Company of the Month: W.T. Kenney Company, founded in 1939 by Walter Thomas Kenney in Arlington, celebrates their 74th anniversary

W.T. Kenney Company was founded in 1939 by Walter Thomas Kenney in Arlington. Next year they celebrate their 75th anniversary. They are a 4th generation family owned and operated commercial painting firm serving New England. Timothy Kenney, president and 3rd generation of W.T. Kenney Co., said, "My father, from his father always stressed that our biggest asset is our employees. They are our ambassadors of first impressions." W.T. Kenney Co. strives to field the best trained, pro-active painters money can buy. They E-verify, perform background checks and drug tests for new hires. They believe in a probationary period for new hires to ensure their commitment to the Company's mission statement and overall culture. Due to the company's culture of synergy they're able to successfully complete over 350 projects per year. They believe that a high standard of quality in the painting field can be achieved reliably, consistently and profitably. Quality is defined by an all-encompassing attitude of pride and commitment in everything they do. To achieve success, they must continue to deliver superior service to their clients on a daily basis. Brian Jurgens, senior vice president and 4th generation of W.T. Kenney Co., said, "We choose to partner with those that aren't solely driven toward the lowest bid. Doing so, often leads to poor quality and client expectations are rarely met. Our target markets are institutions, commercial property management firms and commercial general contractors throughout New England." Long term employment is their goal. Finding and training their staff is time consuming and expensive- offering competitive salaries, health, dental, 401K's and abundant overtime opportunities has helped them retain the best people in the field. They are very proud of their long standing, loyal employees including Carole Daniels, office manager (35 years), Tom Hayes, journeyman (41 years), Jerry Solomon, supervisor (50 years), Dave Downie, journeyman (53 years). They believe in the power of networking and relationship building to generate new business. W.T. Kenney Co. has many strong affiliations and is involved with several organizations: Business Networking International (BNI), International Facility Management Association (IFMA), Cambridge Chamber of Commerce (CCC), Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), Boston Business Builders (BBB), Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), and the Gould Construction Institute (GCI). They have been fortunate, both as a company and as individuals. With that in mind, they perform several community service projects each year. For the second year they teamed with the Association of General Contractors to do upgrades at Rosie's Place in Boston. They have done charitable paint projects for Harvard University and donated the funds to Globe Santa. They work with Community Servings, based in Jamaica Plain, through the Pie in the Sky fundraiser to feed the critically ill and their families. Also they repainted the "barn flag" at the State Police Stables on Route 2 in Concord. The flag was originally painted on the barn right after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and had become weathered. W.T. Kenney felt strongly in carrying out this patriotic paint job. Please contact them for any assistance relating to the painting industry. Testimonial's from WT Kenney Co. clients: "Congratulations and Happy Anniversary to WT Kenney Co for serving their customers for over 7 decades! The Cambridge Chamber of Commerce salutes the excellent work and service provided by WT Kenney of which we are proud to be a customer. The CCC is not surprised as they were one of our 2011 Business of Year award winners. WT Kenney is a great company that takes pride in doing the best job possible." - Kelly Thompson Clark, president & CEO, Cambridge Chamber of Commerce "Loyal. Reliable. Trusted. We are proud to call WT Kenney Co. one of our partners. Congratulations on your upcoming 75th Anniversary."- Lisa Wexler, president, Elaine Construction "Congratulations on your firm's upcoming 75th Anniversary (Wow!). It has been an extreme pleasure to work with W.T. Kenney over the past 30 years. Their firm has consistently been a top notch performer of the highest quality and dependability. Their employees have always conducted themselves in a cooperative and professional manner...traits that I am sure are instilled in them from the top of the organization. W.T. Kenney is a credit to their industry and we look forward to partnering with them on many projects in the years ahead."-Thomas Blesso, senior vice president, Erland Construction "We have worked with W.T. Kenney for many years. Their value starts with complete and on-time estimating and continues through to final clean-up. Recent extremely important painting projects at Phillips Andover and Dean College were performed expertly and with the full attention of the firm. When our Project Executives asked for subcontractor reports, the super invariably said, "The painter is doing great." Congratulations!!!! - Peter Martini, vice president/project executive, Commodore Builders