When Andrew Kohn joined the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) in 1999, he never though he'd hobnob with the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Boston Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Benjamin Zander. Rather, he hoped the global peer network for company presidents would help him grow and learn from like-minded, dynamic leaders.
"YPO is a constant learning experience for me, and it's given me once in a lifetime opportunities," says Kohn, president of Jerome Group, a distributorship based in Maryland Heights, Mo. His most recent brush with celebrity was an April meeting with Cheney. Kohn, his wife Diana (moderator of the YPO chapter's spousal forum) and approximately 40 other chapter members and their spouses traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with the second-in-command.
The Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), a global peer network for company presidents, met in April in Washington to visit with Vice President Dick Cheney and other leaders. Andrew Kohn (back row, fourth from left), president of Jerome Group, a distributorship based in Maryland Heights, Mo., is secretary/treasurer of a YPO chapter.
Ushered into a private room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House, Kohn and his wife sat in the second row. "I was no more than 10 or 15 feet away from him," says Kohn, adding that it was a powerful experience despite his disinterest in politics. While Cheney discussed topics ranging from fostering small businesses to whether Saddam Hussein was still alive (at the time, Cheney thought he was dead), Kohn was most captivated by the vice president's emotionally charged and candid responses to questions about the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. "This part of the discussion really humanized him," Kohn says.
While in the nation's capital, Kohn's YPO chapter also received a private tour of the Smithsonian and met with Missouri Senator Kit Bond, Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman and White House Curator Bill Allman. By hearing a breadth of perspectives, the chapter exemplified one of the organization's missions: to provide members with an "unequaled vantage point for global understanding," according to YPO.
It's this vantage point, though on a smaller scale, that attracts Kohn to the group. As the president of a respected, family-owned printing distributorship, Kohn's involvement in YPO allows him to bounce ideas off others in similar positions and learn from their problems and achievements. "It's all give and take," he says. "It's growing and learning and increasing your knowledge base."
Kohn is a rising forum moderator and secretary/treasurer of his chapter. He's forward-thinking, says member Michael Medart, president and CEO of Medart Inc., an Arnold, Mo.-based distributor to the marine and engine industries. He has been one of Kohn's friends since they were young and was one of his sponsors when Kohn joined YPO. "Andy has been well ahead of the curve of other printers in the Central Plains," Medart says.
Whether YPO has directly impacted Kohn's business is hard to say, he says, but he has enjoyed learning and meeting new people--celebrities or not.
--Meghan Aftosmis
