Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
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"We've never had anyone go from scrubbing floors to running the show," said David Harris, vice president of regional management at Taubman Cen- ters. "He is a really an effective manager, he's a people person, and when you combine that with all the tech- nical skills he learned while working in facilities and maintenance, it just makes for a really good leader." n SepTember of 1974, Kevin Keenan took a job as a cleaner at Connecticut's Westfarms mall, which straddles his hometown of West Hartford and the neighbor- ing town of farmington. Then 23 and living the nomadic life of a typical 20-something, he happened to be back home with his parents temporar- ily. He figured a few months at this gig in the brand new mall would net him a little pocket cash before a return the following January to his adopted city of Tucson, ariz. That is hardly the way things turned out. now 41 years on, Keenan is still employed at Westfarms mall, though he is no longer scrubbing floors. Today he is the mall's general manager — an extraordinary career rise by just about any measure. one might wonder about Keenan's abandoned plans to return to Tucson, but it all seems attributable to the myster- ies and inconsistencies of youthful wan- derlust. "i kept waiting to get bored, but i never did," he said. "every day still feels like a new adventure." but as it happens, there are other factors too. To be sure, the story of Westfarms mall and that of Kevin Keenan have become very much intertwined: He has emerged as the mall's lifelong caretaker, chief curator and historian. "Kevin knows everything about this building," said Sarah Williams, West- farm's marketing and sponsorship director. "He can take you into every corner and crev- ice of the building and tell you its history, I rising through the ranks Kevin Keenan manages a mall he was once hired to clean By Rebecca Meiser n e w s m a k e r s 54 s C T / J u l y 2 0 1 5 e e n a n , a t t a u B M a n ' s w e s t f a R M s M a l l i n w e s t H a R t f o R d , C o n n .