we’re in a depressed area. How do you think we can do that?

Bill Berthel: Sure.

Jen Keida: and then we made the transition. So, then my parents, sold us the company, and on February 1 of 2020, we were doing cartwheels and popping champagne. And six weeks later, just before COVID hit. But Covid actually ended up being a really good thing for us because we were able to step back and take a breath, which we hadn’t done in a long time, and strategically plan, which we had never done, and do some research and do some market analysis and look for good partners and find other team members. that’s when we hired our CFO at the time was our controller, incredible visionary as well. And he brought so much to us and also said, Jen, yes, you’re right. We can do this. So that’s why we were able to. From 2020 February, we were about a $6.5 million company. And last year we closed at 25 million. And we’re working on acquisitions right now, and we’re working on a new branch office. So, we’re kind of blowing the doors off of that original. I think we could be a $10 million company. And here we are. And we didn’t set off to be a $25 million company four years ago. What we set off to be was a better company, and one that took care of their employees. in a way that maybe we weren’t taken care of, because, again, the company was very different at the time, and so we moved very employee centric. And a lot of people want to say that our employees come first, but Rich and I really embraced it. And I think probably what we’re most well-known for, besides paying well and giving really great benefits, is the specific benefit of our vacation reimbursement. So, we have PTO, and we have great PTO offerings, too. But what this means is that every employee, once a year, gets a $2,000 reimbursement to go on vacation.

Bill Berthel: Wow.

Jen Keida: So, you don’t get just a $2,000 bonus. You get reimbursed if you go on vacation, up to $2,000.

We offer free service in H vac because service techs were stressed
I think the other big thing that we did was, we offer free service in H vac.

Bill Berthel: Like, for the employees’ home?

Jen Keida: No, for all employees or for all people. So what? So, and it ties back into the employees, because as we were building our H vac division, we found service techs were just so stressed. Anybody we brought in, they didn’t want to be a service tech. It was stressful. They worked terrible hours. They were always pushed to do a lot of work. And what we also learned was that the majority of them had a quota, which, as a service tech, you’ve got to sell a certain amount of equipment, because a lot of h vac companies, that’s their sales team, is their service team.

Bill Berthel: So, they’re in the home or at the site. They can make a recommendation, or they can.

Jen Keida: They can fix it, or they can.

Bill Berthel: Upsell something or replace something. Okay, that makes sense. So, they would be selling.

Jen Keida: Yep. So, their earnings are based on upselling.

Bill Berthel: Yeah.

Jen Keida: And that can be stressful when you need the money for your family.

Bill Berthel: Yeah.

Jen Keida: And you’re in a situation, does this person really need a new, piece of equipment, or can I fix it? And if I fix it, it’s going to take me extra time, and I have five or six other places I have to get to. and so there was a moral dilemma for them. There was, just a stress level that they were all, you know, as we were bringing people on board with us. but I just couldn’t wrap my head around that. And I do know that there are some people out there that are facing issues with their heating systems, and they’re not calling because they know it’s gonna cost $200. Yeah. And I, you know, so we took this as a different approach. And so our service team offers free service if they can fix it in less than an hour and there’s no parts needed.

Bill Berthel: Oh, absolutely. Like, oh, I can take care of this in 20 minutes. I got it.

Jen Keida: I got it.

Bill Berthel: And no charge.

Jen Keida: Exactly.

Bill Berthel: But that has to do other things, too. That must build some brand loyalty for you. Right. So, I mean, I would remember that as a homeowner, that your service tech came out, and then when I did need to replace it, you’d be my first call. Right. So there’s. There’s a win win all around. Can I ask, was that your idea?

Jen Keida: You know, it was. I would say that I, A collaboration of my team. When I said I don’t want a service department because of these reasons, as a team, we collectively did. But I read a book by Adam Grant, which was, you know, disruption.

Bill Berthel: Yes.

Jen Keida: How can I disrupt the industry?

Bill Berthel: Awesome.

Jen Keida: And, I was on vacation, as we talked about a little bit.

Bill Berthel: I think this might be the artist in you as well. It’s a very creative solution. It’s a very creative solution. What I love is there’s so many examples of creative leadership in your story, so many opportunities to see it differently or a willingness to experiment. Right. There’s a willingness to. Let’s try this and see what comes of it.

Jen Keida: Our vice president of talent, and culture, which was kind of a crazy thing. What does that mean? You know, she’s focusing on marketing and the culture of the company, and we just promoted a woman here to be our customer, happiness manager.

Bill Berthel: Awesome.

Jen Keida: Because satisfaction, to me, is not enough. I want people to be happy, and I want it to be. I want it to be so well known that it’s in your title.

Bill Berthel: Well, that language matters, right? That’s formative and generative of their spirit and their work and the outcomes that they deliver on.

Jen Keida: Yeah. Customer experience, customer satisfaction. I don’t want people just to be satisfied. I want them to be happy after working with us.

Bill Berthel: That’s awesome. Yeah.

Jen Keida: So that’s where a lot of this comes from.

Bill Berthel: So, Jen, tell me a little bit more about the community around us that you serve. this has been home, even though you’ve, I think you said, ran away before.

Jen Keida: Right.

Bill Berthel: But you’re back, or you’ve had other. Other area experiences. You’re here. What is it about this community.

Jen Keida: The immense support that the Mohawk Valley has around here to all these different initiatives and things that are happening in our community. So, I started getting more involved in those types of things, too. But I guess with 100 employees around here, you get to know so many different small communities and things that are important to all those people, too. That helps us determine where we need to put our attention and what happened. But we’re super competitive. We’re competitive with, you know, in what we do in the world. And then also internally, you know, we have a lot of competition. I played soccer in college. I played sports all throughout high school. And so did my business partner, who’s a football coach for many, many years. So, we like to create a lot of competition, when possible, friendly competition. Internally.

Bill Berthel: it’s very playful. As I, as I came through and said hello to folks. well, you have a little competition going on today. Right. And they were having, fun trash talking each other, really picking on another a little bit, but then also strategizing. Right. I saw that. So that must, that sense of play must come through in their work as well.

Jen Keida: For sure. And I think for sure, like, work has become our social aspect. Right?

Bill Berthel: Very much. We spend so much time with the people at work. we spend not just time, but I think we get, relationships there.

Jen Keida: We get close relationships, experiences, all that, both good and bad. And just like you would with any family, there’s really positive things, and then there’s tough times to get through.

Bill Berthel: There can be a little bit of drama, there can be a little bit of tension. There can be even the occasional spat occasionally.

Jen Keida: Yes. And that means we’re pushing ourselves to be better.

Bill Berthel: So tell me about networking as a CEO of an organization in Central New York, what do you do? How do you connect with others?

Jen Keida: Yeah, you know, I think one of the hard parts about being a CEO that I’m learning is, you often feel a little alone at the top.

Bill Berthel: There’s usually just one of you in an organization. Right.

Bill Berthel: Just from the math,

Jen Keida: A little hard.

Bill Berthel: It’s a little lonely.

Jen Keida: and so, I found a group. It’s, an international group called Vistage, and it is a group of CEOs. So it’s not as much network as it is support, but, this is where I find out so many of my resources that have helped me execute things that I want to do, or I’ll bounce an idea off and say, is this really, really crazy, or is it something that is feasible? how have you addressed this situation in your business? And so, it’s a group of people that just supports one another, that doesn’t have any vested interest in the business other than I will do the same thing for them when the time comes.

Bill Berthel: Sounds like a mastermind group almost, right?

Jen Keida: Pretty much, yeah.

Bill Berthel: Well, there’s a lot of growth and development in this area of Utica. And, Marcy, I think of Utica as one of the comeback stories in New York. Oh, yeah.

Jen Keida: It’s definitely on its way. I’m gonna drive you by the new Nexus center and the Adirondack Bank Hockey center.

Bill Berthel: Oh, yeah. I actually have not seen it.

Jen Keida: You haven’t yet?

Bill Berthel: Yeah, I haven’t. No, cool.

Jen Keida: It’s very impressive. And it has opened up so many doors to this area. in only a few weeks, we’re gonna have the women’s world championship for ice hockey.

Bill Berthel: Really?

Jen Keida: It’s the Olympic team on their off seasons.

Bill Berthel: Holy cow.

Jen Keida: And, you know, when we were awarded this, we were the location. This only happens maybe five every five years in the United States.

Bill Berthel: Wow.

Jen Keida: And so, for us to be a contender, even, but then to actually.

Jen Keida: Win this

Bill Berthel: for little old Utica, That’s cool.

Jen Keida: Which means that not only do we have a good hockey facility, but we also have the infrastructure of the hotels, as you’re seeing around here, the restaurants that can support, those people coming in.

Bill Berthel: And I know, Matt’s Brewery was always a fixture here. Right?

Jen Keida: Yep. We’ll see a little bit of that as we cross over in this area. Wynn Hospital. Brand new hospital just opened up this year.

Bill Berthel: Yeah. Wow.

Jen Keida: It’s been years and years in the making. Combined three different hospitals into one.

Bill Berthel: Okay. Okay.

Jen Keida: So, you know, it is. It is evolving and is changing. Try to keep up with the times. But also, as you look around, so many of these old buildings are being restored into lofts,

Bill Berthel: and I love that.

Jen Keida: Yeah. Keeping that old style and that old world feel of what uniform actually is.

Bill Berthel: Thank you so much.

Jen Keida: Thank you.

Bill Berthel: This has been awesome.

Jen Keida: This has been really great.

Bill Berthel: The tour, the conversation, and you’re an absolute inspiration.

Jen Keida: Thank you.

Jen Keida: I appreciate that.