John Crile Allen

As president and CEO of J.F. Allen Co., John C. Allen has demonstrated the ability to take a solid family business and make it grow.

A West Virginia highway construction and construction materials firm, J.F. Allen Co. was founded by his father, James F. Allen. John was elected president in 1974 and has overseen its steady growth into one of the nation's top 100 federal highway contractors. Many of its projects constitute significant improvements to the state's infrastructure, including Corridor H, I-79, the Stonewall Jackson Dam and Recreation Area. In 1989 the company was selected as the Small Business Administration's Region II Federal Contractor of the Year. The firm has done the site development for large projects such as Bruce Hardwoods, Weyerhauser Corp. and Lowe's. As the nature of the industry changed, so did J.F. Allen Company. Allen oversaw the company's expansion into construction supplies, including the development of limestone quarries, concrete plants and asphalt plants. In 2004, the firm had more than 300 employees, a payroll in excess of $7 million and sales estimated at $44 million.

The Allen Co.'s commitment to high standards of safety and environmentally conscious construction has won the firm many safety and environmental awards, including recognition from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration as one of the safest quarry operations in the country, recognition from Gov. Arch Moore for 500,000 hours worked without a loss time incident, and a coveted Honorable Mention from the National Mining Compact Commission for environmental responsibility, and numerous "Sentinels of Steel" Awards from the Mining Safety Health Association.

Allen has served as director of both the Virginia Road Builders Association and the Contractors Association of West Virginia. In 1986 he was the director of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.

Allen attended WVU for one year before transferring to and graduating from Virginia Military Institute. He has financially supported both schools. In addition to athletic and academic scholarships, he endowed the John C. Allen 1962 Professorship in chemistry at VMI and the Sara Crile Allen and James Frederick Allen Comprehensive Lung Cancer Program at WVU's Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center. He is a director of the WVU Foundation, Inc. and served on the Building Greatness campaign committee. In 2004 he was inducted into the Order of Vandalia.