Our Team - J.E. Shekell, Inc.

Our Team

Kevin Shekell

President

Kevin is an Evansville, Indiana native, and after graduating from Reitz High School in 1988 he joined J.E. Shekell Inc. full-time as a residential HVAC installer for one year. He became a service technician while attending Ivy-Tech, where he earned his Associate Degree in Applied Science in Industrial Technology. After working as a service technician for eight years, he joined the residential HVAC sales team, where he remained for three years. He was then promoted to commercial and industrial HVAC sheet metal estimator and project manager. While in this position he attended Oakland City University, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Management.After working in the commercial and industrial HVAC sheet metal division for three years, he was promoted to Vice President of Construction and began managing the construction division of the company. While Vice President, Kevin completed his Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. He also served as president of the local Evansville SMACNA chapter. As President of J.E. Shekell, Kevin has been responsible for continuing long-term partnerships with industry-leading companies such as Carrier, and Koch Air. The company has earned the coveted Carrier President’s Award for each of the past five years, signifying that J.E. Shekell is among the top 2% of HVAC companies in the United States. Under Kevin’s leadership, J.E. Shekell has enjoyed continued growth and success in HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and building automation systems. Kevin has two children. He enjoys boating, golf, rooting for THE Ohio State Buckeyes and spending time with his family.

Tom East

Chief Financial Officer

Tom has been an entrepreneur and served in senior management positions throughout his career, with more than 35 years of progressively responsible experience leading and directing companies to success.

He spent most of his career in mechanical contracting, wholesale distribution and manufacturing. His understanding of the channel encompasses wholesale, OEM, direct sales, retail sales, commercial sales, and all facets of financial and operations. In Tom’s previous positions he has extensive experience in leading change in publicly traded and privately owned companies.Tom is a lifelong learner and holds a Doctoral Degree in Philosophy (PhD) from Capella University in the areas of organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, financial management and leadership. His Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree is from Indiana Wesleyan University with a concentration in financial management and statistics.
He has served on several boards including the Keller University College of Business, and the Ronald McDonald House of Indianapolis. Tom was the keynote speaker for the National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) at their national convention in 2008 and the guest speaker in 2009 for the national convention for the Association of Government Accountants (AGA).

Currently Tom is the company’s CFO and believes in his role he must manage horizontally, working in more direct collaboration with the other business units beyond the traditional boundaries of the CFO’s office. He believes he must have the ability to see the “whole picture” instead of just the financial facets of the business to thrive in a hyper-competitive business environment. Among his other CFO activities Tom is also oriented toward external-facing goals like forward planning, and data analytics to support the ultimate customer experience. He believes customer’s trust is key to driving loyalty and business success.

Tom enjoys running, college football, spending time with his wife Diane, their nine grandchildren (Tommy, Kaleigh, Gage, Joey, Bella, Lyla, Chase, Jackson and Garrett), two Pugs (Lexi & Brutus (Go Buckeyes)), and two Red-Eared Slider turtles (Fred & Turbo).