A Career Built Across Multiple Disciplines
A long career in industrial environmental work rarely follows a single path. It often requires professionals to combine technical knowledge with management, communication, safety awareness, regulatory understanding, and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
Greg Jevyak's career reflects this multidisciplinary nature. Over more than 30 years in the petroleum and environmental industries, he moved from an industrial apprenticeship into roles including project engineer, site manager, and environmental business manager. His experience offers several broader lessons about working in complex industrial environments.
Lesson One: Technical Foundations Matter
Greg's professional journey began with a four-year apprenticeship as a metals mechanic craftsman. His training covered pipefitting, boilermaking, plumbing, sheet metal work, rigging, heavy equipment operation, and drafting.
Hands-on knowledge can provide an important foundation for later management responsibilities. Understanding how industrial systems and equipment operate gives managers practical context when making decisions about maintenance, demolition, environmental remediation, and facility operations.
Technical experience does not replace management knowledge, but it can complement it by providing an understanding of what happens beyond reports, schedules, and spreadsheets.
Lesson Two: Management Requires More Than One Skill
Greg later earned a Bachelor of Arts in management and business from National-Louis University, with minors in psychology and communications.
The combination is significant because industrial management involves both systems and people. Budgets, schedules, contracts, and operational plans are important, but projects are ultimately carried out by teams.
Understanding communication and human behavior can therefore be useful alongside formal management principles. Managers must communicate expectations, resolve problems, coordinate different groups, and maintain relationships while working toward operational objectives.
Lesson Three: Environmental Projects Require Business Discipline
Environmental projects are sometimes discussed primarily in technical terms, but large-scale environmental work also requires strong business management.
As an environmental business manager, Greg was responsible for more than $80 million in environmental project work. His responsibilities included estimating, budgeting, scheduling, execution, consultant and contractor management, and field office operations.
This experience demonstrates the importance of treating environmental projects as complete business operations. Technical objectives must be supported by realistic budgets, achievable schedules, appropriate resources, and effective coordination.
Lesson Four: Safety Must Be Part Of Leadership
Industrial environments can present numerous risks. Demolition, heavy equipment, hazardous materials, and environmental cleanup activities all require careful planning.
Greg's management career included a 10-year record with no OSHA Recordable Injuries at the industrial site he managed. His professional training also included HAZWOPER, advanced defensive driving, and asbestos control practices.
The broader lesson is that safety is not simply an additional responsibility assigned to a safety department. It can become part of the management culture when leaders consistently incorporate risk awareness into planning and daily operations.
Lesson Five: Regulatory Relationships Require Communication
Industrial environmental work frequently involves interaction with local, state, and federal agencies. Regulatory relationships can influence project schedules, approvals, remediation strategies, and long-term environmental responsibilities.
Greg represented his organization before local, state, and federal agencies and developed relationships with alliance partners. His communications training also prepared him to serve as a public spokesperson.
Effective regulatory and stakeholder relationships depend on accurate information, preparation, credibility, and clear communication. Technical knowledge is important, but the ability to explain that knowledge is equally valuable.
Lesson Six: Industrial Land Can Have A Second Life
One of Greg's most notable projects involved the redevelopment of a former refinery and chemical plant property. His work contributed to making the property the first USEPA Brownfield reuse site in the country.
The project illustrates an important principle in environmental work: remediation does not have to be the end of a property's story. Properly managed industrial land can potentially be restored and returned to productive community or commercial use.
The achievement earned recognition from the USEPA through a Facility Leadership Award in 2002.
Lesson Seven: Environmental Success Can Include Nature
Greg's environmental work also included establishing a certified Wildlife Habitat at a former refinery and chemical plant site.
The habitat was certified in 2001 and recertified in 2003. Such work demonstrates that environmental management can involve more than controlling contamination or meeting regulatory requirements.
Restored industrial properties can potentially provide ecological value when land management incorporates wildlife, habitat, and natural systems into long-term planning.
Lesson Eight: Community Relationships Are Part Of Industrial Leadership
Greg worked with community leaders while managing an industrial facility in Wood River, Illinois. His community involvement included supporting the development of three fully accessible playgrounds and helping the local library secure annual corporate funding for computers and furniture.
He also established a newsletter to keep the community informed.
These activities demonstrate the value of communication between industrial organizations and the communities where they operate. Community trust can be strengthened when organizations listen, communicate, and participate in practical local initiatives.
Lesson Nine: Adaptability Creates Long-Term Value
Greg's career included responsibilities ranging from facility operations and environmental projects to building organizations from the ground up. He worked with diverse teams across the United States and handled staffing, training, contracts, bid evaluations, office setup, and facility decommissioning.
This breadth of experience highlights the importance of adaptability. Industrial projects can change quickly, and effective leaders need to move between strategic planning and practical problem-solving.
A Broader View Of Professional Experience
Greg Jevyak's career provides an example of how industrial environmental work can develop through continuous learning and varied responsibilities.
The strongest lesson may be that successful environmental management is rarely based on one area of expertise. It combines technical understanding, business discipline, safety, communication, environmental stewardship, and the ability to work with people.
That combination becomes increasingly important as industrial properties, environmental regulations, communities, and sustainability objectives continue to intersect.
