This feature is in our weekly Monday Morning Report newsletter, which showcases our highest-level members. Leaders You Should Know highlights community leaders who are making a notable impact in the Nashville region.
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Tell us about yourself?
My lovely wife, Erin, and I have three children, two at Franklin High School and one at the University of Tennessee. Erin and I grew up in Kansas but raised our kids in Colorado. We moved to Nashville in 2020. It is quite an exciting time to plant new roots. I grew up hunting, and collectively, our family enjoys the outdoors. In Colorado, we spent as much time camping, fishing, and skiing as possible. We enjoy sports, theater, and lake time in Tennessee, and I started trail running. With our church in Colorado, we regularly participated in outreach ministries, and since moving to Tennessee, we have enjoyed the welcoming environment and are finding new ways to participate. (Our Kids Soup Sunday is my kids’ favorite!)
Tell us about your business/industry?
JE Dunn Construction is an industry leader and consistently ranked as the 8th largest contractor in the United States. With an office in Nashville for 30 years, we have proudly contributed to Nashville and Middle Tennessee’s skyline with numerous high-rise, multi-family, and office projects. However, our commitment goes beyond construction; we are deeply ingrained in the community and have always had a client-centric approach. We thrive on understanding unique needs, fostering lasting relationships, and delivering exceptional results. Our mission extends beyond the bottom line – we aim to create enduring structures that enhance the fabric of Nashville while actively seeking opportunities to expand our footprint in healthcare, industrial, higher education and other markets. With innovation, dedication, and a community-minded spirit, we are shaping the future of construction in the heart of Tennessee.
What should we know about you?
Our industry has no shortage of both challenges and opportunities to grow. And I love challenges and continuously learning as much as I enjoy mentoring others in their growth and learning journey. After almost 25 years at JE Dunn in multiple cities, with exceptional design and construction professionals, and with clients from a diverse array of markets, I find collaborating around significant challenges exhilarating as the outcomes we can accomplish together generally serve a greater good over our individual contributions.
How did you get to your current position?
As a fisherman, you want first to catch a lot of fish, then a big fish, and then teach others to fish. Our careers are similar. I have had great mentors, worked hard, and reflected on what they taught, and now I have the opportunity to lead and grow teams. Some compare construction to manufacturing, but it is much more of a service industry – we build the places where others do business. So, relationships with our clients, understanding their needs, and helping great teams deliver to meet these needs have been key to my growth.
What value do you see in Chamber involvement?
The chamber is where community leaders and industry peers connect. It is reflective of Nashville’s past and helps draft its future. Of the “House Rules” for working in Nashville a couple that connected with me were “Keep your Handshake Agreements, Trust is Valued Here” and “Honor your neighbor’s traditions so they can honor yours.” As members, we can connect with others in our industry and our community. Still, we also have an opportunity to get engaged to help draft that future. Like other aspects of our lives, success in our endeavors requires active participation and effort rather than passive observation.
What is your leadership style? How does that motivate yourself and your team?
I like to think of myself as a collaborator and a driver. For my teams, I like to ask challenging questions of people to ensure they are thinking and not just doing. For developing leaders, those questions are often about other team members’ roles and how managers are preparing the rest of the team for success. This allows all individuals to take ownership of their roles on the team as well as their outcomes. Often, they find a better way to accomplish things than I could have, and I learn from them.
How do you stay engaged in the community?
It is hard not to be engaged in the community. Not only are there so many ways to get involved, but Nashville is also a very open and entrepreneurial place. Almost every conversation, business or otherwise, ends with “you know who you should meet? Let me make an introduction.” I encourage people to find what they are passionate about, find it’s connection to your business, and say yes to opportunities to do good work.
What role does intra-industry collaboration play in your industry?
Intra-industry collaboration in design and construction is key to fostering solutions. From design/build approaches for faster and more reliable speed to market, to public-private-partnerships to deliver financing solutions to universities for student housing and other projects, to prefabrication to address labor concerns and deliver high quality and expedited construction in health care, collaboration between industry leaders, designers, and general contractors is strong and increasing.
If you could switch careers for a day, what would you do and why?
I have a friend who has become a reasonably successful musician and has spent time as a fly-fishing guide. That sounds pretty good to me. I can’t think of a better office view than a stage at a festival or studying a stream from a boat.
