Mark Bolt Promotes Damon Young to President of Mahaney Group
Mahaney Group Owner and CEO Mark Bolt is proud to announce the promotion of Damon Young from Vice President to President of Mahaney Group. Damon will oversee the day-to-day functions of Sales, Operations, and Human Resources, as well as continue to represent Mahaney Group in the community. Mark had this to say about the promotion:
“Damon invested in himself over the last decade to become an incredible developer of teams and leaders. He can bring a large number of people together to accomplish a common goal. His ability to lead is going to move Mahaney [Group] into the next decade.”
Mark will continue to play an active role in Mahaney’s vision and work, but in a different way moving forward. He will continue to stay extensively involved through his role as CEO in the areas of finance, executive leadership, and building the long-term vision through a Board of Directors.
Damon shared his feelings on the announcement: “The Mahaney brand of products and services is in as strong a place as it’s ever been. Mark’s leadership has taken us to an amazing place. I am honored to help steward Mark’s vision and to lead this amazing team as we serve the best customers in the world!”
Damon and Mark have fascinating personal stories, converging in a strong working relationship that explains how Mahaney Group has grown and thrived over the years. So what’s ahead, exactly? To look forward, sometimes we have to look back. Let’s review the early days.
The Beginning: Early Mornings, Getting Comfortable With Heights & Other Reflections
After graduating from Southwestern College in 2001, Mark’s wife, Beth, put his resume on a WSU recruiting website. Impressed with Mike Boyd—the former owner—and the facilities in his interview, Mark accepted his first role out of college at the Charles E. Mahaney Roofing Company (before it was rebranded to the current Mahaney Group).
Mark reflected, “I believed Mike when he said there was an opportunity to grow into a project manager. Plus, he said someday I could make $20 per hour if I worked hard, I liked the sound of that!” On his first day, Mark recalls that he didn’t know how to dress or act, especially during early morning meetings with the craftsman. His first impression of Mahaney is also good advice to those who will join the company in the future: “I [thought I] better go to bed earlier, get comfortable with heights and don’t get hot asphalt on your skin!”
To say Mark’s roles have varied over the years is an understatement. He first started on a roofing crew—driving, picking up supplies and tearing off roofs. He then transitioned into the office in mid-2002, completing new hire paperwork and orientations, filing and was also a runner for the crew. Starting to sell work in 2003, Mark said he “really didn’t feel comfortable as project management until 2006, that was a great year.” And the changes kept coming. He said, “I purchased the company in November 2009 to become the President of Mahaney Roofing. Beth and I had a shared vision for saving and planning for the opportunity to purchase a piece/all the company. It wouldn’t have happened without Beth.”
Damon knew Mark from church and had followed his career journey during this time. He watched Mark and Beth work hard, save their pennies and steward their dream. During the recession of 2008, Damon started a consulting company to plan his next career move at the time. As Mark planned for the potential purchase of Mahaney in 2009, Damon advised him as a friend and then as a consultant. They went to work on the business plan, completing due diligence and working to see if they could make the deal happen. Damon was so impressed with Mahaney’s legacy and stability he discovered that it ended up providing the confidence needed to really catch Mark’s vision and picture himself as part of Mark and Mahaney’s story.
Damon recalls his first official day of ‘employment’ in lieu of consulting. “I remember trying to go to bed really early [the evening before] because I knew I had to get up at 4:30am. It may sound silly, but I had done all this research about the company but I hadn’t really grasped that the day-to-day work was done in the weather and at great heights. I shadowed Mike that first morning and climbed ladders and quickly had to face some fears. I remember preparing to climb my first really tall ladder and saying under my breath:
‘Well Jesus, you better be with me, here we go!’
Beyond my own internal feelings, I was impressed at the difficulty of the work and the sense of urgency that the foreman had to get the job done and be watertight each night.”
Lessons Learned Over the Years
Damon started in human resources and compliance, making sure all employee paperwork, industry certifications, and Department of Transportation processes were in good order. Over the years at Mahaney, he moved back and forth through administrative, compliance, safety, logistics and then into estimating, project management, sales and lastly, “really found my niche in business and community development and executive leadership.”
As both Mark and Damon have held a diverse range of roles in the company, this extends to the changes, challenges and lessons learned that they’ve seen and managed over the years. Damon shared, “Mahaney has always been connected with great legacy customers and that has stayed the same, but the company has grown in its focus to look outward into the community to build more and more partners and alliances.” In 2018, Mahaney purchased Design Build Construction and Sheet Metal Inc., and Mark became the President of both of those companies. Last year the company was rebranded as the Mahaney Group.
“Our ability to create employment opportunities for others has grown significantly. This allows for more technical excellence as the employees are specialized in each aspect of the business. Most recently, the expansion of our service department and growth through acquisitions into the architectural sheet metal, structural steel and pre-engineered markets,” Damon noted. “I’ve learned a heartfelt respect for the trades, and it’s become one of the greatest joys of my life to become a champion for our craftsman at Mahaney. I’ve also enjoyed being able to leverage and expand Mahaney’s legacy. The ability to step into leadership roles in our region and be a voice for positive impact has been life-changing and a lot of fun!”
The Future of Mahaney Group: Next Decade and Beyond
When asked about what the next decade holds, Mark said, “personally, I want to see my kids off to college; they will all be gone in the next decade. I have some continuing education goals, and anyone that knows me can’t believe I want to go back to school?!”
As for his involvement in Mahaney, he said, “Our growth has challenged our current infrastructure. I’ll be managing several capital, infrastructure, and data upgrades. I’ll lead the Board of Directors quarterly and continue to lead the finance team on a weekly basis. Of course, I’ll solve construction/roofing problems here or there—I’ll never be able to let that go!”
A Message From Damon About the Future
Our purpose states that we’re created with limitless ability for positive impact, and I envision us bringing that impact to our team members and their families, and help them grow in their skills and leadership so they can elevate excellence for our customers and themselves. We will do that one day and one project at a time, which leads to even more scalable growth. Our current and future leaders have dreams, talents, and innovations that will write Mahaney’s next chapter.
I want our community stakeholders to know that we’re building an incredible team here at Mahaney, and I’ll work tirelessly to lead them as we steward Mark’s vision.
I want our employees to know that I see them and what they do matters. They inspire me every day.
I want our customers to know that we will never stop, we truly are relentless problem solvers. We take that mindset into protecting the activities, purposes, and people inside their facilities and we love it!
Lastly, as I take the role of President, I love the fact that Mark went to work here after the 9-11 downturn, and he bought Mahaney during the great recession. I think back about the pandemics, civil unrest, world wars, and much more that Mahaney has made it through. I reflect on our current political and economic conditions, and I’m optimistic for what lies ahead.
The past fills me with hope for the future. I find myself saying the same thing I said my first day…
Well Jesus, you better be with me, here we go!
For more information or questions about Mahaney Group and Mark and Damon’s journey, please contact [email protected].
