As the third generation president of Downes Construction Company, John oversees the strategic direction of the company making sure resources are sufficient and appropriately directed to deliver our mission. John is intimately involved during both the pre-construction as well as the construction phase of each project while always stressing the importance of teamwork.

John's career path has included positions as Field Superintendent and Project Manager/Estimator. Some of his past projects include both municipal and private repeat clients such as the Hospital of Central Connecticut, Saint Francis Hospital, the State of Connecticut DPW, New Britain Museum of American Art, Boys’ and Girls' Club of New Britain, the Berlin / New Britain YMCA and The Hospital for Special Care.

As Chief Executive Officer of Downes Construction Company, Joe is responsible for Construction Management organization and is involved in direct marketing for new client base, sales presentations, profit/loss on awarded projects, long-range strategic planning, review of budgets and client liaison.

Joe joined Downes as a Project Manager with special project responsibilities. His career experience over the last 37 years includes corporate world headquarters facilities, high tech micro-electronic facilities including clean rooms, heavy process and formulation facilities, hospitals, higher education buildings, sensitive historic renovations, regional shopping retail centers and multi-level, multi-family residential projects. As Officer-in-Charge of Operations for a large regional construction manager, Joe has had extensive experience in pre-construction planning, budgeting, value engineering and wide variety of construction projects throughout New England.

Jeff has been in the construction industry for over 23 years.  He has comprehensive experience in preconstruction, procurement and the construction of educational facilities, health care facilities, public safety facilities, bio-technical facilities, office fit-outs and parking structures.

As Director of Procurement, Jeff is responsible for overseeing the negotiation of owner contracts, preconstruction contract compliance and procurement.  During preconstruction Jeff directly interacts with clients and ensures logistics, community outreach, quality control, project scheduling and safety coordination are addressed at this early stage.   Jeff’s tenure with Downes Construction for over 21 years as a Project Manager and Direct of Operations has led to an exceptional knowledge of and relationship with the contractor base in the State of Connecticut.  This relationship and in-depth understanding of trade package development best serves the needs of the client through increased bid participation contributing to driving down the overall cost of project and in turn increasing funding for programmatic needs.

Tom brings over 20 years of experience to the Downes team. Tom’s experience consists of major renovations at Education, Healthcare and Municipal Facilities, as well as expertise in Design Build projects.

As Director of Operations, Tom is responsible for all construction-related operations. His responsibilities include direct supervision and support of planners, estimators, project managers and superintendents as well as technical support with respect to construction methods, materials selections, quality control, project scheduling and safety coordination. During pre-construction and construction Tom participates significantly with emphasis on planning, scheduling and coordination of construction activities.

Diana leads the business development effort for Downes. Her primary goal is to create long-term value for Downes’ clients by aligning their needs with our services.  She is focused on translating client expectations to operational management so that their needs are properly met.  While she works closely with marketing and senior management, she is passionate about engaging the entire organization in client relations and team building resulting in added value.

Diana has worked in business development and marketing for Architectural, Construction and Engineering firms for the past 30 years.  Her experience includes healthcare, academic, corporate, and municipal markets.  

Nicole joined Downes in 2013 and is responsible for developing and leading comprehensive marketing strategies in support of business goals and objectives. She works closely with the President and Chief Executive Officer to define the company’s direction as well as develops responses to client’s needs in the form of proposals, presentations and public relations activities.

David has over 30 years of experience in the construction industry.  He has an extensive background in estimating, including cost analysis, subcontractor scopes, conceptual estimates and detailed takeoffs. David’s previous experience working as a construction manager and for subcontractors provides invaluable tools for managing today’s fast track schedules and dynamic budgets. David has diverse experience in education, healthcare, institutional, laboratory and public sector markets.

As a Project Executive, David has total responsibility for his assigned projects from the pre-construction conceptual and budget estimating to the eventual construction and closeout of the job. David’s duties begin at a project’s inception working with the Owner and Project Architect. David works to inform the Owner of the need to blend ongoing activities with the coordination of construction activities so there are minimal interruptions to the Owner occupied areas of the project. He emphasizes the phasing by incorporating the information into the bid documents to clarify the scope of work to the subcontractors and brings into play the site development drawings to coordinate project concerns.

John started his construction career with the Downes organization, as a carpenter apprentice, in 1980. John has served as General Superintendent and Quality & Safety Officer on a multitude of projects in education, healthcare, commercial buildings, and parking garages and is well versed with field standards and practices, as well as Downes Construction’s safety and quality control procedures. 

John aids in the development of the Construction Strategy Plan for the project, conducts constructability reviews of the Architect’s proposed designs, develops the logistics plan for the potential construction of the project, and provides valuable insight regarding the exploratory work within the building.