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John Jackley worked as a communications and policy strategist in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than a decade before becoming the communications director and legislative assistant in the Oregon Senate Leadership Office, Executive Officer for Highway at the Oregon Department of Transportation.

He then worked as the Director of Communications and Social Equity and head of the Neighborhood Division at the Portland Development Commission (now Prosper Portland) before founding Advanced Technology Communications in 2016. ATC specializes in drone services, digital communications and diversity policy for the construction industry.

鈥淚鈥檝e always worked where communications and equity intersect. PDC has very complicated projects, so I started using drone photos and video to show projects in a different way and it turned out to be very successful,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 loved working at PDC and I wanted to stay in the construction industry. I also wanted to focus on doing the hands-on creative and technology innovation myself in the field instead of always supervising big projects from headquarters.鈥�

ATC has seven employees in its offices in Portland, Accra, Ghana, and Panama City, Panama.

The company is developing a comprehensive drone system for the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority for construction documentation, incident command and inspection on land, and anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Guinea.

鈥淲e are one of the most diverse drone firms in the Northwest, and are proud of having mentored the first Navajo woman to earn her FAA commercial drone license,鈥� he said.

He noted that ATC is mission oriented toward the intersection of technology, communications and racial justice work in construction.

鈥淚 love the opportunity to work with NAMC-OR and the BIPOC community toward those goals. I was born in the United States but grew up in Panama more than anywhere else, and the opportunity to work in Spanish directly with the Latinx community in the region is personally rewarding as well.鈥�
While there are days when things don鈥檛 always go right, Jackley said it鈥檚 exciting to take on challenges on multiple levels.

鈥淭he opportunity to solve complicated construction project challenges with drone and digital technology is something we relish. Pushing aggressively to diversify the construction and drone world is much harder but not something we鈥檙e going to stop. And then there鈥檚 the mountain of usual business challenges 鈥� paperwork, forms, business management, and everything else that goes along with managing and leading a business,鈥� he said.

Jackley鈥檚 advice for other small business owners is to 鈥済o for it. Never give up. And never, never, ever be afraid or anxious to proactively look for and ask for help at all levels 鈥� business technical assistance, personal mentoring, marketing, all of it.鈥�

Jackley is one of the original board members of the Metropolitan Contractor Improvement Program (MCIP), which has been the training arm of NAMC-OR up to their recent merger. He said MCIP was proud to support and work with NAMC-OR on everything from directly assisting contractors to supporting advocacy efforts to end systemic racism in the construction industry.