Hershey Report (9/5)

Traditional Media Coverage

1. Making Things Better

   Aug 31, 2017 | The Hummelstown Sun

   By Pamela C. Whitenack
   
   
   While he wasn’t born in Hershey, Ken Hatt spent virtually his entire life living and working here. He arrived as a penniless orphan and retired as a successful executive for one of Milton Hershey’s original businesses, Hershey Estates (now Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company). An ardent hockey fan, Hatt rarely missed a home game during the 45 years he worked for the company or in the years of his retirement. Hatt loved the Hershey community, valued Milton Hershey’s vision for it, and worked throughout his life to ensure that Milton Hershey would not be forgotten, even as the businesses and community evolved and expanded.

Traditional Media Coverage

1. Making Things Better

   Aug 31, 2017 | The Hummelstown Sun

   By Pamela C. Whitenack

   While he wasn’t born in Hershey, Ken Hatt spent virtually his entire life living and working here. He arrived as a penniless orphan and retired as a successful executive for one of Milton Hershey’s original businesses, Hershey Estates (now Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company). An ardent hockey fan, Hatt rarely missed a home game during the 45 years he worked for the company or in the years of his retirement. Hatt loved the Hershey community, valued Milton Hershey’s vision for it, and worked throughout his life to ensure that Milton Hershey would not be forgotten, even as the businesses and community evolved and expanded.

   Hatt was born in Mohnton, a small town near Reading. on Dec. 20, 1923. The youngest of 11 children, his mother died when he was only 4 years old. His father struggled to make ends meet, but he was often unemployed. Soon after his mother’s death, Ken and his two youngest brothers were placed in a children’s home in Reading called the “Home for Friendless Children.” The home provided shelter and food, but little else. He and his brothers lived there until he was 9 years old.

   In 1933, some family friends learned about Milton Hershey School (then Hershey Industrial School) and arranged for Ken and his two brothers to be transferred to Hershey. That decision had a dramatic impact on their lives, as Ken recounted in a 1989 oral history interview with the Hershey Community Archives:

   I might say that of the 11 children in our family, the only three of us who ever finished high school and got diplomas were the three of us who attended Milton Hershey School. So I think it sort of tells you a little bit about family life, how rough it was for my brothers and remaining sisters, and how fortunate my brothers and I are that we were able to come to Hershey and get the education and be given the opportunities that we have been given.

   The summer before his senior year, Hatt began what would become a lifelong career with the Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company (then Hershey Estates). That summer, Ken earned a job as a “go-fer.” The position didn’t provide a salary but Ken gained valuable work experience and broad exposure to the varied company departments.

   First, A Messenger

   After Hatt graduated, he was offered a job at Hershey Estates in the mailroom as a messenger. At that time, Hershey Industrial School students were obligated to stay at the school until they turned 18. Since Ken would not turn 18 until December, he needed special permission to leave the school, which he received. Hatt didn’t move very far; he moved to a boarding room in the Community Building.

   It was during this time that Hatt met and courted the woman who would be the love of his life, Eleanor Bowman. They met at work and were soon married.

   His initial job with Hershey Estates didn’t last very long. In February 1943, Hatt was drafted into the United States Army, shortly after his 19th birthday. He served in 397th Anti-Aircraft Battalion and was part of the forces that landed in France on D-Day.

   When he was released from military service in December 1945, he returned to his wife, Eleanor, and a job with Hershey Estates. Hatt began work in the payroll department, bringing him into contact with almost every division in Hershey Estates, including the Park, the Hershey Bears hockey team, the Lumber Company, the Bakery, and the Utilities. This exposure to the broad focus of Hershey Estates would provide valuable lessons that served Hatt well throughout his career.

   Hatt’s work eventually focused on the Hershey utilities (Hershey Water, Hershey Telephone, Hershey Electric, Hershey Sewerage), rising from a clerk in billing and then to accounting manager, to general manager, to comptroller and then vice president, to executive vice president, and ultimately to president and chief operating officer.

   ‘Let’s Try Something’

   Hatt’s skills and leadership led to him being elected to the Hershey Trust Company Board of Directors and Milton Hershey School Board of Managers in 1962. In 1965, he was also elected to the board of Hershey Estates.

   In his decision making, Hatt was guided by his understanding of Milton Hershey. As he said in his oral history interview:

   Mr. Hershey didn’t stand idly by and just leave buildings to deteriorate or, say, leave operations go that were losing an awful lot of money. When he seen they weren’t going to go, he said, “Let’s try something else.” So I’ve always said, “Hey, Mr. Hershey tore down buildings, Mr. Hershey made changes, and the existing boards have to make similar decisions.”

   Serving on the boards, Hatt played an important role guiding Hershey through years of significant change in all aspects of the community. In his role as a director on the Hershey Trust Company board, Hatt voted to merge the Hershey Junior College with the newly established Harrisburg Area Community College and approved the gift of $50 million from the School’s trust fund to Penn State University to establish the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. He then oversaw the development of The M.S. Hershey Foundation from a cultural and educational funding program to one that was responsible for operating Milton Hershey’s cultural legacy institutions.

   It was during his tenure as a director on the Milton Hershey School Board of Managers that the School broadened its admissions requirements to include minority boys and then girls. Other significant changes authorized by the board during these years included redevelopment of the school campus, the reshaping of student home life, and the discontinuation of the School’s farm chore program.

   It was his role as part of Hershey Estates leadership team where Hatt played his most significant role. Though not yet a vice-president, Hatt was elected to the Hershey Estates Board of Directors in 1965. Hershey Estates was beginning the process of transforming itself from a town services company to one focused on entertainment and lodging. To accomplish those goals, the company would need to close or divest itself of many businesses in order to focus its efforts on its most profitable divisions, most notably its entertainment venues, including Hershey Park, Hershey Arena and its sports venues.

   With Hatt’s experience with the Hershey utilities, it fell to him to manage the sale of them to larger, regional businesses. He led the sale of Hershey Electric to PP&L, Hershey Telephone to Continental Telephone Company, and Hershey Water to Pennsylvania American Water Company. The profits from these sales funded the companies’ development of its entertainment venues.

   Development of Hersheypark included the expansion of park operations from summer season to an extended period of operations. It was Hatt who advocated for operating the park during the Christmas holiday season. With his support, Christmas Candylane was established in 1983.

   When HERCO Stumbled

   Hatt retired in 1986 after working for 45 years. He remained on both the HERCO and Hershey Trust Boards. Because of this, he played an important role in the future development of the company.

   Hatt was serving as chair of the Hershey Trust Company board when HERCO, Inc. stumbled and needed new leadership. The 1980s had been a period of rapid, outward expansion for the company. Financial resources were stressed and all of the expansion projects were performing poorly. New company leadership was needed and Hatt, as Trust Board chair, led the process to request the retirement of the current CEO and appoint a new person to head the company.

   Hatt retired from the Trust and Milton Hershey School boards in 1990 and from the HERCO board in 1993. Even though he was no longer involved in the active leadership of Milton Hershey’s businesses, he remained actively involved in the community, providing counsel to active board members, mentoring Milton Hershey School students, providing leadership and support for development of The Hershey Story Museum and Hershey Gardens.

   Jack Bogrette, a good friend and fellow HERCO employee, remembered Ken Hatt in his own 2015 oral history interview:

   He [Ken Hatt] was a very deep thinker and reader. He could analyze situations. He could become creative in his thinking, like [Christmas] Candylane. When things were not looking good for cash flow in the winter, he was looking outside the box to find something that would improve the cash flow that would make things better for Hershey because that man lives and dies for Hershey. There’s nobody in this company or in Hershey that has his knowledge, that has his experience in what’s going on in the industry and here. He’s a unique individual, but he doesn’t blow his own horn. He sits back. He puts something out and then lets somebody else run with it, and doesn’t look for any applause or any thanks.
   

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