The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Family Business

Korth & Shannahan: A Dynamic Family-Owned House Painting Business

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Will Korth, owner and founder of Korth & Shannahan Painting and Carpentry, started his career in the painting industry at the young age of 14. As a teenager, Will painted houses during his summer breaks from Horace Greeley High School. He started from the bottom of the ladder (literally) and climbed his way to the top of the company. Today, Will is the leader of a 40-person team of professional painters and carpenters that are dedicated to making Westchester a more beautiful place to live.

Founded in Family, Rooted in Westchester

For 44 years, the core values of Korth & Shannahan Painting have been founded in family. Today, owner Will is joined by his daughter Olivia Korth as she steps into the family business. Olivia is putting her Business Administration degree to use in her new role as the Director of Marketing & Recruitment for Korth Painting. Now the second generation to join her family business, Olivia finds her now role to be both challenging and exciting. This father-daughter team is tackling Westchester’s house painting industry head on.

Working with family surely comes with its benefits and challenges for this father-daughter duo. Will and Olivia both love working together every day and have become even closer than they were before Olivia came into the business. The pair certainly had to learn how to balance life and work as they navigate this new dynamic. In Olivia’s words, “We try not to ‘talk shop’ at home, or ‘talk family’ at the office. It’s all about balance.”

The perks of trusting a local and family-owned business are clear to Korth’s new and returning customers. When you call Korth & Shannahan to set up an estimate, Olivia is the one to pick up the phone. From there, she’ll send Will over to your home to provide an estimate for your project. There’s nothing better than working with a local family business.

Industry Leaders

Will Korth and his daughter Olivia Korth

Over their 44 years in the House Painting industry, Korth Painting has adapted to become the industry leader in the Westchester area, all the while keeping their roots firmly grounded in their local history.

Will Korth and his team are deeply committed to providing the highest quality workmanship for their customers. As Will says: “Customer service drives the bus.” Their outstanding service and attention to detail results in many repeat customers and long-lasting client relationships. One of Will’s favorite parts of the job is seeing the long-time customers that he painted for when he was a teenager. More than 40 years later, his customers still trust him to handle their home’s painting and carpentry needs.

Some of the notable customers the Korth team paints for include the Clintons, Clive Davis, and the Zabar family. Will is also proud of the work he’s done for local organizations such as the New Castle Historical Society and the Bedford Presbyterian Church. “Painting the Horace Greeley House was certainly a feather in our cap,” notes Will, who’s painted some of Westchester’s most notable historical buildings over the years.

A family owned and operated business like Korth & Shannahan Painting understands what it means to be dynamic. They’ve pivoted through five decades of change and survived a global Pandemic, using every challenge they’ve faced as an opportunity to learn and change with the times.

“Our customers will always get a team I know and trained, which ultimately results in consistently happy customers” says Korth. From their original service area of Chappaqua, Korth has expanded his base to now serve Northern and Southern Westchester as well. Armonk, Bedford, Pound Ridge, Mount Kisco, Chappaqua, Scarsdale and Rye are where Korth sees many of his customers. Will also provides a four-year warranty on every job he completes, which is double the industry standard. The team at Korth Painting works hard to stay ahead of new color trends, provide in-person color consultations, train their painters on new paint products, and find the best methods of paint application – all in the name of phenomenal customer service.    

To start your next project with Korth & Shannahan Painting, call 914-238-5388 or visit korthpainting.com.

Former Chappaqua Family Opens Award-Winning FENCES Winery in Oregon and Expands Business

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Deciding to move cross-country wasn’t an easy decision for the Lennon family. Jody and David Lennon had lived in Chappaqua for 16 years in a lovely house on Pond Hill Road and were busy raising their three sons, Spencer, Jeremy and Ethan. David worked as a commercial litigator in the city and Jody who also had a law degree had decided to take a pause from the work world to focus on raising her sons. They had many close friends and strong roots in the community.

David had a client who was based in Oregon and suggested that the family move out there for a simpler life but they were happy staying put. However, with David’s client roster becoming increasingly West Coast-based, the hectic lifestyle was beginning to take its toll. The Lennons would occasionally look at farm properties in Massachusetts and further north in the Hudson Valley as second homes but they never pulled the trigger.

Finally, in 2011 they decided to pack up their belongings and head to Oregon. As Jody says, “we flew across the country and landed on a vineyard.” The vineyard is in the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon, an area close to the California border with green valleys producing high-quality wines. Their property contained eight acres of vineyards that had never been harvested before. With the advent of their first harvest they selected the name FENCES Winery, a name that is derived from the fact that they were feeling “fenced in” before their move.

An Education on Viticulture

“Timing is really everything but if you told me we’d be doing this years ago, I would have laughed,” says Jody, a self-proclaimed oenophile (Cabernet Sauvignon is her favorite) who handles a variety of jobs including sales, marketing, warehouse and delivery. David who still practices law focuses more on specific vineyard duties such as mowing, pruning and deciding which trellis system is best for the grapes to grow. “David really immersed himself in learning about the industry by reading viticulture course books from the UC Davis School where many leading vintners graduate from,” explains Jody.

The couple in the beginning also attended monthly barrel tastings. This is where Jody began to discover that winemaking is “really an art and science.” “It is amazing to me that from the time the grapes are harvested and then put into barrels, the winemakers can pretty much tell how it will taste in two years.”

She learned terms such as “barrel program” meaning that the type of barrel that the wine is aged in plays a large factor in the nuances of the wine’s flavor. For example, American oak barrels impart vanilla undertones whereas French oak barrels tend to add more spice, and even the “toast” of the barrel is selected to contribute different attributes to a wine’s flavor.

Ignoring the Naysayers

Besides having to learn everything about the wine industry from scratch, they also had a lot of naysayers who suggested that growing Cabernet Sauvignon was a mistake due to the climate in Oregon and that it would be best grafting over to a different varietal. But Jody exclaims with a chuckle that she was determined to “drink her way to happiness” with Cabernet Sauvignon. The grape is the last to be picked in the valley usually around the third or fourth week in October. Due to climate change, the weather has gotten warmer and they’ve been successful with their grapes.


Seven years later, they just grafted ½ acre to produce Sauvignon Blanc starting next year, and this May they debuted a limited release of 25 cases of Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon. But Jody insists that they will stay focused on Cabernet Sauvignon. “There are wineries here producing 28 varietals and I don’t want to do that. We want to make the best wine we can and doing that requires focus.”

Accolades for Their Wines

And clearly their focus has been paying off. Wine Enthusiast Magazine, a leading authority in the industry just rated their 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon a 90 and listed it as an Editor’s Choice in their upcoming August 2019 issue. Their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon received a 91 in the same edition.

In addition, their 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon was awarded Best of Class at the 2018 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. The 2014 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon received a Silver Medal at the 2018 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, a Gold Medal from SIP’s Best of the NW, and then a Platinum in the Wine Press Northwest Wine Competition, where it was named “one of the Northwest’s top Cabs.”

Despite the success of their small winery, the Lennons still miss Chappaqua dearly. Jody misses simple things like getting lamb chops at the local butcher to more important matters like the strong emphasis on education in our community. While the family enjoys the slower pace of life in Oregon, they still consider Chappaqua as their home.

Jody recounts a very proud moment on one of her many trips back to the 10514 she took her cabernet sauvignon to Dodd’s Liquor Shop for a wine tasting. Although their products are only available online at www.fenceswinery.com, the wine buyer at Dodd’s was very impressed with the product and offered her recommendations for distributors who could help get the product into stores. “That was the ultimate compliment!”, she exclaims.