Remembering a Leader: Vance Gillette
As the pool industry mourns the passing of renown leader and advocate, Vance Gillette, WaterShapes editor and long-time friend, Eric Herman, offers a reflection on the career and influence of one of the industry’s most charismatic and outspoken proponents.
By Eric Herman
Vance Gillette — influential pool-industry leader, wildly successful corporate executive and beloved human — passed away August 10 following a long bout with cancer. He was 75.
One of the most well-known figures in the industry of any era, Vance started out in the trenches working sales. His pool journey began when he was still a teenager, taking a telemarketing job with Arneson pools in 1966, and then quickly moving into outside sales where he rapidly excelled.
Looking back, Vance often credited industry pioneer, Howard Arneson, for instilling him with perspectives that would serve as a foundation for his 50-plus year career. In an interview with this editor several years ago, Vance explained, “Arneson liked to say, you’re not selling a pool cleaner, you’re selling a clean pool.”
Throughout his career, Vance focused on the value of understanding and promoting the consumer experience, frequently saying, “It’s important to remember that we’re in the outdoor entertainment business,” and often adding, “When someone buys a Mercedes, they’re not thinking about the spark plugs, it’s all about the style and the smooth ride.”
Vance moved to chlorine generator producer Geni-Chlor for a brief tenure in the early 70s, but was later hired by Jandy Pool Products in 1975. He remained with the company through numerous changes in management and ownership until his retirement in 2013.
Long-time friend and former Jandy CEO, Andrew A. Pansini recalls the impact Vance had on Jandy, and the industry. “Vance had a tremendous appreciation for the customer and the importance that they played in the success of the company. He had a talent to make every customer feel like they were Jandy’s most important customer. He developed incredible relationships with everyone, customers, competitors, industry leaders and fellow employees. He earned the respect from every single one of them. I can honestly say that I learned more from Vance than anyone that I ever worked with in my whole career.”
Known for his outspoken and good-natured personality, Vance rose to prominence when he took on the industry’s approach to safety, one of its biggest hot-button issues, then and now. Former Pool & Spa News editor and WaterShapes founding publisher, Jim McCloskey recalls: “I met Vance Gillette in the late 1980s, when I was the relatively new editor at Pool & Spa News. He was looking for a way to publicize his profound disagreement with the way the pool industry was approaching safety issues that were dominating conversations and meetings from coast to coast at that time.
“For Vance,” he continues, “the problem was what he saw as the industry’s abject submission to the idea that pools were inherently dangerous rather than great, good fun. The last straw, to his way of thinking, was NSPI’s Gus and Goldie program, which he saw not only as wrong-headed, but as utterly doomed because it was abjectly underfunded and therefore would make little or no practical difference — lipstick without a pig to modify.”
Safety wasn’t the only area where Vance chose to push back against what he saw as misguided messaging, vehemently disagreeing with the industry’s efforts to promote the health benefits of swimming. “Fact is,” he said in a 2020 interview for AQUA Magazine, “most people who have pools never get wet. Instead, they’re making the decision to own a pool because of the beauty, prestige and entertainment.”
Although accurately labeled a contrarian, Vance always delivered his opinions with positivity, humor and the belief that serving others was the surest pathway to success. He was an outspoken advocate for industry education and was an early advocate of WaterShapes and Genesis 3, which he believed elevated the industry’s ability to satisfy customers with beautifully designed and executed outdoor spaces.
I had the privilege of working with Vance on a number of his commentaries and often sought his perspective and advice. We became good friends and had spoken many times during his retirement and illness. Our last conversation was back in May, when he called for no particular reason, as he often did. Although his voice was impacted by his progressing condition, he was as cheerful and thoughtful as ever. Without saying so directly, we both had a sense of the coda at hand.
When we concluded, he said. “I think we had some fun along the way.” I could hear his smile over the phone. Yes, fun and friendship, indeed.
Vance was understandably proud of his accomplishments, but never boastful and always felt there was more work to do in elevating the industry’s public profile and levels of success. Although retired more than a decade at the time of his death, Vance enthusiastically followed the industry, maintaining numerous close relations while remaining widely admired by many.
One of my favorite pieces by Vance was about his philosophy of D.O.N.E., published by AQUA in 2013. The letters stand for Delight your customers, take Ownership, do it Now, and Exceed expectations. Vance called it “The art of getting to ‘yes’.” To me, it’s a perfect distillation of his sunny, can-do style of business management and industry leadership. And, it’s both practical and inspiration advice.
Remembering Vance’s personality and influence, McCloskey said, “Vance was heroic, Homeric and boundlessly energetic, and time didn’t slow him by much. I treasure our friendship and our shared, conspiratorial memories — and I miss him with the narrow pain that follows real loss. Farewell, old friend. Be sure to give ’em what for on the other side.”