Get to Know: Kevin Brown

June 13, 2019

Kevin Brown
Johnson Architecture

 

Kevin Brown joined JAI in 2012.

 

What is your role at JAI?

Like most everyone else here, a little bit of everything.

 

What three words best describe you?

Single, Caucasian and male.

 

What is your favorite aspect of being on the JAI team?

It’s nice to be wanted.

 

What three words best describe the culture at JAI?

Confident, composed and patient.

 

What has been your proudest moment to date working at JAI?

Pride is a selfish emotion…. I do like it when a plan comes together, though.

 

How has working at JAI enhanced your professional development?

Just by trusting me to do my job without micromanagement inspires not only confidence, but also the desire to do better.

 

What is your go-to source for work inspiration?

Google, YouTube. If you’re about to try something new, chances are someone else has already done it and has a video about it. The amount of information available is seemingly limitless.

 

If you could switch places for a day with any JAI team member, which one would you choose?

Anyone with an extra vacation day.

 

Before joining JAI, what was the most unusual job you held?

In 1990, fresh out of high school, I worked the “breakdown” station on an assembly line at Rail Bearing Service where we remanufactured wheel bearings for trains. I took the 100-150-pound (each) bearings off a pallet, put them in an air vise, pried them apart with a pry bar, used a “spinner” to remove the grease, stacked all the parts in an iron basket which would hold 10 bearings at a time, and manually rolled the baskets into near-boiling vats of acid. I think I was making between $3.50 and $4 an hour.

 

If you were stranded alone on an island, what three material possessions would you hope to have with you?

A magic fridge that never runs out of beer. Is that two things or just one? And some pants I suppose.

 

What is your secret talent?

I was a whitewater rafting guide, paddling people down the Pigeon and Ocoee rivers for about 12 years or so.

 

What is your favorite place in the world?

Outside.

 

What are you currently watching?

It’s a pretty dead period since “Game of Thrones” has ended. I’m just trying to make it until football season.