The Burgess File
Joe Burgess, president and CEO, Insituform Technologies Inc.
Born: Tampa
Education: accounting and financing degree, University of Florida
What was your very first job, and what did you learn?
I was a stock boy at a local pharmacy close to my house. It was my first exposure to business, whether I even recognized it or not, in terms of taking inventory. The guy that ran the store was the pharmacist.
He was very focused on trying to eliminate waste and maintain the right mix of goods people expected him to carry while not trying to saddle his business with carrying everything. I remember listening to him talk about business issues in terms of what we were going to carry. It just struck me, the wide range of issues that a person trained in pharmacy had to have to run a business.
Who has been the biggest influence on you?
My father, John Burgess. He was a teacher and a football coach by profession. He was an interesting guy and very well-read in matters of religion, history and current events. He got his master’s later in life.
He was a very smart man and always very well-prepared, whether that meant constructing a test, reading essays from students or studying film to determine whether a guy was going to come on a corner blitz. That’s something that has stuck with me for my life. In most business situations, being unprepared is not a good plan. It’s almost never goes the way you think it will if you’re not prepared.
