Kevin A. Trapani (tra-pan-ee), 51, is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Redwoods Group, a position he has held since he formed the North Carolina company in 1997.

While executive compensation packages at many companies rival that of pop stars and athletes, The Redwoods Group caps the CEO’s annual salary at 10 times the lowest paid employee’s salary.

“Balance is a term we don’t often hear in American business,” Trapani said. “When we are out of balance, we get excessive executive compensation. In the 1960s, the average CEO of a Fortune 500 company made about 30-40 times the compensation of the lowest paid person in the company. In the 1970s, it was about 60 times. Now? Easily 300 to 500 times more.”

Prior to Redwoods, Trapani was executive vice president of Burlington Insurance Group and senior vice president and chief underwriting officer of Coregis Insurance Group. He held senior leadership positions at Great American Insurance Companies and the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. Trapani also started the first statewide health maintenance organization in New Jersey.

“Today, I have the great blessing to lead a for-profit company that is a sustainable and powerful force for positive social change,” he said. “I know for sure that a higher power smiled on me, so I must put that prosperity to work to help others,” added Trapani, who said he was raised as a child under the mantra of “to whom much is given, much is expected.”

Serving others is Redwoods’ mission and Trapani’s goal is to spread the word about the importance of service to others to businesses throughout the nation and around the world.

A native of Connecticut, Trapani lived in several states because of his father’s career in Veterans Affairs hospital management and has been a North Carolina resident since 1997. Trapani grew up in the YMCA community, working as a Y camp counselor, lifeguard, swim coach and aquatics director. He also served as a Y board member and chaired a public school board of education.

A 1979 Duke University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in political science, Trapani is a regular speaker at Duke University’s Hart Center for Ethical Leadership and has trained YMCA leaders and staff in local YMCA and Y-USA risk management sessions over the last 15 years. He has been a member of the Vestry of the Chapel of the Cross, an Episcopal parish in Chapel Hill, NC, and a member of the board of directors of Action for Children, NC, a child care and early learning resource and referral agency, and Chicago Commons, which helps individuals, families and communities overcome poverty, discrimination and isolation. Trapani is a volunteer ambassador of the Triangle (NC) United Way, serves on the Community Advisory Board of North Carolina Public Radio and the board of directors of the Triangle (NC) Land Conservancy.

Married and the father of three children, Trapani lives in Chapel Hill, NC.

Business Leaders Breakfast Event Recap – May 20, 2008

Trapani began his talk with a 2,500-year-old Aesop fable. An old man summoned his sons to his death bed to offer them some parting advice. He told his sons to break a bundle of sticks in half with their bare hands. Each one strained and strained, but to no avail. Then he told them to untie the sticks and break them individually. This posed no problem.

The meaning was simple – In union (community), there is strength.

The idea of building community is at the center of The Redwoods Group’s business philosophy. Trapani said that many companies fail to see their larger role in the community – and governments have become little more than facilitators of commerce. Fortunately, he said, there is a growing list of exceptions.

“Well known companies, like Timberland, Burt’s Bees, Patagonia and Costco, and lesser-known groups, like Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Shaw Industries, Greenfire Development, Triangle Land Conservancy and, perhaps, The Redwoods Group, are coming to understand that every decision we make can either build or erode community,” he said.

“We exist, as Jeff Swartz, CEO of Timberland, says, ‘at the intersection of commerce and justice.’”

Trapani said true leadership comes from balancing commercial with community needs.

This type of balance includes investing assets in socially-conscious funds, even if more money can be made through traditional investing. It also means giving employees more than basic benefits. At Redwoods, for example, every employee’s child receives a full college scholarship and all employees get long-term health insurance. In exchange, Redwoods employees are required to serve 40 hours a year of company time in the community.

Trapani ended by saying that the central concept of all faith communities – “Of those to whom much is given, much is expected” – should be the unifying theme of all businesses.