|
|
Article: The thread of change: how Duke Kimbrell keeps putting a new spin on King Cotton. (W. Duke Kimbrell, chief executive officer of Parkdale Mills Inc.; includes related article) (Company Profile)
- Article from:
- Business North Carolina
- Article date:
- January 1, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Business North Carolina. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Mae Bender, who has worked for nearly 15 years in the spinning room at Parkdale Mills Inc.'s Plant No. 1 in Gastonia, thought her boss deserved something special.
W. Duke Kimbrell doesn't work out of a fancy office where employees fear to tread. He listens and leaves hid door open, Bender says. So in October she helped organize a surprise appreciation day at which she read a handwritten speech praising Parkdale's chairman and CEO.
"It just came to my mind," she says. "I just felt like it was time to have a day set aside for him."
You can't buy that kind of respect, of course, but it echoes the textile industry's feelings for Kimbrell. Last ...