Executive Management Biographies

• Joseph O. Wesley, President/CEO
• John Marko, Chief Financial Officer
• Stephen Bowker, Sr. Vice President, Operations
• George Brophy, Regional Vice President, Central
• Mike Christiansen, Regional Vice President, Great Lakes
• Ron Rowen, Vice President of Risk Management
• C. William Klausman, Vice President and General Counsel
• Pete Barger, Regional Vice President, East Coast
• Ed Rojeck, Director of Marketing
• Dr. Diane Govern, Director of Training

Joseph O. Wesley, President/CEO
Mr. Wesley is President and CEO of Tradesmen International, the company he founded in April of 1992. Under his stewardship, the company has become one of the nation’s leading providers of variable skilled craftsmen with more than 100 locations and 6,000 employees based throughout markets all across America. In recent years he has evolved the company to include various consultative services, positioning Tradesmen as the nation’s exclusive source for comprehensive labor solutions aimed at augmenting labor productivity for large and small construction and industrial organizations.

Mr. Wesley oversees all company operations and new market expansion and is especially active in supporting the strategic development and advancement of the company’s labor-oriented services which continue to differentiate Tradesmen from all staffing and personnel operations servicing the construction industry.

Previous to Tradesmen, he owned and managed both a residential land development company, Land Developers, Inc., and a commercial electrical contracting firm, RIC Electric, in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Wesley entered the trades as a heavy equipment operator for the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers in 1982.

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John Marko, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Marko is Chief Financial Officer, a position he has held since his promotion from Vice President of Finance in August of 2003. He is responsible for the company’s overall financial operations including corporate accounting, financial reporting, treasury, budgeting and credit & collections. He also oversees all corporate administrative functions.

He joined Tradesmen International in 1996 as Controller and has played a significant role in the aggressive growth of the company as an architect of the company’s IT department and correlating national operating network which is – if properly implemented – a critical asset to the success of any multi-site organization.

His previous experience comes from employment with Ernst & Young from 1981 – 1984, and from serving as controller for two national apparel companies, Joseph Feiss and Hugo Boss, USA. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Ohio University.

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Stephen Bowker, Senior Vice President, Operations
Mr. Bowker, appointed to this position in 2007, provides overall direction and guidance to operational activities of the organization with the objective of maximizing growth and profitability. In addition, he provides day-to-day leadership and management to both Corporate and Field Operations.

Mr. Bowker joined the company in 1998 as General Manager of the Norfolk and Richmond offices, a position he held for two years. He then served as the Atlantic Regional Manager for four years and as Regional Vice President, North East Region, for the three years preceding his current position. Prior to joining Tradesmen he served as District Manager and Director of Labor Scheduling for Farm Fresh, Inc., one of the nation's largest grocery chains.

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George Brophy, Regional Vice President, Central
Mr. Brophy oversees the operation of six Tradesmen District Offices and approximately 1,100 employees primarily located in the country’s central states. Prior to being appointed to RVP in 2003 he served as General Manager for the company’s Kansas City office.

He has strong operational, sales and marketing expertise having previously served as Chief Operating Officer for the Golf and Turf Company and as a Branch and Territory Manager for E-Z-GO, a Textron Company. Perhaps most valuable to Tradesmen International clients is his hands-on experience as a developer/builder. As owner of Brophy Custom Homes, a builder of custom homes in the Greater Kansas City area, he gained invaluable experience including direct management of craftsmen and subcontractors, material planning and purchases, cost/risk analysis, budgeting and project management. Mr. Brophy has a Bachelor of General Science degree from the University of Kansas and an Advanced Degree from Penn State in Executive Development.

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Mike Christiansen, Regional Vice President, Great Lakes
Mr. Christiansen manages sales and recruitment operations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Northern Ohio, New York, Illinois and Colorado.  He supports and monitors company safety campaigns, manages key client relationships in main district markets, while identifying and opening new offices in surrounding markets. Mr. Christiansen also oversees responsibilities for controlling Tradesmen's Marine Division which covers all major port cities. His effective tactics include creating synergy within his districts and maintaining a team environment among his staff and sales force. This approach has transformed the Wisconsin market into the largest district in the company.

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Ron Rowen, Vice President of Risk Management
Mr. Rowen is Vice President of Risk Management for Tradesmen International, a position he has held since May of 2004. In this role, he is responsible for the company’s health and safety departments, the development of national safety and health care programs and the administration of Workers’ Compensation claims.

Prior to joining Tradesmen, Mr. Rowen was a tax and business consultant for a broad range of industrial and commercial clients including Stouffer Frozen Foods, Forest City Enterprises and Nautilus. He was Tax Manager for Goldberg Companies, a real estate developer, from 1990 – 1991. Upon graduation with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from the University of Akron in 1983 he joined Touche Ross & Co. / Deloitte & Touche where he served in several roles including tax manager until 1990. Mr. Rowen secured his CPA certification in 1986 and has amassed more than 20 years of public accounting experience. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants.

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C. William Klausman, Vice President and General Counsel
Mr. Klausman joined the company in August of 1998 as Vice President and General Counsel with responsibilities concentrating in the transactional business areas of the company. Mr. Klausman works directly with the company’s commercial, maritime, industrial and government clients to resolve any contract and insurance issues. He also handles various other legal matters of the company including insurance, banking, governmental regulatory matters and corporate governance issues.

Mr. Klausman graduated from Bowling Green State University with a B.S. in Business Administration and received his Juris Doctorate from the Ohio State University School of Law. Following graduation, he joined the law firm of Schottstein, Zox and Dunn of Columbus, Ohio specializing in real estate, franchise and securities law and serving as a partner in that firm. He then joined Rax Restaurants, Inc. as its Vice President/General Counsel and Secretary and helped grow that company to over 500 restaurants from its founding with principal responsibilities in management of that company’s legal department where he primarily focused on franchise and security law matters. Mr. Klausman then joined Rally’s, Inc., a double drive through fast food hamburger franchise chain having over 500 restaurants as its Vice President/General Counsel and Secretary where he managed the legal department with primary responsibilities being in the securities and franchise areas. Mr. Klausman has had extensive corporate legal practice, both as a private and corporate attorney with primary specializations in the areas of debt and equity financing, real estate, franchise and government regulatory agency practice. He has also been a lecturer at various franchise association forums.

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Ed Rojeck, Director of Marketing
Mr. Rojeck oversees the development of all strategic marketing initiatives related to corporate positioning and branding. He is responsible for the creation and implementation of all national and local advertising programs and for the development of marketing literature utilized by the company’s sales channel to augment awareness of the company’s various service offerings. He was appointed to Director of Marketing for Tradesmen International in October of 2003 after serving as a marketing consultant for the company since its inception in 1992.

Prior to joining Tradesmen, Mr. Rojeck served as Marketing Strategist and Account Supervisor for Saifman, Richards & Associates from 1996 – 2003 where he managed marketing programs for companies including Management Reports International / Intuit, GEO Specialty Chemicals, BFG Specialty Chemicals and Readers’ Digest. From 1985 – 1996 he served as a Marketing Specialist and Copywriter for the advertising and marketing firm, Adverama, Inc., working on multi-site accounts including Agency Rent-A-Car, Rally’s, Pepsi-Cola and Motorola Dealerships. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Advertising from Kent State University in 1984.

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Dr. Diane Govern, Director of Training
Dr. Govern was appointed Director of Training in 2006.  She directs the design, planning, and implementation of corporate training programs, curriculum, policies, and procedures. She evaluates and implements new training techniques as well as enhancements to existing training programs.  Dr. Govern was instrumental in developing Tradesmen’s Leadership Curriculum and Construction Labor Management Program.

She came to Tradesmen with more than 15 years of consulting experience in the area of human performance improvement.  Dr. Govern previously worked for Avatar, Inc., a multi-media company, serving as a training consultant for Tradesmen International and the Tradesmen Education Center from 2002 until she became a full-time Tradesmen  employee.  She received a Doctorate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Akron in 1997.

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