When Phil Wenger stepped down nearly two years ago as head of Isaac鈥檚 Famous Grilled Sandwiches, the restaurant chain he built, he made it clear he wasn鈥檛 retiring.
He had just tired of the rat race of the for-profit world and was, as he put it, looking for the next mountain to climb.
“The nature imagery is apt given that he鈥檒l become Lancaster County Conservancy鈥檚 chief executive officer Jan. 1.
I鈥檝e always had a love of nature, and being outside is where my soul gets restored and where I find my mental health comes back into balance,鈥� Wenger, 58, a Lancaster city resident, said.
He will succeed Michael Burcin, who announced in April he would step down for health and personal reasons. Burcin took over for longtime leader Ralph Goodno, who died last year of leukemia.
The conservancy was on a short list of organizations Wenger said he鈥檇 have considered leading, but he didn鈥檛 apply when the position was first posted.
Then about a month ago, he talked to conservancy leaders about the organization鈥檚 challenges and opportunities and what type of candidate they were looking for.
A couple of days later, he applied.
鈥淎s soon as I lit on this idea of running the conservancy the way Ralph Goodno did, it was like two sides of a magnet coming together in my soul, and I said, 鈥楾his is really what I鈥檇 love to do,鈥� 鈥� he said.
Under Goodno鈥檚 leadership, the conservancy鈥檚 preserved acreage grew from 1,445 when he arrived in 2002 to more than 5,000 acres around the time of his death in June 2014.
Creative, successful, connected
Several people who know Wenger describe him as creative, a strategic thinker and a successful businessman with plenty of connections. He鈥檚 vice chairman of Lancaster General Health and past chairman of The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design. He鈥檚 also served Planned Parenthood, YWCA Lancaster, United Way, Fulton Opera House and many other groups.
鈥淚t鈥檚 impressive that the organization was able to reach out and tap someone of that talent,鈥� Sam Bressi, Lancaster County Community Foundation president and CEO, said.
Wenger was foundation chair when Bressi was hired to lead it in 2008.
Wenger cares passionately about Lancaster city and county, Bressi said. And, 鈥渉e built a business that was predicated on giving back to the community,鈥� Bressi said.
Isaac鈥檚 offers health insurance to employees who work at least 25 hours a week and supports many charitable causes.
Carol Simpson, chair of the conservancy鈥檚 board, said Wenger鈥檚 success as an entrepreneur and his 鈥減assion and proven track record for helping organizations grow was a key factor in choosing him.鈥�
Dick Minnich, a member of the search committee and past board chair, said there were many qualified applicants, but Wenger rose to the top.
鈥淗e walks into the room and has a presence about him. He always commands attention, not by saying a word,鈥� Minnich said.
John McGrann is the conservancy board鈥檚 vice chair, was on the search committee and is Wenger鈥檚 next-door neighbor.
It was natural for him to reach out to Wenger, he said, and he鈥檚 pleased Wenger is coming aboard.
鈥淚 think it allows him to discover one more career that ignites passion and energy,鈥� McGrann said.
Job conditions
Wenger, in an interview Thursday, said he had several conditions for wherever he ended up. The organization would have to have growth potential, and it had to be complex 鈥� a challenge.
Check. Check. The conservancy has in-house counsel to handle easements and land acquisition. And 鈥減reserving our environment and using nature to hold back the forces that have been unleashed, whether it鈥檚 global warming at a global scale or whether it鈥檚 storm water runoff at a local scale鈥� is complex work, he said.
The organization would also have to have good governance. 鈥淭hey have a very committed and very community-represented board,鈥� Wenger said. Finally, 鈥淚 had to have something that鈥檚 in alignment with what feeds me. Life for me is about energy,鈥� he said.
Nature does that for him, he said, noting he spent part of his childhood in Ethiopia, the son of missionary parents.
His father was an amateur ornithologist and his mother knew the different types of trees and shrubs around them, he said.
And since he stepped down from Isaac鈥檚, Wenger has been rehabbing an old angler鈥檚 cottage along the Susquehanna River on the York County side.
鈥淚鈥檝e got bird feeders all around it,鈥欌�� Wenger said. 鈥淚 have the river that鈥檚 in front of me. I see the migrating birds come and go. I sat on the porch the other day and watched a snake eat a little rabbit 鈥� very sad, but this is nature. And we have a wonderful area there, a habitat, that I want to try to protect. … It anchors me. I go there and my soul is restored.鈥�
As Wenger鈥檚 neighbor, McGrann said, 鈥淚 got to see how passionate he is and how much energy he gets from being at the river.鈥�
Priority: Preserve more land
Wenger said the conservancy has gone about its mission quietly.
鈥淚 believe they hired me to energize this growth path and actually accelerate it,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we do that by going out into the community and making connections by bringing in additional partnerships and raising additional money.鈥�
His highest priority, and that of the search committee, is to preserve more land, he said.
鈥淟ancaster County is one of those special and unique places where we still have farmland and we still have wild places, and if we want it not to be like (suburban Philadelphia) we need to act now,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I think there鈥檚 a high level of interest in this community to do that.鈥�
He鈥檚 committed to involving city residents in environmentalism, noting the city鈥檚 efforts to combat stormwater runoff that ultimately pollutes the Chesapeake Bay.
鈥淲e think it鈥檚 really important that if you live in the city, you are also an environmentalist and you鈥檙e not given a pass,鈥� he said.
And he鈥檚 interested in education, citing the conservancy鈥檚 new education center at its Climbers Run Nature Preserve in southern Lancaster County.
鈥淎nybody we have interact with our preserves, we think become missionaries to help preserve more,鈥� he said.
This article was re-printed with permission from LNP, Lancaster, Pa. Nov. 2, 2015.