Tribute To A Leader

Charlie Hefford, the soft-spoken 68-year-old president and CEO of the company, is officially retiring and will hand the reins to Ron Dupler, the onetime CEO of GreenPages rival Amherst Technologies. To call Hefford, who will remain on the GreenPages board, an exceptional leader would be an understatement. Hefford headed up the company for the past five years, during the blistering IT industry downturn, and before that held the CFO post for five years.

In an era of egocentric celebrity CEOs, Hefford kept GreenPages on track with a deceptively simple Down East Maine pragmatism. Hefford had to make some difficult decisions in the wake of the downturn, but he managed to lead the solution provider through the hard times in a way that allowed GreenPages' customer-centric culture to remain rich and vibrant. During that same time, a number of GreenPages competitors closed up shop or shrank to a shadow of their former selves.

To understand just how successful Hefford has been in moving GreenPages from simple procurement to solutions, one only has to make the trip to the company's annual summit and lobster bake, which brings together its top CIO clients with GreenPages' vendor and distributor partners. At the center of the equation, helping customers get the biggest bang for their technology buck, are the GreenPages professionals.

Any channel skeptic who doubts the power of a solution provider's ability to create demand and solve problems should take a seat at the GreenPages CIO roundtable and listen to how these IT professionals look to GreenPages as a trusted IT advisor and advocate. Hefford, for his part, downplays his role over the years, saying the key is "finding good people and getting them to do the work. They make it happen. The CEO is only as good as the people he surrounds himself with."

This week, Hefford is looking forward to the start of a new adventure with his wife. He'll be doing some fishing, hiking, playing some golf, traveling and spending a lot more time with his 10 grandchildren.

Happy retirement, Charlie! Here's to the many happy days ahead.

Do you know any outstanding leaders? Let me know at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at [email protected].