By Michelle St. Onge
Photo by Jessica McCafferty
Hometown: Peru, NY
Family: Partner, Kristie Kagan, daughter Ava (17), son Sam (13), and daughter Piper (11)
Education: Graduated from Peru Central High School, attended Norwich University for 3 years
Occupation: Owner, P.M. Leary, LLC
Community Involvement: Former membership on the Boards of the American Red Cross and the CVPH Foundation. Habitual and frequently anonymous supporter of local charities
Pat Leary’s journey from wild teenager to successful entrepreneur is a tale of grit, resilience, and an unwavering work ethic. After an uninspiring stint in college, Leary spent two and a half years traveling to job sites across more than 40 states, operating a 50-ton rock saw for a multinational company. An offer to relocate to Puerto Rico, however, wasn’t in his plans. Instead, he went to work for Luck Brothers in his hometown of Plattsburgh, where he climbed from a laborer to managing large-scale construction projects within three years.
The 2008 recession hit hard, leaving Leary laid off and broke. “I had a young child and a home, and I couldn’t find work anywhere,” he reminisced. Refusing to collect unemployment, he hustled through side jobs until an opportunity arose — buying the local Roto-Rooter franchise. After selling nearly everything he owned, Leary took the leap in 2010 with a mere $2,600 left in his bank account. In the five years that followed, he rebuilt his credit, expanded his business portfolio, and founded P.M. Leary, LLC—a family of eight+ companies serving the greater North Country region with excavation, septic services and more. Throughout his journey, Leary has remained committed to service, humility, and hard work, transforming challenges into a thriving enterprise.
I met with Pat Leary recently to learn the insights he has gained.
SB: What is the best piece of advice you have received?
PL: To this day, the best advice I’ve ever gotten was from my high school football coach, Larry Ewald. He always said, ‘The harder you work, the luckier you’ll get.” He drilled that into all of us through sports, and I’ve always kept it with me.
SB: What is the culture of your company?
PL: I think if a business is going to be successful, its employees have to be successful. I value employees who really care about their work, and I try my best to take care of them in return. I still have one of my first hires on staff. We offer paid vacations, health insurance, and holidays to our employees, because they deserve it. Most companies our size don’t offer this. I do everything in my power to try and beat the statistic I once heard that 90% of people don’t like going to work at their job.
SB: What do you look for when you hire?
PL: I try to surround myself with people who have good values and who are family oriented. We are like a big family here. We are short-staffed right now, but that’s not because there aren’t any applicants. I have to be selective. My bottom line is that if I would not let someone into my own house when I’m not there, I would not send them to the home of a customer.
SB: What is something no one would guess about you?
PL: I’m soft and emotional. So much so that my whole family pokes fun at it. My kids always say that I could cry watching a really good episode of Law & Order on television.
SB: Tell me about your approach to management and leadership?
PL: I hold an annual review process with my management team where they know I’m ready to reinvent the wheel if need be. I am always looking for ways to get better, be more efficient and improve our customer service. I always go to that meeting with Key Performance Indicator’s and ideas to apply lean principles to our work to find efficiencies where possible and adjust our processes for continuous improvement.
SB: What inspires you?
PL: I love any challenge, small or large. Over the years we have said yes to many jobs that some of our employees expressed doubts about our ability to handle at the time. When I am told I can’t do something, that’s when I get the, “Here, hold my beer!” attitude and set out to prove them wrong.
SB: If you could have dinner and spend an evening with any well-known person living or dead, who would you choose?
PL: I would love to spend time with Michael Jordan, mostly because of his work ethic. He pushed himself every single day, and no one could touch him as far as talent and hard work went. His teammates hated him for it, but it got results. I am also fascinated by how he put Nike athletic shoes on the map. Before he came out with his famous three-color basketball shoes, Nike was only known as a running shoe. He was brilliant.
SB: What do you do for fun?
PL: I recently became an outdoorsman and a hunter. I coach my youngest daughter’s travel basketball team and I have a blast doing it. I never miss my kids’ sporting events. In the summer, we enjoy boating as a family.
SB: What advice do you have for the younger generation starting out today?
PL: It doesn’t matter what your skill sets or abilities are, if you don’t have a strong work ethic it is hard to be successful. Whether it’s working with a pen or doing physical labor, you have to push yourself. You can achieve anything you want to with a strong work ethic.
SB: What are you most proud of professionally?
PL: The thing I’m most proud of professionally is being able to help people. Whether it’s helping one of my employees purchase their first car or home, helping the school with a new soccer field, helping a stranger on the side of the street, or helping a local family care for their special needs child, I get more joy from giving back than I do when our business gets the big check after completing a job. There is no better feeling.
SB: What does the North Country Community need to do today to make sure that we are prosperous in the future?
PL: It is so important to get our youth involved in as many positive activities outside of the school day as possible. So many kids are getting lost because they are not involved. Whether it’s music, chorus, dance, sports, or chess club doesn’t matter. We could have a lot more to offer our youth in this area, so that every teenager has the chance to be a part of different kinds of organized activities that will teach them a lot of the skills they need as adults.