Carpentry
Diamond Oaks  
1979    
Oak Hills   

I wanted a career in construction, and Diamond gave me the chance to learn the trade while going to school.       

Having an instructor that had come from the trades gave them the ability to not only teach from the book but show us tricks they had learned over the years. It also helped gear the entire lessons around what is actually important.

I co-oped in a cabinet shop while in school; after graduation I started at a commercial construction firm and quickly learned the ropes. Within 8 years I was running the largest projects they had. At that point they brought me into the office to begin to estimate and run projects as a project manager.

I worked my way up from being an apprentice carpenter to being part owner of a large construction firm in approximately 20 years. As part of that firm I was the project lead as the construction manager at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden along with taking care of many other projects. After 35 years, I left this company.

After 2 ½ years, I was asked by the Cincinnati Zoo if I would consider coming back and starting an internal construction team for them. The Zoo is obviously a dream job and I jumped at the chance. We currently are working on a $150 million campaign to give kangaroos, penguins and most importantly, elephants much larger habitats.