Family info Ann and I married July 31, 2004 in the backyard of our home in Pittsford NY, outside Rochester, We are a blended family with 5 kids. My two kids from my first marriage- Gabe (31) and Jesse (27) Germanow. Ann’s kids from her first marriage- Rick (31), Evan (28) and Sophie (24) Beckerman. We are fortunate that our kids have gotten along very well together. Many a summer weekend early in our marriage was spent at a family cottage on nearby Keuka Lake and winter weekends and Holidays were spent skiing in the resort town of Ellicottville NY, South of Buffalo. We’ve also taken family trips to Aspen Co, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, and Mexico. Ann’s 3 kids all live in San Diego, my son Gabe lives in N. Cal near Yosemite Park and my son Jesse is finishing a Masters this summer at London School of Economics and will likely end up on the West coast too. So it appears Ann and I will be spending much more time there in the years to come!
Ann and I have been able to take some time away from work in the past few years to enjoy travels to San Diego of course, Hawaii, Italy and just recently Scotland, England and Ireland. We enjoy exploring, walking, hiking on these trips and of course tasting the local foods! Around Rochester we walk,bike and ski as well and enjoy going to the latest movies. Personally, I gave up Rugby a while ago but I still play in a weekly basketball league in the Winter and a weekly golf league in the summer.
Contact Info
John Germanow
38 Chelsea Park
Pittsford, NY 14534
585-218-0672 Home
585-330-6090 Cell
jgermanow@gmail.com
Professional Background My wife and I started a business 10 years ago- The Scensible Source Co. http://www.scensiblesource.com and http://www.scensiblesbags.com. Our tag line is “Innovative Products for the Disposal of Feminine Care Items”! The genesis for the business was Ann’s experience at a prior work place where the existing disposal conditions were unacceptable to her and she knew right then and there that there had to be a better way! After a lot of tinkering, prototyping, market surveys, focus groups etc we developed our first and still primary product- a small, single use plastic disposal bag- with a fragrance-hence the name “Scensibles”- a double entendre evoking the scent and a practical, useful, makes sense kind of product. We have grown steadily every year form those humble beginnings to broaden our line to include wall mounted dispensers for packs of the bags, specialized feminine waste receptacle bags and more recently larger bags for adult bladder control. Most of our business is in the US supplying a wide variety of commercial and public facilities including Disneyland, San Diego Zoo, Atlanta Airport, Washington State Ferry system, Ohio State Univ., Wegmans Grocers, U Mass. We source our products from manufacturers in China, Italy and the UK that are able to hold to our quality standards. We are looking forward to the next few years of accelerated growth as we embark on some new partnerships and large customers.
Prior to this I spent 10 years as an independent broker/agent/intermediary raising start-up and growth financing for promising local companies and working on small Merger and Acquisition deals through an International Assoc. of M & A professionals.
Before this I was co-owner of a small environmental services firm for four years where we performed Air testing and monitoring for Asbestos removal projects, environmental surveys and oversaw small soil cleanup jobs.
I joined our family business- plastic watch crystals and lenses and industrial and commercial thermometers- in Rochester right after completing my MBA at Cornell Univ in 1979. I worked there until the mid 1990’s as Materials Manager and Plant Manager when I got the urge to go out and do more on my own.
This included a run for a position in our local County Legislature. Although I lost the campaign, it was an incredible experience- going door to door, attending local events etc and gave me a sense of political campaigns on a larger scale.
My political run was inspired by the year I spent right after Midd graduation in Washington DC working for my local Congressman and a study commission he co-chaired- The Commission on Federal Paperwork! While working on a variety of projects, my primary job was to set up and man a Toll Free Hot line for anyone to call in complaints about excessive forms. The main caller to the Hot Line happened to be my Mother who would call “just checking in”!
To this day, tangible lasting evidence of the Commission’s work is found on every bill Congress considers- it has to have a “Paperwork Impact Statement” (akin to an Environmental Impact Statement) for the amount of time it takes to fill out any mandated forms that may come from that bill or any other gov’t forms.
Favorite Memory Dr Jazz parties at Sig Ep (well a blurred memory)
Memorable Professors Rowland Illick and Vincent Malmstrom- both Geography.
While Illick and I had some strong differences on the Israeli/Arab conflict- he was my adviser and I greatly admired him. Malmstrom was an incredible lecturer who combined wit and dry humor into his talks.
Memorable Song Introduced to “The Boss” Bruce Springsteen by Eric Silverman- Frosh hall mate and roommate Sr year- a Philly boy with close Jersey Shore connections.
Memorable song has to be “Born to Run”
Old Photos:
Eric Siverman, John Germanow, Andy Sobel, Dave Byrd
Peter Prescott and Eric Silverman
John with Betsy Kuphal
Eric Silverman and Senior Thesis
Midd76 