Charles A. McKee*
Class of 1981
- Chairman & CEO Electrolux Corp.
- Executive Vice President Consolidated Foods Corporation
I think the greatest feeling of personal success I've had is helping other people to make the decision to change what they were doing, get out of the sweatshop, and become their own boss.
Born in 1918 in Newcastle, Indiana, Charles McKee grew up in Van Buren, Ohio. He went to work in the sixth grade as a "printer's devil" or apprentice printer. He was a journeyman printer by the time he graduated from high school at 16 and went to Louisville, Kentucky, to work as a pressman in a printing shop.
McKee moved to Chicago after the printing business that employed him went bankrupt. He answered an ad that claimed successful applicants could make $100 a week. McKee accepted a sales job with a new company called Electrolux, a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners. He made $17,000 the first year, compared with $1,500 the year before as a pressman. In a short time, he became the company's top salesman.
Following three years as a pilot for the U.S. Navy, McKee returned to Electrolux to hire and train thousands of prospective house-to-house salesmen all over the United States and Canada. When Electrolux merged with Consolidated Foods in 1968, McKee became chairman and CEO of the manufacturer's U.S. and Canada division and executive vice president of Consolidated Foods.
McKee advised young people, "Find something you really enjoy doing and put your heart into it. You may or may not make a great deal of money, but accumulation of money is not in itself the measure of a successful life. To contribute to the lives of others, to enjoy personal fulfillment, to love and be loved by those close to you are rewards which all too few in the world enjoy. When you attain that, you have arrived and you are truly successful."