{"id":23446,"date":"2014-10-07T08:02:01","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T12:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=23446"},"modified":"2014-10-07T08:02:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-07T12:02:34","slug":"dansko-hosts-meehan-lawrence-for-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=23446","title":{"rendered":"Dansko hosts Meehan, Lawrence for tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elected officials get close up look at high tech Chester County business<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kim Chiomento<\/strong>, <\/strong>Staff Writer, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"MeehanDansko-1\"<\/a>

U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, Dansko\u2019s Co-Founder & COEE -Peter Kjellerup along with Sal Agati \u2013 Executive Vice President of Design & Global Sourcing discuss Dansko quality and design inside headquarters, during a recent tour of Dansko’s West grove facility.<\/p><\/div>\n

WEST GROVE – Congressman Pat Meehan (R-7), and State Representative John Lawrence (R-13) recently toured the Dansko shoe company\u2019s award-winning \u201cgreen\u201d corporate headquarters, retail outlet and new state-of the art distribution center.<\/p>\n

Highlights included participating in a roundtable discussion with Dansko employees, witnessing the high-tech, robotic inventory distribution system at work, learning about the company\u2019s commitment to being an environmentally responsible, leading corporate citizen; and a lively discussion on the merits of, and business climate required, to operate as a 100% employee-owned company.<\/p>\n

Originally known for their \u201cheritage\u201d stapled clogs, Dansko has grown into a market leader in premium comfort shoes offering a complete line of functional, stylish footwear.\u00a0 Its product line includes boots, sandals, wedges, clogs and heels sold through over 2,500 premium and international retailers.<\/p>\n

\"MeehanDansko-2\"<\/a>

From left, State Rep. John Lawrence, Dansko Co-Founder & COEE- Peter Kjellerup, Congressman Meehan, Dansko COO-Philomena \u201cMiMi\u201d Curry, and Dansko Co-Founder, President & CEO -Mandy Cabot. Picture is taken in the warehouse where state of the art robots distribute inventory.<\/p><\/div>\n

At Dansko, international success and millions of loyal fans grew from local, modest roots more than twenty years ago.\u00a0 Wife and husband team, Mandy Cabot (Co-founder, President, & CEO) and Peter Kjellerup (Co-founder & \u201cCOEE\u201d \u2013 Chief of Everything Else), discovered their first shoe – a clog, while on a horse-buying trip to Peter\u2019s native Denmark.\u00a0 Upon bringing the shoe home to Chester County, its unique design, comfort, and \u201cwear-ability\u201d made it a favorite wardrobe staple and top gift for Peter, Mandy and their friends.<\/p>\n

Over time, a word-of-mouth following grew exponentially; enabling the couple to share their clogs out of the back of their station wagon.\u00a0 Eventually, Mandy & Peter left the horse business and entered the shoe business full-time with a simple mission of being everyone\u2019s favorite shoe company.<\/p>\n

Today, great things continue to happen at Dansko as a result of their cutting-edge focus on innovative products and business practices.\u00a0 Recent accolades include being honored by The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/i> as one of the \u201cTop Workplaces in Pennsylvania,\u201d being ranked on \u201cInc.\u2019s 500 List\u201d of fastest growing private companies, winner of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia\u2019s \u201cTriple Bottom Line Award\u201d and a multi-time winner of the \u201cFootwear Plus Award for Design Excellence in Women\u2019s Comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MeehanDansko-3\"<\/a>

Dansko is proud of being an employee-owned company \u2014 something evident wherever you go in the building.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2012, Dansko announced it would transition to a 100% employee-owned company; with all company shares being held by an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) marking a continued commitment to its employees and focus on long-term sustainability. \u00a0\u00a0Because the company offers significant employer 401kplans, as well as an opportunity to meaningfully participate in the growth of the company, employees can \u201ccash in\u201d on that growth when they retire.\u00a0 Dansko believes that these two opportunities combined will help employees better plan for their retirement while reducing the federal government\u2019s burden to support them in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur long-standing commitment has always been to be our stakeholders\u2019 favorite…our consumers, retail partners, the community we live in and our business community\u201d says President & CEO Mandy Cabot, \u201cThe 100% ESOP structure allows all of our employees not only share in the joy of working at Dansko, but in the wealth created by the company\u2019s vision and way of doing business.\u201d\u00a0 Today, Dansko is 165 employee-owners strong and thriving.<\/p>\n

\u201cDansko is an example to businesses across Pennsylvania and the nation on how to treat employees and conduct business,” Meehan said. “I am happy to be here to experience this impressive operation first-hand and meet your employees, thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dansko Foundation has proudly supported over 80 organizations since its inception in 2002; with a clear set of core values:\u00a0 \u201cProtect our community, promote philanthropy and minimize negative impact on the environment.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWe love to give back, although it\u2019s not all about self-sacrifice,\u201d says Cabot, \u201cVolunteerism helps us widen our frames of reference, builds collaboration, leadership, confidence, personal satisfaction and of course, a bit of FUN getting paid to take time away from work!\u201d\u00a0 This is a direct nod to the company\u2019s policy of paying all full-time employees up to 20 hours a year to volunteer.\u00a0 Dansko, in turn, donates the equivalent of that individual\u2019s salary back to the volunteer organization, in a sense, doubling their commitment to their employees\u2019 development of deeper community relationships.<\/p>\n

At the tour\u2019s conclusion, Cabot commented, \u201cIt was very important for both me and my husband, Peter, to provide elected officials the opportunity to see the human beings behind the Dansko story, their commitment to this company and our surrounding community.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on Dansko, including the company\u2019s environmentally conscious and award-winning business practices, product lines, retail partners and foundation visit:\u00a0 www.dansko.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elected officials get close up look at high tech Chester County business By Kim Chiomento, Staff Writer, The Times WEST GROVE – Congressman Pat Meehan (R-7), and State Representative John Lawrence (R-13) recently toured the Dansko shoe company\u2019s award-winning \u201cgreen\u201d corporate headquarters, retail outlet and new state-of the art distribution center. Highlights included participating in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,183],"tags":[29,3975,3095,2132],"class_list":["post-23446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-business","tag-chester-county","tag-dansko","tag-john-lawrence","tag-patrick-meehan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23447,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23446\/revisions\/23447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}