Kathryn Hach-Darrow
Kathryn “Kitty” Hach-Darrow was raised on a Missouri farm, and started college at a small girls school in Columbia, Missouri. Later she transferred to Iowa State University where she majored in food science, and eventually met her husband-to-be, Clifford.
In 1948, with $8,000 from the sale of one of Clifford’s inventions, the Hach Chemical Company made it’s fledgling start and has since grown to become one of the top producers of laboratory and water monitoring equipment in the United States. Under Hach’s management, the Loveland based company grew to an employee base of over 900 people and into one of the top women owned businesses in the United States. Hach’s leadership and guidance allowed Hach Industries to earn $121,480,000 in 1998, and earned her the nomination for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. In 1999, Hach sold her company for $355 million in stock and assumed debt, to the Washington D.C. based Danaher Corp., the maker of Sears Craftsman tools. Today, about 70 percent of the nation’s municipalities use the company’s equipment to test water quality.
Mrs. Hach-Darrow was the first woman director of the American Water Works Association, and later served on numerous AWWA committees. She also was the first women to serve as director of the First National Bank of Loveland, Colorado, and currently serves on the executive committee of Northwood University. Kathryn Hach-Darrow received the 1993 Woman of the Year Award, presented by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.
Hach is a founding member of the committee of 200 Executive Women and is a member of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed women pilots. Mrs. Hach has been flying for over 40 years and first received her pilot license in 1954 in Aims, Iowa. Hach has accumulated over 7000 hours of flying time and is multi-engine instrument and jet rated. When interviewed for an article that appeared in the September 16th issue of Forbes magazine, the then 68-year old grandmother stated “we have a corporate jet, but I fly my own.”
Hach has always been a leader and innovator in any industry she chose to become involved in. Faced with the growing challenge of hiring a skilled workforce in 1991, Hach took the boardroom to the classroom and instituted a cutting edge educational program with-in Hach Industries. Mrs. Hach employed three fulltime teachers to offer 42 different courses on subjects ranging from basic writing skills to algebra. In the following weeks Hach Industries reported fewer production errors and employee retention increased steadily. Hach doesn’t argue that these improvements stemmed form the educational programs, and has no doubt that the programs more than paid for themselves.
“This is the future,” says Hach, “If people are educated it makes running a business that much easier.”
In 1948, with $8,000 from the sale of one of Clifford’s inventions, the Hach Chemical Company made it’s fledgling start and has since grown to become one of the top producers of laboratory and water monitoring equipment in the United States. Under Hach’s management, the Loveland based company grew to an employee base of over 900 people and into one of the top women owned businesses in the United States. Hach’s leadership and guidance allowed Hach Industries to earn $121,480,000 in 1998, and earned her the nomination for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. In 1999, Hach sold her company for $355 million in stock and assumed debt, to the Washington D.C. based Danaher Corp., the maker of Sears Craftsman tools. Today, about 70 percent of the nation’s municipalities use the company’s equipment to test water quality.
Mrs. Hach-Darrow was the first woman director of the American Water Works Association, and later served on numerous AWWA committees. She also was the first women to serve as director of the First National Bank of Loveland, Colorado, and currently serves on the executive committee of Northwood University. Kathryn Hach-Darrow received the 1993 Woman of the Year Award, presented by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.
Hach is a founding member of the committee of 200 Executive Women and is a member of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed women pilots. Mrs. Hach has been flying for over 40 years and first received her pilot license in 1954 in Aims, Iowa. Hach has accumulated over 7000 hours of flying time and is multi-engine instrument and jet rated. When interviewed for an article that appeared in the September 16th issue of Forbes magazine, the then 68-year old grandmother stated “we have a corporate jet, but I fly my own.”
Hach has always been a leader and innovator in any industry she chose to become involved in. Faced with the growing challenge of hiring a skilled workforce in 1991, Hach took the boardroom to the classroom and instituted a cutting edge educational program with-in Hach Industries. Mrs. Hach employed three fulltime teachers to offer 42 different courses on subjects ranging from basic writing skills to algebra. In the following weeks Hach Industries reported fewer production errors and employee retention increased steadily. Hach doesn’t argue that these improvements stemmed form the educational programs, and has no doubt that the programs more than paid for themselves.
“This is the future,” says Hach, “If people are educated it makes running a business that much easier.”
