John F. Fish is the Chairman and CEO of Suffolk, a national contractor and real estate enterprise that invests, innovates and builds. Under his vision and leadership, Suffolk has grown into one of the leading privately held builders in the country. With over $10 billion in annual revenue, Suffolk is currently ranked on the Engineering News-Record national list of Top Contractors.
Mr. Fish is a fixture on numerous Boards focused on economic stability and real estate industry growth. He is the Chair of the Real Estate Roundtable, a non-partisan organization that convenes government, business and communities to establish more equitable policies for economic growth. He is the founding member and current Director of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership (MACP) and former Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. In New York City, Mr. Fish is a Director of the Real Estate Board of New York and a member of the Partnership for New York City, and he sits on the National Business Roundtable. Mr. Fish serves as Chair of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and sits on the Executive Committee of Mass General Brigham. He also serves on the Board of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health. He is the Chair of the Board at Boston College, his second time serving that role and first non-alum to fulfill that role. Mr. Fish is also on the Board of Overseers for Home Base. In 2009, Mr. Fish founded Scholar Athletes and led the program for more than ten years, improving the lives of thousands of inner-city high school students by leveraging the proven link between school athletics and academics.
Mr. Fish is a graduate of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. He received an honorary doctorate of Engineering Technology degree from Wentworth Institute of Technology, is the recipient of an honorary degree from Regis College, and received an honorary degree in Business Administration from Curry College.
Learn more about John
-
The people. Building relationships and helping people grow personally and professionally is my passion and the most exciting part of being in the construction business. I often say “we don’t build buildings, we build people.” Being a part of corporate culture that values building people is a great honor and privilege for me, and it’s just another reason why I consider myself so lucky.
-
Caring. The strongest leaders truly care about their people and their communities. Despite the many challenges we continue to face as a society, we are all human beings dealing with our own unique challenges in our own unique ways. Strong leaders understand this and are empathetic with their people. They understand everyone is in this together and that we need each other to survive, thrive and be successful. At Suffolk, caring is more than just a word. To our people, caring truly matters and makes us a stronger organization and family.
-
Innovation is about challenging yourself and others to think bigger and bolder. It means being curious and always seeking a better way. It means taking chances and not being afraid to fail. Innovation is the key to forward progress and a better world. The construction industry is ripe for disruption. Inefficiencies and lack of productivity have plagued construction for far too long. For the construction industry to thrive, it must abandon “the way it’s always been done” and continue to evolve and push boundaries. At Suffolk, we see this as a defining moment to think bigger and leverage sophisticated technologies and processes that will help us reimagine the construction process and add real value for clients. We want to redefine what it means to be a builder. To achieve that ambitious goal, we are thinking differently and finding new, innovative ways to add value and deliver on our promise to clients.
-
Our diversification strategy, AC28, focuses on our core competency of construction management services but expands into vertical service lines such as real estate development funding, self-perform, technology R&D and investment, and design-assist, among other vertical service lines. Our diversification approach adds value for clients across the entire building lifecycle and establishes us as an end-to-end business capable of delivering on our value proposition “Invest. Innovate. Build.” We believe our in-depth knowledge of every project phase and proven expertise in constructability will allow us to deliver faster, more efficient services and better outcomes for clients across the entire lifecycle of a building. And we believe our approach will change the way buildings are envisioned, planned, designed, built and managed in the future.
-
Virtual design and construction has had the greatest impact on the industry over the past fifty years and it will continue to evolve. By allowing us to build buildings virtually before we actually build them onsite, virtual modeling tools has given teams the ability to build sophisticated, complex buildings more safely and efficiently than ever before. While virtual models have been the most important technology in construction to date, I believe the future of innovation lies in data. By leveraging a clean data lake with metrics and key performance indicators pulled directly from project sites, teams can more closely monitor and measure project team performance and make the necessary adjustments to mitigate project risk and continuously improve
-
I wish there was a technology that could give me more hours in the day. I love what I do and 24 hours never seems like enough!
Latest News
Our people are dedicated to finding solutions to every challenge. That spirit makes for some great stories.