Jason Lounsbury has worked for Diamond T since 2012. He runs our NE operations and has been a large part of our success out there. When we sat down to ask Jason a few questions about himself, we learned some interesting things and truly enjoyed getting to know him better.
Tell us a little about your family
Shortly after relocating to Northern Pennsylvania from Norwich, NY, I met Jill who, unbeknownst to me, would be my future wife and best friend. We married on June 21st 2014. We have a daughter, Jacee, who is 5 and 3-year old twin boys, Jake and Cole. Having three kids in the house at their age definitely keeps us on our toes but I wouldn’t want it any other way. Family is very important to us. Even though I no longer live near my extended family we are still very close and I visit often.
Give us a brief history of your career
From the start I always liked to create new things, solve problems and work with my hands. One of my first real jobs was working for a company that manufactured and installed agricultural equipment. I always wanted to learn and always looked for what was most challenging. This led me to go into business for myself. In 2005 I opened and operated a service and fabrication shop of my own, and worked as a contractor assisting in design, engineering and fabrication for Tucci Engineering, one of the industry leading builders of high-end performance and classic cars.
In 2009 a reduced demand for specialty cars prompted me to pursue new career opportunities. Over the course of my career, I had developed experience in sales, customer service, project management, design, engineering, job layout and estimates. Where could I best showcase what I had to offer and grow it into a career? I had a couple of close friends that worked in the mid-stream portion of the oil and gas industry. They thought that mid-stream would be a good fit for me and suggest I take a look. So, off I went! I took advantage of my welding skills and started out as a contract welder as they were in high demand.
Since then it has been a challenge, but the kind of challenge I look forward to everyday. Fast forward to now, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work within many different oil and gas industry segments from drilling and completions, to flow back and production. I take pride in my job and try to make a difference and learn something new every day.
What are your thoughts on working at a Women-Owned Business?
It helps breakdown stereotypes that shouldn’t exist. It lets people see, and educates them that women in business or the workplace should not be a surprise. I believe being a successful businessperson has everything to do with knowledge, ambition & determination, not whether the person is a man or woman. In good business there is no place for gender bias.
Describe a project you and your team accomplished that you are proud of
We took on a project for a fracturing company that involved development, fabrication, & installation of a dust collection system for 17 sand kings. The purpose of the system was to eliminate the dust cloud created when the sand kings were filled with silica sand. People working in that environment are at a high risk for developing Silicosis, a respiratory disease cause by frequent, extreme or prolonged exposure to silica dust from the sand.
To complete this task we were given 76 hour per unit to fabricate and install all of the valves and duct work that ran through several different chambers with openings at several different angles. The ductwork had to be pre-fabricated outside of the unit with all measurements being pulled from a single reference point and then installed at full length from one end of the unit to the other, all while ensuring that all openings and valves aligned exactly from the pre-fabricated duct work to the connection points we installed on the unit. We were able to execute the project as requested, and by the 3rd unit our team was able to reduce the overall job completion time to 38 hours per unit, much lower than the initial 76 hours the customer had anticipated.
What do you do for fun?
In the summer it’s riding motorcycle with friends, going to a friend’s ranch with the kids for the weekly Jackpot roping, riding four wheelers, family BBQ’s, horseshoes, and drag racing. Needless to say, between work and play it’s pretty busy around the Lounsbury house in the spring, summer, and fall months. In the winter it’s sledding parties with the kids, snowmobiling, hunting, shooting pool and Sunday dinners.
One thing people don’t know about you
Though I’ve been busy with family and work these last few years I continue to be passionate about building engines or turnkey units and tuning and drag-racing snowmobiles at a professional level.
Thank you Jason for sharing with us your history and interests.