Keeley'n Spotlight: John Herrin

Keeley Construction’s leadership team is dedicated to our growth and to building teams that share Keeley’s vision for success and exceeding expectations. John Herrin, Vice President of Industrial, has prioritized strategic planning to enhance the Industrial Group and expand across the nation. Under John’s leadership, Keeley Industrial has two new subgroups, Manufacturing and Heavy Industries, serving various market sectors and clients.

John joined the Keeley Team in the summer of 2021, taking over the reins as Ted Mettler took his well-deserved retirement. John came in with an eye for strategy and a vision for growth and has spent the last year and a half building teams that are focused on efficient processes that deliver constant results. John spearheads our Manufacturing services and feels empowered every day to build this subgroup into a successful and top of mind construction partner.

“To have a team that understands, drives, and provides feedback to key processes in estimating, scheduling, project control, and project management is a must to deliver consistent world-class performance. I feel lucky to work with incredible people every day that truly live out this mindset.”

Throughout his high school and college years, John held various residential and commercial construction jobs. In college, he started off as a Physics major, but quickly realized that was not the career path he wanted to pursue. He took an entry level construction management class and changed his major during his sophomore year after finding his true passion. John then did a three-year internship with the University of Northern Iowa Engineering Department in which he assisted in the construction of all the new buildings on campus. After graduation, he joined a top ENR100 firm, beginning his career in Industrial construction.

John has loved every second of his construction career and his favorite thing about the industry is how dynamic it is. Industrial construction takes a lot of planning and coordination, so it is important to over communicate with team members and clients. John has always loved working with clients to get their projects completed while working around their operations and keeping those up and running. He constantly welcomes that additional challenge and strives to complete every project at the highest quality. John’s construction experience has been incredible and he wants young workers to feel the same, so if he could give one piece of advice to those just starting out in the industry, it would be:

“Have fun, put in the extra effort, never stop learning, and never stop building your network. This is a tough business, so don’t get too focused on the highs and lows.”

John came into his role with a strong vision for growth and he is excited to begin seeing some of that vision come to life. He is looking forward to continuing to see the Industrial Manufacturing Group grow to an over $100M business group. He sees this group serving as St. Louis and the Midwest’s go-to Industrial construction partner while growing his team members and hiring the best in the business. Keeley has some of the best people constantly striving for greatness and working to make each other better every single day. John truly believes that he found his career destination the moment he walked through the door and he is excited for all the future Keeley’ns who will one day call Keeley their home.

“I’ve never had a boring day in this business – it’s dynamic and fun. You add being part of Keeley to the equation and it makes it that much better by being part of a great team / family. There are countless opportunities to learn, give back, and advance your career.”

John, thank you for your leadership and passion for our Industrial Group. Your vision for the future is incredible and this group would not have this level of success without you.