Jonathan D. “John” Coleman John spent the frst 17 years of his career with tools in hand. After graduating from Gates Chili High School outside Rochester, N.Y., he was hired as a carpenter for Eastman Kodak Co., where his father was a painter. In the next eight years, he was a team leader, then a supervisor, and fnally a construction manager. After 25 years, however, John lost his job when Kodak shut down the construction division—a humbling experience, he says, although he knew it was coming. Within minutes of posting his resume to an online job board, he received a phone call from an environmental company that noticed his asbestos license. The carpenters at Kodak were often exposed to asbestos, and John was required to maintain an asbestos license. Although the only environmental experience he had was the annual training his license required, the company hired him on the spot, and his frst assignment was a large three-building asbestos abatement project—at Kodak. He received only two weeks of hands-on training before being left on his own. John didn’t like the way his employer treated its customers and employees, and when they disrespected him, he quit. In 2008, John accepted an ofer to help build KBHE. Only the second employee on the payroll, John was on every site himself, often alone, and could be found many times at 3 in the morning sweeping up Speedy Dry after a spill. As the division grew from two to 10 employees, he could dispatch the calls to supervisors on a rotating basis instead of heading out the door himself. Until the succession plan was fnalized in late 2024, John still personally answered every phone call for emergency spill response—at all hours of the day and night. John became vice president in 2010, and when he was promoted to president in 2019, his focus turned from daily feld work to leading the overall direction of the company. His leadership style is participative, actively seeking diverse input and open communication among the team. He likes fostering a sense of shared responsibility, and he makes decisions based on valuable information the employees provide. The goal is to prove to new customers that KBHE is the best contractor out there. John’s early childhood memories are of a love of building things and the good feeling that came from looking at what he had just built. He is a carpenter at heart, and a favorite part of his job is leading the Carpentry Division, which often works hand in hand with KBHE. With the transition to retirement underway, he’s pleased he’ll be staying on in a consulting role for the next few years, admitting he’s a bit sad that he won’t be as much of a part of something so wonderful. He hopes to travel and see parts of the world. He’ll also spend time closer to home, trying his hand with a lathe he bought a few years ago and enjoying boating, fshing, and cottage life. 20 The Next Hundred Years
