Genesee: Made for the Trade, Volume 14

Campaign highlights variety and quality of jobs available at the state's oldest brewery

Note: This newsletter is a sponsored partnership between the Genesee Brewery and the Cleveland Prost.

Kevin Gillam, a lifelong Buffalo resident, made a huge move less than two years ago and he doesn’t regret it for a second.

Gillam left his 30-year career at General Mills, the historic cereal manufacturer in Buffalo, to come to the state’s oldest brewery.

He gave up employment at one iconic company and headed to another — the Genesee Brewery in Rochester. Gillam was hired as the brewery’s plant maintenance manager, responsible for overseeing more than 90 skilled tradespeople. They are the unsung heroes at the brewery campus as they are responsible for troubleshooting and ensuring everything runs smoothly.

Kevin Gillam, plant maintenance manager at the Genesee Brewery, is the latest Genny employee to be featured in the brewery’s Made for the Trade campaign.

The campaign shows the wide range of rewarding careers at the brewery. Genny employs more than 600 people and the brewing department, which numbers about 50 people, isn’t even the largest department at the expansive 28-acre St. Paul Street campus.

The digital campaign showcases careers in packaging, operations, maintenance, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, security, and so much more. It aims to show the range of careers available without a college degree, those that can be obtained through union and trade training.

More details about jobs can be found here: https://www.fifcousa.com/careers/.

Here’s a bit more about Kevin:

Q: What do you do at the brewery? And who do you oversee?

A: I am responsible for overseeing all the tradespeople. They all directly and indirectly report up through me. So I have eight different departments that report up to me and five different unions. I have tradespeople from Local 86 electrical, Local 118 carpenters, storeroom and garage, Local 46 sheet metal, Local 13 pipefitters, and Local 158 operating engineers.

Q: How many people do you oversee?

A: About 90.

Q: Before you came to Genny, where did you work?

A: I was at General Mills in Buffalo for 30 years.

Q: What attracted you to Genesee and Rochester?

A: I got a call actually. They called me and asked if I would be interested in interviewing for the plant maintenance manager role. It was very intriguing to me. I had other opportunities. But for whatever reason, the brewery caught my attention. I am a Buffalo boy, born and raised there. My first beer was a Genny Cream Ale. It was stolen out of mom’s back hallway when I was younger and it was very warm and it wasn’t that pleasant. So being born and raised in Buffalo, Genny was everything. It’s all I ever saw. When I heard that call, I thought, ‘You know, I am going to listen to them and see what it’s about.’ I always expected to finish my career at General Mills. It worked out well.

Q: How did you prepare for your current role at Genny? What experiences did you have at General Mills to help lead you to this point?

A: It’s a really neat path. I started at General Mills in 1991 sweeping floors, in a union. I did multiple union jobs for 10 years. I was in a mechanical apprenticeship, both packaging and general mechanic maintenance. I did some training through a trade school. And then I decided to move into management at General Mills after I was recruited in 2000. At that point, I came over as a maintenance supervisor. I spent 10 years in the cereal plant, doing maintenance supervision, packaging supervision, maintenance, logistics, operations. I literally worked in almost every department in the plant. I did it because I always raised my hand and I wanted to learn. I spent my last 10 years at our flour facility. I was in charge of maintenance and packaging operations for the entire flour mill in Buffalo. And that was when I got the call from Genny.

I was prepared primarily by working my way up through the ranks, being a union employee, and then taking on everything they put in front of me. That thirst for knowledge or curiosity to learn something new, that really helped me get where I am now. That was the most important thing in my career.

Q: What are some of the similarities you encountered between General Mills and Genesee?

Q: The flour mill in Buffalo that I was responsible for, it has been there since 1904. It can be a little overwhelming coming into the brewery that has been there since 1878. Like, ‘Oh my gosh, I am going to come in and work on all this old equipment.’ So by working in a facility steeped in history like General Mills, it prepared me for this new role. I love the history of an old facility, working on old equipment. We used to literally go to the Mill City Museum (in Minneapolis) or some other places to get parts, because that’s how old some of the equipment was. So I was prepared to come into the brewery. It didn’t scare me. It really prepared me for both the new and old.

Q: What makes you most proud about working for Genesee?

A: Not letting anybody down and upholding that tradition. I am never afraid of failure. Failure is not an option. So many people put so much time and decades into this place and for me to come in and let that slide, that’s not an option. I love the history, so I think it is something to be proud of. I make sure we recognize the past. Everybody wants to know where we’re going, but it would be a shame to forget about where we’ve been.

Q: What’s your favorite Genesee beer?

A: I’m a Genny Light guy.

Q: What advice would you give someone hoping to work at Genesee?

A: Be willing to go wherever it takes you. Just come in with eyes wide open and a positive attitude. Let us help determine where your skill set fits. You can’t teach energy and you can’t teach work ethic.

More about this partnership

Genny wants to hire you! By highlighting the wide variety of positions available at the brewery, the hope is that folks will see a college degree isn’t a necessity for a great career. Many of these union and trade positions come equipped with opportunity for learning and advancement.

“We want to continue to attract people to union and skilled trades. There is a shortage of skilled workers, and the industry needs to attract more women and minorities. There are viable career opportunities for virtually anyone who wants to work in beer,” said Mary Beth Popp, vice president of communications, FIFCO USA. 

To learn more about working at the Genesee Brewery, go to: https://www.fifcousa.com/careers/