Executive Vice President, Leviton Manufacturing Co.

What one factor is most important to success?

Honesty and integrity.

What do you look for in an employee?

A willingness to get the job done, a positive attitude, and someone who’s a team player.

What’s the best way to save money?

Little by little.

What’s the best way to spend money?

Little by little.

What’s your greatest pleasure?

Seeing people succeed and advance themselves. Seeing people be productive, and happy, employees.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

I go exercise, after I brush my teeth.

How do you deal with stress?

In various ways, obviously exercise helps. The best way, I guess, is to remember—as far as business stress goes, for example—that it’s only business. Remember that you have to look at the whole picture to realize how lucky all of us are with how little stress we have here. Go to China and see how they live. It seems relatively benign in comparison.

What one lesson do you hope to pass on to your children?

I have children and grandchildren. In a career—not necessarily just in business—do something you’re going to look forward to doing everyday. And in life? Try and put more into it than you take out of it.

How do you bounce back from adversity?

Two ways. One, I commit myself to work harder at it. Two, I think of a different approach to solving the problem.

What’s your favorite thing about Queens?

Well, our office is located in Little Neck, and we’ve been here since 1971. We’re right on the border of Nassau, so I have to be careful, but it’s a great place to work. We have good people here, and it’s wonderful being part of New York City.

Under Hendler’s direction as Executive Vice President, a position he’s held since 1994, the Leviton Manufacturing Company Inc. has grown to become North America’s largest manufacturer of electrical and electronic wiring devices. Through a series of strategic acquisitions spearheaded by Hendler, the Little Neck company has expanded the breadth and depth of its product and services offerings, venturing into emerging growth markets like the commercial voice and data and residential structured cabling markets. The company has also entered into a significant number of strategic alliances with technology leaders across a broad range of industries to develop solutions for improved electrical safety, energy savings, convenience and enhanced security.

Hendler is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College.