While most people deal with work as one of life’s harsh necessities, Jason Ciavarro not only puts in the hours, he relishes them.
“Work is where I find my joy and passion,” he says with a smile from the end of a conference room table at the offices of Supreme Metro Corporation in South Plainfield, New Jersey, office.
A childhood full of days baling hay and shoveling horse manure on his family’s farm long ago instilled within him a strong work ethic. And while that love of work is responsible for his establishing Supreme Metro, Ciavarro points not to his time spent working as the reason for the company’s success. Rather, he credits a more contemplative time – years spent away from his business entirely.
Ciavarro joined the military the one day after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He left his wife Kristen in charge of the company, which then employed between 10 and 15 employees, for the next three years while he served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“The biggest change was when I came back from the war,” he recalls. “You’ve got so much time over there to think. Endless time.”
When he returned home, the business was in poor financial shape. And it wasn’t just because of his time away. Ciavarro realized that if the business was to not only survive, but thrive, he’d need to make major changes to how it was being run even before he left home.
