ThomasKern '68

Thomas L. Kern is the founder/chairman and retired CEO of Style Crest Enterprises Inc. Style Crest Products Group is one of the nation’s largest manufacturers and wholesalers of building products and services to the manufactured housing industry.

Kern is also a co-owner of KF Ventures Ltd. providing builder/development services including subdivisions, condominium housing, site-built housing and other construction services including downtown redevelopment within a multi-county area of northwest Ohio.

With $12,000 in savings and a short list of investors, Kern and his partner, Eric Haas, opened Poly-Foam International and Style Crest Enterprises in Fremont, Ohio, in 1970.

In 2014, Kern was recognized for his leadership in the manufactured housing industry and inducted into the RV/MH Hall of Fame. He won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2000 and the following year was selected as “Industry Person of the Year” by The Journal.

Kern is a member of the foundation board of Terra State Community College and the board of trustees for the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums. He previously served on the board of directors for the Sandusky County Chamber of Commerce and Goodwill Industries of Erie, Huron, Ottawa and Sandusky Counties Inc.

In 2016, Kern and his wife, Dorothy, received the Philanthropist of the Year award at the first ProMedica Philanthropy Awards celebration. The couple led a fundraising campaign in Sandusky County to bring cancer care close to home. The Kerns, who live in Fremont, Ohio, gave a generous gift to establish the Dorothy L. Kern Cancer Center in the city.

Kern earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration in 1968 from BGSU.