Tom Fillippo, president of Devault Foods and past-president of the Chester County Economic Development Council speaks to VISTA Today about growing up in Devault near where the Route 29 Turnpike slip ramp now sits, an only child in a large extended family, playing football for Great Valley High School and then West Chester University where his team played in the Tangerine Bowl, gradually finding his way back into his dad’s meat processing business after a stint teaching and coaching, the confidence he has in the new generation of leadership emerging at Devault Foods and why he’s always smiling.

Where did you grow up Tom?

I was born an only child in 1947. My parents and  grandparents all settled in Devault. My grandparents came to Devault in the early 1900’s to work in the quarries after immigrating from Italy.

My paternal grandfather was a blacksmith for the Knickerbocker Quarry along Route 29 in Malvern. Although I moved three times within a five-mile radius, I grew up and never left Devault.

What memories do you have of growing up in Devault?

A little history.  When the Pennsylvania Turnpike came through in 1945, it split my grandfather’s dairy farm in half. My grandfather gave each of his eight sons and daughters a piece of his dairy farm. The piece my father received is where our plant sits today.

Devault is not really a town, rather a location next to the new Route 29 Turnpike entrance.

As a result of how my grandfather parceled out his farm, I grew up with cousins all around me. We were pretty much like brothers and sisters. I never felt like an only child.

Devault, back then, was a quiet place. We were considered farmers. Even though there was always talk when I was a kid of building an exit off the Turnpike at Route 29, the ramp was built within the last two years.  Drivers who came to our company, which was just a little slaughterhouse at the time, would tell us we lived in the “sticks.”

What was Devault Foods like back then?

The company started as a one room butcher shop my father built in 1949.

Did you work in the business growing up Tom?

Our house, which my father also built, was only 200 feet away from the plant, so I grew up with the business. I was 12 years old when I first started working for my father. I think I made $10 a week which was good money back then!

What lessons did you take from your experience working with your father that stay with you today?

I learned the importance of work, as well as that work, could be fun.  We didn’t have the same process controls or work unit measurements back then as we do now.  We worked in teams, and there was excitement and pride about getting the job done.

Where did you go to high school?

I went to Great Valley High School the first year the school opened in 1962.  Great Valley is where i met my wife, Joanne.  We were in middle school. Joelle and Thomas (my children) are Great Valley graduates as well.

Did you play any sports in high school?

I was the center on the football team, the captain of the wrestling team and did some track. I eventually went on to West Chester University where I continued to play football and wrestle. We had a good team my Junior year at West Chester, going 10-0 including a victory over Villanova before finally losing our first game to Morgan State in the Tangerine Bowl in Florida.*

You could have gone to work for your father.  Why did you decide to go to college?

To go back a bit, when I was growing up I was always under the impression that once I graduated from High school, I would go to work for my father.  Sally Stainback, who’s husband was WC Stainback, chief of surgery at Bryn Mawr Hospital, and who would eventually become my mother-in-law, kept telling me I had promise and should go to college.

My football coach, Al Como, kept telling me the same thing. I didn’t think I could and hadn’t taken any college prep courses in high school. I went to Temple during the summer and got the academic courses necessary for me to attend West Chester

How did your parents feel about you going to college?

They were not all that excited at first.  As my parents followed me on the football field and wrestling team, they eventually came around.  They told me I could do anything I wanted to do.

That was a great time to be in college?

I graduated in 1969 when the Vietnam war was in full swing. When I was a freshman at West Chester University, my Freshmen year we kept our hair cut short and wore ties to dinner in the cafeteria. By the time I left four years later, we not only didn’t have to wear ties to dinner, all my classmates and I were sporting long hair, beards, and mustaches.

It was a crazy time, the Vietnam War, the assassination of President Kennedy, his brother and Dr. King, all the racial issues.  It was an interesting time to be in college!

Even though we athletes were in our bubble with little to do with the war protests going on at the time, we all were committed to answering the call of duty if we were asked to go.

What kind of music were you listening to back then Tom?

It was a great time music wise.  I remember the number of hits that came out of Motown by groups like The Temptations and such.  It seemed like they were putting out a hit song a week.

What did you do after you graduated from West Chester?

I came back to Devault and got a job teaching Health and Phys Ed and coaching football and wrestling in the Great Valley School District.

I taught and coached for three years after graduating from college.  I enjoyed the experience, especially the coaching end of it.  My team only lost one game in 3 years! Eventually, it got to a point that it wasn’t enough for me.  The challenge wasn’t there anymore. I loved being with the kids, but I knew I needed something more to hold my interest.

At the same time, my father became very ill.  The Rheumatic Fever he had as a kid had all but destroyed the valves in his heart. In the early 70’s open heart surgery was as risky as going into outer space. As a result, the business was sliding.  One day I had a wake-up call and knew I had to get back into the family business, or we would lose everything.

When I told my mother I was going to resign my teaching position and step back into the business, she wanted me to continue as a teacher.

My father eventually found a heart surgeon in Alabama who took on his case and inserted an artificial valve into his heart. That first year in the business was hard.  I would come into work at 6:00 AM, do a couple of hours of work and then head off to my teaching job at Great Valley before returning to the plant at the end of the school day.

Looking back, are you at peace with the decision to leave teaching and step back into the business?

Oh yeah, absolutely! The wonderful part of making the transition when I did was I got to leverage everything I had learned in school and in sports to run the business. One thing that sports and athletics taught me is to be organized and to get things done.

It helped that my father had so much trust in me. Periodically I would ask him questions, and he would tell me to figure it out on my own and to stop worrying about making a mistake.

And now your son is working with you.

Yes, history is repeating itself! Tom was an Army Ranger for four years with three tours in Afghanistan with over 120-night missions. That experience taught him so much.  I believe with Tom on board, I can make the same transition my father made fifty years ago.

Are you going to make the transition as smoothly as your father did?

I didn’t think I could until I saw my son in action.  Before him coming on board, I often said to myself, I would never let anyone do what my father let me do. But now that Tom is here, I’m very comfortable handing the reigns over to him and stepping away.

We’ve also been blessed to have a new COO on board who works closely with Tom to prepare him for the future.

What are your greatest challenges and opportunities looking forward?

One thing I embrace is change. I realize that my philosophy and approach need to change.  In addition, I need to change. My son Tom, Brent Black, our new COO and a new generation of VPs, have a lot of enthusiasm, ideas and a new vision for the company.  I’m trying not to interfere.

Business today is no picnic. My father always told me to remember, in business, ‘you never had it made.’ We’ve had our tough times, but we’ve always bounced back. I have a lot of trust in our management team and work force. The business is in good hands.

What projects are you personally focused on?

I have four grandchildren who mean a lot to me all of whom live adjacent to my farm. I see them almost every day.

I’m not a golfer, but I do ride a Harley, which a lot of people, including my family, think is crazy. My family calls me “Mayhem.” Being a Phys Ed major, I stay in shape by walking or running four or five days a week. I love working on my horse farm as well.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

There are several including what my dad told me about never having it made in business. When you’re running a business, your work is never done.  You can never communicate enough.

The other thing I like to remind myself of is, the personality of a company starts at the top. I tell whoever will listen, as stupid as it may sound, having a smile in business means so much. A good smile breaks the ice and takes the relationship to another dimension. A company with a great personality has a wonderful chance of success.

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* According to Wikipedia, Morgan State was the first historically black college to play in and win the Tangerine Bowl game by defeating West Chester State, finishing the season undefeated for the second straight year.