Thomas V. McKernan

Thomas "Tom" McKernan was born in 1944 in Oakdale, Louisiana. His parents met on a blind date while his father, who was from Pasadena, California, was stationed there with the U.S. Army Air Corps before his deployment to England and France during World War II.

Both parents were from large families; McKernan's father was 1 of 10 children, and his mother was 1 of 7. "My mother's family in Louisiana was very poor," he says. "They had a small place where they grew a few things and had a cow and some chickens. The house had no indoor plumbing, and my grandmother used a washboard to do the laundry. We were only there for two months after my birth, and then my father sent money to my mother so that we could move to an apartment in Pasadena, near my father's parents."

After McKernan's father returned from the war in 1945, he found work as a carpenter and eventually as a building contractor. His mother got a real estate license and worked part time until her responsibilities for her six children kept her at home full time. "Both parents were very hardworking," McKernan says. "My mother especially had drive. She was a credit manager for Sears when she met my father and was working hard to escape her family's poverty."

After his parents' marriage, McKernan's mother converted to Catholicism and became very devout in her new faith. The children all went to Catholic schools, and McKernan served as an altar boy for many years. When he was 12, McKernan got a paper route for a local paper, but he dreamed of getting a route for the Los Angeles Times, which paid better.

"There was a long waiting list for those routes," he says. "They let you sell the Sunday Times door to door while trying to get people to subscribe to the paper. That was hard to do, but for each sale I made, I moved up the list for a route. I finally got a Times route, which I did in the mornings. In the afternoons, I delivered the local paper. All together, I made $50 a month."

McKernan attended a seminary high school that was 40 miles from his home in Arcadia, which meant he had to board. "I was 14 years old and away from home for the first time," he says. "The separation was difficult at first, but looking back on it, I think it was good for me. It taught me independence and reinforced the discipline and strong work ethic taught to me by my parents."

Planning on becoming a priest, McKernan attended the seminary throughout high school, but about the time of his graduation, McKernan's family problems got worse. His father had become a successful contractor, building apartment buildings in southern California. But his father had become obsessed with horse racing, which put a financial strain on the family. Also, his two younger sisters were born when he was a teenager. This is when McKernan decided against the priesthood. "It was a stressful time in my life," he says. "I wasn't sure where I was headed, but I knew I needed to work and help my family."

In high school, McKernan loaded trucks at a warehouse for a large supermarket chain. In the summer, he worked with his father in construction during the day and attended junior college at night. Finally deciding he needed to work full time, he left school altogether.

McKernan worked at Sears for two years. He then became a service representative in 1966 with the Automobile Club of Southern California, an affiliate of the American Automobile Association (AAA). Three years later, the company trained him in computer programming. He attended night classes at Pasadena City College to complete his general education courses and then finished his degree at California State University in Los Angeles. When his job at the Auto Club was moving him toward becoming chief financial officer, McKernan went back to Cal State to earn a master's in finance.

"There was something about the Automobile Club that I loved from the very beginning," says McKernan. "It had a great history and a relationship with the automobile world. I just loved it and wanted to know everything about the business. I wanted to keep learning and be the best at what I was doing. My goal was never to head the whole thing. I just wanted to succeed at what was in front of me, and I wanted to help the company succeed."

During the 1980s, the Auto Club went through a difficult time financially, having lost a large part of its insurance business, and McKernan worried about its survival. In 1988, having been named chief financial officer, he began attending Claremont College at night to earn his doctorate, with the plan that if the Auto Club went out of business, he would teach. McKernan completed all the coursework for his doctorate, but he never finished his dissertation, though eventually he did earn an advanced MBA.

In 1990, the Auto Club named McKernan executive vice president and asked him to come up with and implement a strategy for its survival, which he did. In 1991, he became CEO and began consolidating the Auto Club on a national level to make it more competitive. In 1996, he acquired AAA motor clubs in Texas, New Mexico, and Hawaii.

McKernan co-founded a national life insurance company to serve AAA members. In 1999, he acquired a large tour wholesaler to augment AAA's growing travel business. In 2003, the Auto Club went on to affiliate with AAA Northern New England (serving New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine) and continued growing throughout the Midwest, the South, and the East. The Auto Club became the largest single member of the AAA federation.

When McKernan looks back on his career with a single organization, one in which he rose to the top of the ladder, he marvels at how close he came to never having this particular career at all. McKernan got his entry-level Auto Club job through an employment agency, but he had also interviewed for a job with Best Foods at the same time. The first offer came from the Auto Club, and he accepted it. He had begun the first few days of his training period at the Auto Club when the agency called to say Best Foods wanted him.

"It was a tough decision for me," McKernan says. "Money was so tight then, and Best Foods was offering $72 a month more, plus a car. I was so tempted to quit AAA and go with Best Foods, but I was already enthralled with the work at AAA. They were really helping people, and I liked the feeling that gave me. I made the decision to go with my heart instead of my head. Not long after that, I met my wife of 43 years at an AAA office. If I'd gone with Best Foods, I wouldn't have married her, and I wouldn't have had my two wonderful daughters. The decision I made to stick with AAA because it gave me a good feeling seemed like a little decision at the time, but it amazes me when I think about how much my life would've changed if I'd gone the other way."

Asked what it takes to be successful today, McKernan stresses the importance of education. "One thing our young people need to understand, and it's not an easy concept to teach them, is that what you see today is not what the world is going to be like 5 or 10 years from now," he explains. "Our world is changing at such an accelerated pace, and education is more important now than ever before. It's also important to be alert to opportunities. They aren't always evident. They don't knock you on the head and say: '˜This is the opportunity you have been waiting for.' You have to go with what feels right, what energizes you, and what gives you passion."

McKernan also believes one must have strong, loving relationships to enrich life. "For me, success is getting through life with some degree of happiness," he says. "Having a loving relationship with my wife and daughters and siblings is very important to me. Judy and my daughters, Megan and Shannon, have made me a better person. I just try to do the right thing each day, and I try to have a little fun along the way."

McKernan has served on the boards of Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital, Los Angeles Urban League, Methodist Hospital of Southern California Foundation, Orange County Performing Arts Center, and Los Angeles Police Foundation.

In addition to his nonprofit leadership roles, he has been involved with the California Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. His many awards include the City of Hope Spirit of Life Award, the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award, the Spirit of Achievement Award from Junior Achievement, an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University, and the Historymakers Corporate Leadership Award by the Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles.

McKernan has given generously to his favorite causes and is especially excited about the mentorship offered to Horatio Alger Scholars. "Sometimes it is not the big thing or the money thing that turns a life around, but simply knowing that people out there support them," he says. "I think that once scholarship money is given, the recipients don't want to let the Members down. Scholarships give a path forward and create an expectation."