BPW News Women of the week Kenneth Herman, Fellow of the Week (78)
Kenneth Herman (Kenny) is a BPW FELLOW of BPW International since January 2007.
On July 22, 2011 Kenny was honored by the United States National Parks Service as the builder of the Fire Island Lighthouse Station Fresnel Lens Building on Fire Island, New York USA and he was also acknowledged by the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society for the building project which took 13 months to complete and now houses the original First Order Fresnel Lens which In 1858 was installed atop the new Lighthouse Tower. In 1933 the lens was removed and placed on display in the Franklin Museum in Philadelphia until 2000. The Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society began the process of fundraising to construct the building that would house the lens and this finally came to fruition on July 22, 2011 at the dedication of the completed project.
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The lens project was completed with donations from 24 corporations and suppliers who provided the building materials. In addition the work was done by volunteers including union carpenters and apprentices and many tradesmen which finally contributed to the project being finished at 25% of the actual cost in the market. Kenny in his speech dedicated the building to volunteerism and gave special thanks to his company employees and all the volunteers who worked tirelessly and gave so freely of their spare time
See more on the lens:
Fire Island Lighthouse and First Order Fresnel Lens
Kenny is the husband of immediate past international president Elizabeth Benham and in his role as a BPW Fellow accompanied the president on a trip to Cambodia in 2009 visiting the BPW Club in Siem Reap. An orphanage in run by Australian ex patriates were in great need and Kenny and Liz transported and donated 15 laptop computers (battery operated and charged by solar energy) to the children in the orphanage.
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Kenneth Herman is a self educated entrepreneur. In 1963 after serving his country in the US Airforce he started an aluminum siding corporation which he named Kenneth J. Herman Inc. Today the Kenneth J Herman Inc company is designing, fabricating and installing their architectural work on such noted projects as American Airlines terminal 4 at JFK airport, NY, 7 World Trade Center in NYC, South West Airlines at McArthur Airport, Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY New Jersey Institute of Technology in NJ, NYU downtown hospital in NYC; and recently completed projects such as JFK Terminal 4 International arrivals building at JFK Airport, NY. In 2005 he was awarded the USA commercial project of the year by the National Metal Buildings Association and has been named the 2006 New York Contractor of the year by the National Wall and Ceiling Association for his business acumen in the industry.
In 1985 Kenny was inducted into the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) for his business achievements. Having graduated from YPO in 1992 Kenny is now a lifetime member of the World Presidents Organization (WPO)
After living and espousing his basic philosophy of doing the right thing Kenny lectures on the subject of ethics as an adjunct professor. His list of community work includes having served on the board of directors of the Fire Island Lighthouse preservation society and today is working on the building to return the original Fresnel lens currently housed in Philadelphia back to the lighthouse Home for people with Aids, founder of an Environmental group called Common Shores projects e beaches and planting trees.
