AUGUST SPOTLIGHT
Miles Medlin

Miles is a millwright foreman at JR Merit and has been a part of our team for nearly 20 years. He first learned about JR Merit in 2004, from a friend working at a food processing plant asking if he was available to support a project. Miles jumped at the chance. Over the years, he grew with the company, working for several different foremen and superintendents then working his way up to a team leadership position.

“I enjoy running the crews. The guys respond to me; they like working for me. I love the teams that work with me.”

Miles was introduced to the industrial construction industry during high school when he’d go salmon fishing. He’d often see a friend of his dad’s out there fishing, too, and asked him, “What do you do for work that you always get to be out here fishing?” He said he was a millwright. The notion stuck with Miles after he graduated high school and took a job at a dog food processing plant. He learned then that the millwrights were taking apprentices, so he checked out the union and got on board. Miles found he really liked the work, and he’s never looked back.

“That’s my advice to anyone looking for a good career—I wouldn’t do it any differently than I did.”

Over his career, Miles has had the opportunity to work on many different types of projects, from steel mills to paper mills to hydropower plants and more. “I’m all over the place, and I get to travel a lot. Sometimes I’m on a job for more than a year, or sometimes it’s just a couple days. It’s a fast and fluid industry; I love the fast pace. Things change all the time; you never know just what the next day will bring.”

Miles loves the variety in his role and the unique and challenging jobs he gets to work on, from working on the side of a mountain flying materials with a helicopter to working a mile underground on a powerhouse project to cutting a hole in the side of a dam to take out and replace massive valves weighing 40,0000 to 280,0000 pounds apiece. “I love dealing with big, heavy stuff, the really challenging jobs. I love the uniqueness and diversity of the work and the people I get to work with.”

In his free time, Miles enjoys fishing, golfing, spending time at the coast clamming and crabbing, and hanging out in his backyard with his girlfriend, Janice, where they grow all kinds of plants and flowers. Miles and Janice actually met through JR Merit, at the Christmas party in 2008! Miles and Janice have a son, Lawerence, and two cats, Scruffy and Linny, who light up their life.