JEFF TAYLOR »MONROE ROADWAYSWho: Jeff Taylor joined Monroe Roadways in 2002 in a managing capacity andbecame president in 2008.Where: 300 Hogan Road.Interesting fact: Taylor is married, and he’s the proud father of four girls. “Ina contractor’s world, you’re working primarily with men, but I’m outnumberedat home significantly. I’m only the boss at work — not home.”

DIGGING UP BUSINESS

Jeff Taylor was brought up in the con-struction industry.His father owned a con-struction business in the ’60s.

Today, he is president and co-owner ofMonroeRoadways, a site contracting com-pany that’s been in business for 50 years.Heandhis teamarecurrentlyworkingonanumber of projects, including the Univer-sityofRochester’sCollegeTownandRoch-ester Institute of Technology’s Gene Polis-seni Center.

As a site contractor, Monroe Roadwaysis responsible for everything that happenson a sitewhere abuildingwill be—paving,excavation, underground utilities, land-scaping and more.

The Gene Polisseni Center will includea pedestrian plaza outside of the 4,150-seatarena at RIT. “There are nice landscapingfeatures toenhancetheproject, andbench-es, seatingandtrashreceptacles thatwe’redoing—when it’s all said and done, it’s likea park out there,” Taylor said.

Thecenter is looking tobecomeLeader-ship in Energy & Environmental Design-certified by theU.S. GreenBuilding Coun-cil. To do so, all the contractors on the jobare required to use LEED-certified build-ing materials.

“It’s all about … finding use for any-thing you demolish,” Taylor said. “We takeconcrete and asphalt from a demolitionand bring it to local quarries where it’scrushed and resold, or crushed and turnedback into asphalt again.”

Over atUR, the team—which averages50 in the busy season and 20 in the offsea-son — has begun work on College Town,which will turn 14 acres of university-owned property into a shopping and diningdestination,withhousing,hotelandconfer-ence facilities, parking and more.

The site construction company will beresponsible for site demolition, utilities,paving and more. It will also construct anew city street running through the pro-ject, called Celebration Drive.

Eleven years ago when Taylor startedwith thecompany, its focuswasonbuildingsubdivisions. But with the collapse of thehousing market and the downsizing of theconstructionmarket after EastmanKodakCo., Xerox Corp. and Bausch + Lomb Inc.scaled back, Taylor had to get creative.

“I thinkwehavemorphedasacompany.We made adjustments to our workforceand equipment to think differently, planahead, become more aggressive in ourpricing and provide better service to ourcustomers,” he said.

Shengulette is a freelance writer cov-ering the Rochester area.

Monroe Roadways CEO Jeff Taylor stands at the College Town site where his companyis doing road construction. ANNETTE LEIN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Monroe Roadwaysworking on projectsfor UR and RITJinelle Shengulette

TIPS FROM JEFF TAYLOR ON RUNNING A BUSINESS

Exceed expectations. We keep customers informed and involved, provide the highest-quality product without cutting corners and provide competitive pricing.

Empower employees, and praise their success. We empower employees by getting theminvolved with our customers. …Many customers ask for our employees by name whendoing their next project with us.

Trust your instincts — they are seldom wrong. I use my instincts when searching forprojects to bid or negotiating contracts. …My instincts help me find customers thatunderstand a good value and not only the lowest price.

Enjoy what you do, and do it well.

DemocratandChronicle.com D Sunday, October 13, 2013 Page 3E

Business ConNextions Success stories

and solutions for

small business

To submit your new hires or promotions, use our form at http://on.rocne.ws/OTMove.

LORNAWRIGHTCompany: Genesee Land Trust.New job: Director of conservationprograms.Previous job: The Nature Conser-vancy.Home: Rochester.

JOSEPH ZACCARDOCompany: Adrian Jules CustomClothiers.New job: Professional wardrobeconsultant.Previous job: Not provided.Home:Webster.

SHELDONMEYERSCompany: Rochester Meat Co.New job: Vice president of market-ing.Previous job: JFS/Curtze.Home: Brockport.

CYBIL J. EVERMANCompany: Five Star Bank.New job: Area sales manager, vicepresident.Previous job: Remains branch manager.Home: Dansville, Livingston County.

LEIGH NORMOYLECompany: City Blue Imaging.New job: Supervisor of digital printingand mail services.Previous job: Penny Lane Printing.Home: Conesus, Livingston County.

BILL WOODCompany: Next Step EducationGroup.New job: Lead developer.Previous job: Storm Frog.Home: Chili.

On the move

ThePROfile

Welcome to NextUp, a new weeklyfeature that will highlight eventsentrepreneurs can use to help run andgrow their businesses. Email ideas toRocNext@DemocratandChronicle.com.

Helping hands

Rochesterians like to help. It’s abig reason why the community ranksamong the best in charitable giving,volunteerism, mentorship and justbeing there for others in need.

Similar helping hands efforts hap-pen in the business community aswell. This area puts together a heftyschedule of business seminars andnetworking events as well as trainingand development sessions. Many ofthese are run by volunteers, and someare even free. Here are three:

Meet other pros

Get out and network at the AugustGroup’s monthly “mega” networkingevent, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdayat Johnny’s Irish Pub, 1382 CulverRoad. The monthly networking eventis among several hosted by the volun-teer organization looking to help pro-fessionals in the area with a variety ofevents, such as career fairs, seminarsand more.

Admission is $6 and includes re-freshments, pizza and, according tothe website, beer. For more, go toaugustgroup.org.

Learn

Those looking for help starting abusiness — or wanting to knowmoreabout funding, marketing, socialmedia, patents and more—mightwant to check out the Entrepreneur’sConference Friday hosted by theSaunders College of Business atRochester Institute of Technology.

Headliner Scott Wilson, founder ofChicago-based branding companyMinimal, will be joined by RIT facultyand alumni and some local entrepre-neurs. Registration for the public,which includes lunch, is $25.

For more information, go torit.edu/cob/entconf/2013.

Boot camp

Many local business-es likely have foundways to incorporatetechnology in the work-place. Business ownerswho want to knowmorecan turn to a Boot Campoffered by the SmallBusiness Council of Rochester.

Bob Dunning and Justin Cope ofInnovative Solutions will lead a Top 10IT Tips for Small Businesses seminarat 7:45 a.m. Wednesday at Mario’sItalian Restaurant, 2740 Monroe Ave.

They’ll explore the latest technol-ogies to help firms, and more. Admis-sion is free for members; $25 fornon-members. For more information,go to rochestersbc.com.

NEXTUP

BobDunning

New columnfocuses on help,events for firmsStaff reports

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