Kenneth Begasse, Sr.

Mentoring Future Leaders

Winston Churchill said: “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” This quote reflects the way that Ken Begasse, Sr. lived his life. He was the type of person who gave generously of himself to help develop others. In addition to a long and successful career in medical advertising, he affected the lives of many individuals, helping them to grow and advance.

Ken’s career in healthcare spanned 37 years before his untimely death in 2010 at age 60. He started his career in respiratory therapy when he established and led the Respiratory Therapy Department and Pulmonary Lab at Greenwich Hospital. In 1978, Ken transitioned from clinician to sales of hospital monitoring equipment. A chance encounter with a colleague introduced him to medical advertising and, once he joined the small agency Kimmich & Company in Norwalk, CT as an account executive, he never looked back. After more than a decade at Kimmich, Ken joined Sudler & Hennessey and went on to assume several other positions of increasing responsibility including: Director of Client Services, Lowe McAdams; COO of Nelson Communications; CMO of CommonHealth; President of MBS/VOX; and CEO of Concentric Pharma Advertising, an agency co-founded by his son.

While Ken’s professional accomplishments are significant, perhaps his greatest legacy and contribution to our industry was the many people whose potential he helped to develop. Many of those that he touched are industry leaders today, and the people he mentored were his proudest accomplishment.

Ken conducted himself, personally and professionally, by example and the following principles defined him:

Engage. Ken believed that without engagement, you cannot lead effectively. According to those that worked with him over the years, his door was always open. He practiced “management by walking around.”

Educate. Ken knew that education is an essential building block in helping others become the best they can be, and that it is built on a foundation of helping, guiding and teaching.

Encourage. Ken created an environment in which others could be productive and excel. Ken Jr. says: “He helped us all to ‘dream’ in our strategy, to push the boundaries of what could be done, not to settle on the obvious or the easy to sell strategy. He’d rather lose a pitch with the right strategy than win a pitch with a strategy that couldn’t work.”

Energize. Ken energized any group that he was a part of, including the HMC, an organization which he was devoted to.

Elevate. Raising up other people was a selfless goal that Ken saw as a necessity for every effective mentor. For him, it was not about getting the credit, it was about helping the organization and every person in it be the best they can be.

Ken did great work for clients and set Concentric up to become a leading agency in the industry. But most importantly, his lasting impact and greatest gifts, are the many leaders in today’s industry who he mentored.