Back in the mid-1980s, when Emily Wieringa’s grandfather was just starting his relationship with a young and green municipal bond wonk at a downtown Columbus brokerage, he probably didn’t know how close the relationship would grow, or how many generations would sit under the shade of that family tree.
Many lives are measured in milestones: significant accomplishments that are celebrated far and wide, or even just within the community; others are measured in quiet moments that add up over time. For the Wieringas, it’s been the latter.
Emily Wieringa is a typical central Ohio girl: born and raised in Bellefontaine, went to college at a Big Ten school, met a boy, and started a life. She seemed destined to join the family construction business. It wasn’t her first choice of career – she started college with a major in Molecular Biology, but she eventually realized she wasn’t cut out for a life of lab work, and now she’s a third-generation Civil Engineer, which allows her to get out into the field and work with people.
After college, where she met Steve, her soon-to-be husband, Emily did, in fact, spend a few years as a project manager in the family business, cutting her teeth and earning her stripes. She learned a lot from that time, not the least of which was how to succeed as a woman in a male-dominated industry.
After she and Steve got married and started a family, Emily decided it was time to move on from the family business and take on new challenges. “There’s a lot on the line when you work for the family company,” she said. “I wanted to earn my own reputation.” She spent a few years working for the Union County Engineer’s office, where she gained experience in managing projects in the public sector. After making a name for herself, she joined the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium as Director of Construction. While she was there, she was proud to lead the development or expansion of some of the zoo’s most beloved attractions, such as Zoombezi Bay, Adventure Cove, Heart of Africa, and many others. But she’ll readily admit that she was wearing many hats, in a “lean & mean” operation, which didn’t leave much time for life outside the Zoo.
That’s where Steve vigorously nods in agreement. “She’s a workaholic,” he says with a laugh. Though Steve has a great job as a Captain for United Airlines, which allows for a more flexible schedule to be available for their two daughters, after nearly 13 years at the Zoo, Emily decided it was time to move on so that she, too, could spend time with the family. She currently works as the Senior Director of Development Services for one of the Columbus Region’s top developers.
When he’s not piloting commercial airliners around the country, a career that he’s dreamed of since high school, Steve is a part-owner of a local small business as the Fixed Base Operator at the Union County Airport in Marysville. Sure, it’s not a typical small business as we usually think of it, but it still has all the same responsibilities. Steve wears many hats; one minute he’s taking out the trash and sweeping the floor, the next minute he’s working on invoices or processing payroll. All very normal, except there’s a three-quarters of a mile long runway outside his office window, which is decidedly not a normal view.
“Ever since I was a kid,” Steve says, “I’ve loved aircraft.” A native of northern Indiana, where he was a high school athlete, Steve earned a degree in Aviation Technology and immediately secured a job at a regional airline. That experience led to a Captain’s role and longer flights, but it also allowed him the time to say yes when a friend approached him about buying the contract to be the FBO at the county-owned Marysville airport. Their business at the airport includes selling fuel, providing an airplane mechanic shop, and maintaining the facilities.
Steve gets just as much enjoyment from his role in civil aviation as he does from piloting a commercial airliner. “For me, being a Captain is all about seeing people’s happy faces and getting them to their destinations safely,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “But I also love to be able to provide this service to the community, to make people happy, and to just go flying.”
And fly he does. Steve is a part-owner of three aircraft, including the oldest operational T-28 Trojan in the world, which he and his business partners are especially proud to showcase after years of restoration work.
Steve and Emily will both tell you that they work a lot, but they’ll also mention that they’re incredibly family-oriented. They have two daughters – one still in high school and one in the midst of a college career – who are learning from their parents that planning wisely and giving generously go hand in hand.
Steve smiles as he talks about a piece of land that the family is buying in southeast Ohio, near the Hocking Hills – a place that he and Emily hope will be a retreat for generations. Today, it’s just a piece of land, but with Emily’s experience in construction project management and Steve’s love of working the land and general handiwork, they’ve got big dreams for it.
Absolutely unprompted, Emily mentions that they believe deeply in the importance of philanthropy. They’ve established a scholarship fund at their alma mater, Emily serves on various community boards, and she and Steve both give their time through volunteering at church and in schools. Their giving is very mission-based, a value that they’re intent on passing along to their daughters.
“We don’t ever want to take our financial blessings for granted, and we want to teach that appreciation and pass-it-on mentality to our family.”
More than forty years and four generations later, the tree that was planted with Dan is still bearing fruit.