MOSSWORDS: In the go and on the know: Paul Perkins pushes workforce development

JEFFERSONVILLE — Paul Perkins could not meet with Wendy Dant Chesser, president of One Southern Indiana.

Things like that happen.

Perkins was to be instead with the president of Uruguay.

Things like that do not happen.

Then again, Southern Indiana does increasingly share Perkins with the world. Perkins' reach, both as head of Amatrol and as civic leader, keeps him in the know and on the go.

"We are ambassadors for our country as well as for our company," Perkins told me. "It's rewarding."

Perkins is as low key as he is high impact. The next back he slaps will be his first. But the people who need to know Perkins obviously do. "He's probably more appreciated outside this community than inside," Dant Chesser said of her former board chair.

Or as Andrew Melin, superintendent of the Greater Clark Schools, put it, "Paul Perkins is a force. Many people do not realize the value he brings to the table."

Family-owned Amatrol doubled its manufacturing space two years ago in a slick building on this city's bustling east side. High-tech materials are designed and manufactured there, sold to schools and businesses globally to help them train.

Perkins' workforce of 170 is mostly well-educated, highly-skilled, the types of people companies can struggle to find. Thus sprung the spillover of Perkins from private to public leader. Who better ready to help Indiana, to help anywhere, bridge the gap between what we are taught and what employers need us to learn?

That is why Perkins chairs a statewide workforce-development effort and just finished a term as head of a similar national initiative. Already extra busy, the 58-year-old Perkins devotes two days per week, on average, to this bigger picture. "I'm not slowing down," he said. "I love what I do.

"The work is not work. It's fun."

So Dant Chesser gladly shares Perkins with Uruguay, with where ever. "It ties his corporate vision with his philanthropic vision," she said. "He's really identified that intersection."

Amatrol evolved from Dynafluid, a company founded by Paul's late father, Don Perkins. Paul Perkins beams talking about how Amatrol's products - called learning systems - matter to much more than the firm's bottom line. "We help people get skills, enable them to have a better life," he said. "It's a tremendous honor to make a difference."

When Amatrol is ready to add people, Perkins too expects a challenge. The definition of a ready, tech-savvy workforce increasingly changes. Amatrol finds clients eager, perhaps desperate, to try to keep up. Perkins' company works in 40 countries and in all 50 states. "So many people out there don't have good jobs or don't have a job," Perkins said. "Teaching these technical skills is a path to success."

Amatrol does not just ship crates of complex stuff. Perkins told me how a leader of Kenya said interaction with Amatrol swayed that country's viewpoint of our country. "That's probably one of the best compliments paid to us," Perkins said.

Amatrol's impact was noticed not just by Kenya. Exceptionally-versed both in business and with education, Perkins was ideal to help lead more than his employees. Perkins' father was community-minded and had urged his son to follow. Describing himself as results-oriented, though, Paul Perkins did not fit naturally as star of a bigger show.

He did agree to seats on assorted boards, including the state chamber of commerce and the Indiana manufacturing association. And before long, Perkins appreciated how much he learns in such settings. He also enjoys the value of networking along, of course, with the unique opportunity to affect broad change.

Still in the middle of much, Perkins talks but he also listens. He seeks to forge partnerships, to avoid conflict. He likes to remind that it is not merely nice for employers and educators to get along. It is necessary. Perkins likewise reminds of the dignity in all work. Let's help people find their best career fit. As Perkins said, "It's tremendously rewarding."

Working closely with Perkins, Melin said of him, "His outward mindset, that is a gift that he has."

Hardly the type to pull one's leg, Perkins said he actually looks forward to meetings. "I do sometimes have a guilty feeling - not getting something done here (at Amatrol)," he said.