Ex-rocker riffs on home sweet home.

• Position: Mark Kennedy of Chemtex International Inc. - Brief Article

After playing electric guitar in garage bands as a Myrtle Beach teen in the '70s, Mark Kennedy knew what he wanted to be - an electrical engineer.

For some, pounding out power chords sparks pubescent dreams of fame, fortune, women and copious drug use. But Kennedy was more interested in the energy flowing into his instrument than the music flowing out. "The guitar and music electronics got me fascinated with electronics, and it seemed like a lucrative career to get into."

So in 1985, he got a bachelor's in electrical engineering from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., then worked as an engineer at DuPont in northern Delaware. He realized he wanted to be something else - a manager. "I really wasn't interested at all in economics or business in my undergrad days, but by the time I entered the MBA program at Wake Forest, I couldn't get enough of it."

After a stint with an engineering firm in Charlotte, he signed on as vice president of U.S. business development for New York City-based Chemtex International Inc. in April. In his latest gig, Kennedy, 37, will use his engineering and marketing skills to raise the 52-year-old engineering firm's domestic profile.

Chemtex specializes in chemical-plant design and construction. It moved its U.S. headquarters - and all but a handful of top executives - to Wilmington earlier this year to get closer to the South's growing industrial base and boost U.S. market share. About 100 of the company's 1,000 employees are in Wilmington. Most are overseas.

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