Employee Spotlight: Building a Life at Heritage

Since grade school, Jake Wilson, current Field Services Manager at Heritage Environmental Services, had aspired to be the first in his family to graduate college. Halfway through his sophomore semester at Hanover, however, his scholarship money ran out.

“I was a deer in the headlights,” Jake said. “My parents weren’t able to help, and Hanover is an expensive school to pay for out of pocket. I didn’t want to graduate with a debt the size of a mortgage.”

Jake wasn’t sure what he’d do next, but he knew he’d need money to do it. He took the next semester off and got a job with Heritage Environmental Services in their field services division, “literally pushing a broom,” Jake said. Soon, though, he fell in love with the work as he learned more about the company. Here was a place he could make a career.

His dream of finishing college did not fade away. Instead, Jake enrolled at Indiana University Purdue University of Indianapolis after learning about Heritage’s tuition reimbursement program.

“It wasn’t easy, by any means, to go back to school and keep working full time,” Jake said. “Heritage worked with my class schedule to help make it possible. I’d come in to work, go to school at eleven, and come back to finish my shift.”

As he grew in his career, Jake was mentored by leaders like Steve Swanson, current Industrial Services Account Representative, who took Jake under his wing. “He showed me everything I needed to know, from the mechanics of the job to building good customer relationships. He taught me how to be an effective manager.”

Jake graduated in 2006 and married his wife two years later. As their lives together began, so did the Great Recession.

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Heritage was not immune to the effects of a worldwide financial crisis. To ease some of the strain, the company began a voluntary reduction in force that led some of Jake’s coworkers to accept generous severance packages. Jake wasn’t ready to give up his career or his aspirations to finish college.

“My wife and I knew we were at a crossroads,” Jake said. “There was an open position for a project manager in Louisville, but we’d just bought a house around Indy. My wife and I talked, and prayed, and ultimately decided to go for it.” One of Jake’s leaders and friends, current Field Services Director Brent Harlan, drove him to the interview in Louisville. Not long after, Jake was offered the job.

For those first few years in Louisville, Jake spent his time learning the project manager role, as well as being educated on the job’s technical aspects by current Area Manager Michelle Kirchner. This training put him in a great position to help lead the work at North American Stainless, a new venture for Heritage that began in October of 2013.

As Jake’s professional responsibilities grew, so did his family. In 2014, Jake’s son Knox was born; then, eighteen months later, the Wilsons welcomed their second son, Nash. Throughout it all, his former leaders in Indianapolis kept tabs on him and encouraged him along his career path. Those years in Louisville were a critical time for the new onsite, and Jake felt the weight of living up to high expectations.

“One of the things I tell people about this job is that how your career progresses is completely up to you. Taking ownership and holding yourself accountable, being disciplined enough to do it – you have to want to do it,” Jake said. Throughout those years in Louisville, Jake and his team pushed themselves to make sure the new onsite succeeded.

Then, all at once, everyone’s priorities changed.

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“You always wonder who’s going to be there for you,” Jake said. “Something like that, the loss we experienced … that’s when I really saw what Heritage was about.”

In 2017, the Wilson’s oldest son, Knox, passed away unexpectedly. He was just two years old.

“It was a critical time for the business, but suddenly none of that mattered to them more than what me and my family were going through,” Jake said. “I can never express my gratitude for the outpouring I received from the company. They gave us the time and space that we needed. We had people reach out to us from all across Heritage.”

They also offered Jake’s family an open ticket to come back home whenever the Wilsons were ready.

“They knew we were from around Indy and knew how hard it is to go through something like that when you’re far away from your family. There was no pressure, but they let us know they’d find a position for me when it was time.”

The family moved back in 2019 to be closer to home after the arrival of their third son, Crew. Though leaving the friends he’d made in Louisville was bittersweet, Jake found himself welcomed back by familiar faces like Brent Harlan and Steve Swanson.

“That’s the thing about this place. You build relationships with your customers, coworkers, other divisions, and those are the things that keep you here. I’ve worked at this company 21 years. It’s provided a great life for me and my family.”