166: John Goense: 9 Essential Lessons From A Self-Made Millionaire

John Goense is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Response Team 1, co-founding the business with Erik Bloom in 2010. He is responsible for the overall strategic direction of Response Team 1, which, in less than five years, has become the second largest disaster restoration company and one of the top multifamily renovation companies in the United States.

John is also the founder and a partner of Goense & Company, a private investment firm started in 2008. Goense & Company invests in labor-centric service businesses, typically in large, fragmented industries. It seeks to build industry-leading companies through acquisitions and, by providing superior customer service, creating operating efficiencies and driving organic growth. Response Team 1 typifies the Goense & Company strategy, which has previously been successfully applied in industries including security guards, document imaging and insulation installation contractors.

John began his private equity career in 1988 as founder and President of Heller Equity Capital Corporation. In 1996, he joined Allstate Insurance Company as Managing Director and led a highly profitable repositioning of its private equity portfolio. In 2000, John co-founded Goense Bounds & Partners, L.P., a $225 million private equity fund. Since 2004 he has been Chairman of CrossCom National LLC.

Prior to entering private investing, John held positions in investment banking and commercial banking and managed a successful start-up company. From 1977 to 1980, he was employed by Harris Bank. He then co-founded and managed American Paging, Inc., a telecommunications company which eventually was publicly traded. In 1984, John joined Kidder Peabody & Company's investment banking group, where he concentrated on mergers and acquisitions and financing activities until leaving to found HECC.

John graduated Magna Cum Laude from Aquinas College with a BS in Accounting and Business Administration and earned an MBA from the University of Chicago.