Keeley'n Spotlight: Mike Rupinski

Our company is filled with some truly remarkable people who will leave a long-lasting legacy at Keeley Companies. When we think of legacies, one of those people that immediately comes to mind is Mike Rupinski. Mike has been an irreplaceable member of the Keeley Companies family for over two decades and has taken on countless challenges with grace. He most recently exceeded our expectations when he took over as the leader of our COVID-19 task force to help guide our Keeley’ns through the pandemic smartly and safely. Our company would not be where it is today without his fearless leadership and dedication to the safety and well-being our people.

Mike joined the Keeley family in January of 1997 after he met Rusty on a project. Mike was ready to make a change and Rusty was ready to take a chance on Mike, so he began his Keeley career as a Project Manager at L. Keeley. He quickly made his way up the rank and after 20 years at L. Keeley, he found himself as Chief Operating Officer. Soon, it was time for Mike to take another leap. When ZeroDay Technology Solutions was founded in 2015, they needed someone to lead them to success, so from 2015 – 2020, Mike served as the President of ZeroDay. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit at the beginning of 2020, Mike felt called to do everything in his power to guide our people and volunteered to lead the COVID-19 task force. Over a year later, he now serves as a Vice President at Keeley Companies overseeing our Legal, IT, and Risk Management departments. Mike is a perfect example of what it means to make Keeley your career destination and his journey over the years inspires others to dedicate themselves to their career growth as well.

“We have the gift at Keeley of being a company that is built on a foundation of respect, honesty, and integrity. Past that, there aren’t too many rules. There is a lot of freedom to propose a business, agree to goals, and then make it happen. There are very few barriers that hold Keeley’ns back.”

Mike has worked various roles in various industries, which has presented its own set of challenges and lessons. Mike is a fierce advocate for our “Fail Fast, Fail Often, Fail Forward” mindset at Keeley and he will be the first to tell you that the most valuable lessons he has learned have come from those experiences in which he has failed.

“The key is to learn from failure and use it as an opportunity for self-development.”

Mike has spent over two decades at Keeley Companies and knows just how amazing it is to be a Keeley’n and witness our culture firsthand. As for his favorite thing about being a Keeley’n – the sense of community and family radiating through our walls and teams across the country. Our Keeley’ns share a lot of similar values which makes for a great place to work when you can connect with others on a more personal level.

“There is an incredible amount of caring for our community. I have been personally touched by the number of people that come together to support charities that I am involved with. For example, I sit on the Board of Directors for Good Shepherd Children and Family Services and it was amazing to see over 250 Keeley’ns come together to participate in our annual Dodgeball Tournament and fundraiser that benefits Good Shepherd. It was an incredible event and the organization was immensely grateful for our people and their efforts.”

Keeley Companies is known for our mission and values – People, Respect, Integrity, Discipline, and Empowerment. If Mike could choose one core value that he sees lived out every day, it would be Integrity:

“Integrity is the gift that Larry Keeley gave to the company. He built the company with a key foundational component of acting with integrity. The construction industry does not have a reputation for always operating honestly, but we do things differently. We treat people fairly and prioritize doing business with honesty and integrity not only for our customers, but for our people.”

Mike, thank you for your passion and dedication to Keeley Companies. You tackle every role with a positive attitude and we are so excited to see where you take our company in the future!