AN HONOR AND A CHALLENGE
JOHN ROGERS President and CEO TRINE Environmental Inc. Novi, MI
T
hroughout my career, I’ve been a dedicated field geologist. I had turned down growth opportunities because I wanted to be doing the hands-on work as long as I physically could. I was clueless on the administrative and business operating sides of the house, except
[to] turn in my time sheet and expense report and be happy every second Friday. Life was good until 2008, when the economy took a turn for the worse and the environmental fields took a heavy hit.
Environmental consulting is a high-risk field because even though most compa- nies preach that they want to do good by it, it’s the first program to get slashed in times of economic crisis. By dumb luck, I was visiting some friends when one of them approached me about working for her oil and gas firm. She knew my background was in geophysics. So, I found myself transplanted from my home in Michigan to Oklahoma, working as a horizontal geosteerer for an oil and gas company [analyzing subsurface geological data in real time to ensure that horizontal drilling is on target]. After about one month, the signs were on the wall: I had made an “oops” decision. Sure, I was making tons of money, but I struggled to adjust to the physical environment. I missed home, which had never been the case throughout my life and seven years of military service.
I voluntarily relinquished my duties and headed home to start from scratch in the worst economic crisis our generation has seen. I started with a lawn and landscape company, since I had been mowing and landscaping since I was 8. I borrowed money to buy equipment and quickly found myself doing prop- erty management jobs for HUD [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] contracts. Tat went well until winter.
Ten, again by dumb luck, a friend called me out the blue and asked what I knew about radon. He wanted to start a business installing radon mitigation systems. I called another friend, Pat, because he once ran an environmental business and was a well-respected environmental consultant taking a break from the risks of the field.
122
Army AL&T Magazine
January-March 2016
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