What a pleasant surprise to see retired ACA Connects Chairman, Bob Gessner at the 2022 Independent Show. It was Matt Polka’s retirement that spurred Gessner to make the trip to Orlando. At TIS22 and in the above interview Gessner had some moving words about Matt and his 25 years as ACA Connects’ leader.

Gessner has a few years of retirement experience on Polka, having passed the torch to his Katherine Gessner in 2019 as seen in this Viodi interview. The above comments complements a recent interview he gave to the CantonRep.com.

As would be expected with Gessner, he has brought his energy, drive, and practical thinking to three areas in his retirement.

• As Chairman of the non-profit Economic Development Board, Gessner is working with other community members to “increase the number of trade sector jobs so we can increase the wealth of the county.”
• Engaging in personal philanthropy, including building homes with Habitat for Humanity East Central Ohio.
• Beekeeping – Bob says his motivation is to help pollinators (USDA fact sheet PDF); the honey is a nice byproduct.¹ His secret is a hive from an Australian company, Flow Hive.  This unit simplifies the process of gathering honey, as evidenced by the images of the jars of honey sent by Gessner that are included in the above video.

It is clear from the above conversation that retirement has not changed Gessner. Just like when he was president and CEO of MCTV, he is as busy as ever helping people, his community, and the world at large.

¹ Gessner’s exploration of the bee world is reminiscent of another cable luminary, Leslie Ellis, and her work as the Bee Angel.

² In a follow-up email, Gessner recommends newbies start by getting involved with a local beekeepers’ association.  He also points out that mason bees offer a lower-cost, less labor-intensive way to get into the bee game.

ViodiTV coverage of TIS22 is courtesy of TIS22.