COLUMBUS – The president of one of Knox County’s largest companies is among the group of business leaders advising Gov. Mike DeWine on how to rebuild Ohio’s economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Brian Burgett, president of Kokosing Construction Company, was recently named to the governor’s Economic Advisory Board. He is joined by 17 of Ohio’s highest-ranking business executives, including Procter and Gamble CEO David Taylor and Marathon Petroleum Corporation CEO Mike Hennigan (see the full list here). The board is chaired by Frank Sullivan, CEO of RPM International.
DeWine announced the formation of the board during his April 2 press briefing. The mission of the board, he said, is to advise his administration on how to move Ohio’s economy forward following the pandemic.
“Throughout this crisis, I’ve relied on medical experts. I’ve relied on people in the field, people who understand pandemics. We put together a group of 14 doctors and Dr. Acton and I have been talking with them, listening to them. Dr. Acton has also been reaching out to other experts around the country,” DeWine said at his April 2 press conference.
“So just as we have looked to experts to help us move through this crisis, we’re also looking to experts as we move forward and as we will come out of this, and as we focus on our economic recovery. We know this is a tough time; we know it’s very, very difficult. But we also know we will come out of this, the sun will come out… We will have the opportunity to move forward.”
In a phone call last week, Burgett seemed thrilled about being selected to the governor’s board.
“It’s an honor,” he said. “We’re working away to try to make decisions that will be positive for the state moving forward.”
Burgett, the son of Kokosing Construction founder Bill Burgett, began working in the family business after graduating from Ohio State University’s engineering school in 1973. He grew up alongside four siblings in Richland County and graduated from Northmor High School in 1969.
Bill Burgett launched Kokosing Construction Company in Fredericktown in 1951. He was 21 years old at the time. What he lacked in experience, however, he made up for in work ethic.
Early on, Burgett’s company built and remodeled homes in the Mount Vernon area. It expanded to commercial projects a decade later – including the Knox County animal shelter, local bowling alleys and milking parlors – and eventually advanced to industrial projects.
Kokosing Construction completed projects for some of the area’s biggest manufacturers, including Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Cooper-Bessemer, HPM and Shellmar.
The company continued to build its presence in central Ohio, and in 1981, Brian Burgett took over as president. Kokosing Construction has since grown to a billion-dollar operation, working in almost every aspect of construction. The company currently has major projects in 10 states. It employs over 3,500 team members across central Ohio, including 300-plus Knox County residents.
The Fredericktown location continues to serve as headquarters for maintenance, supply, accounting, IT and human resources. Kokosing Construction’s recent work in Knox County includes building new bridges on State Route 13 (in front of the company’s Waterford office), the ODNR’s Knox Lake dam improvement project, and multiple paving projects. In 2020, Kokosing Construction plans to make improvements to the Knox County Regional Airport.
Kokosing Construction was named the 2019 Business of the Year by the Knox County Chamber of Commerce. It also received the 2019 Don Conway Partnering Award for its work on the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge replacement in Cincinnati, and won the 2018 Build Ohio Award for its work in building the Ottawa River storage facility.
Though Kokosing Construction has grown tremendously over the years, Area Development Foundation President Jeff Gottke said the company remains committed to serving the Knox County community through business and philanthropic efforts. He said the county should be proud to have Burgett on the governor’s advisory board during these trying times.
“It is exciting to see that Mr. Burgett has been named to Gov. DeWine’s Ohio Economic Business Recovery Advisory Board. This board is made up of some of the top business and finance leaders from around Ohio. Mr. Burgett’s inclusion on this board is a testament to the importance and impact of Kokosing Construction Company on Ohio’s economy,” Gottke said in a statement.
“This is also a big win for Knox County, as Mr. Burgett will, no doubt, serve as an advocate for economic recovery in Ohio’s rural counties. Kokosing Construction has been very generous to the Village of Fredericktown and Knox County as a whole. We should all be proud that Mr. Burgett is serving Ohio on its way to economic recovery.”
Much will be asked of Burgett and the advisory board. Over the past four weeks, approximately 15 percent of the state’s workforce (over 855,000 employees) filed for unemployment, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The state has ordered all non-essential businesses to be shut down as a safety precaution amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Now, DeWine and his administration have turned their focus toward economic recovery. The governor announced this week that he plans to begin reopening the economy May 1, using a phased-in approach. He emphasized the health of Ohioans will be at the forefront of the recovery plan.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 testing shortages persist nationwide, and particularly in Ohio, where just 77,677 people (0.6 percent) have been tested as of Friday. The Ohio Department of Health announced 9,107 confirmed cases on Friday – an increase of 619 from the day before – and the state’s death toll rose to 418.
State officials believe Ohio is beginning to flatten the curve, however, as case numbers are increasing less drastically each day. DeWine indicated this week that Ohioans are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but there is still more work to be done.
“Ohioans have done a great job, a phenomenal job, fighting back, staying home, ensuring physical distancing,” DeWine said in a statement. “We’ve been doing all the things that needed to be done. I’ve never been prouder to be an Ohioan and I’m very grateful for what you have done. You have flattened the curve.”
