MARCY, N.Y. — Growing up, Jennifer Keida was always a tomboy of sorts. Interested in athletics from little league baseball  to soccer, Keida says it didn’t take long for her to realize that she was presented with different opportunities from her male counterparts.

“I grew up playing soccer in the backyard,” she recalls. As a child, it was hard to understand why she had different opportunities than the boys.

As an adult, heading up a $20-million-plus company in an industry that remains dominated by men, Keida has learned to not only embrace the differences but also to lean into them, learn from them, and grow from them.

“It’s still difficult to be a women working in construction,” the president and CEO of Standard Heating, Cooling & Insulating in Marcy says. “Things are still not equal.”

Keida began working for Standard — then owned by her parents Charles and Sandy Scholl — in 2000, serving as general manager and sales for a Connecticut branch. After about two years there learning the business, Keida advised Standard to close that office, and she moved to the company headquarters at 9488 River Road in Marcy.

Over the years, Keida has tackled many roles and tasks at the business from sales to getting out and measuring at job sites.

With three “strikes” against her — petite, blonde, and female — Keida says she spent a lot of time battling stereotypes. At trade events, the assumption was that she was there as “somebody’s wife,” Keida recalls.

At first, Keida pushed back and wanted to prove she was worthy of being there. She soon learned the more time she spent proving she belonged there, the less time she spent learning at the events.

Now, Keida uses the events as learning opportunities as she continually seeks to better herself, the company, and her industry.

The reality is that women in the construction industry do face some barriers that men don’t experience, she says. That’s why Standard makes sure to accommodate those needs in various ways.

Professionally, Keida has worked to increase her knowledge in order to expand the business. She credits Rich Waite, a longtime Standard employee, with supporting her business journey.” Keida also participated in the Goldman Sachs 10000 Small Business program in 2013. 

“That was like a crash course in business,” she says. “We dug into the business model. What could we do better?” At the time, Standard Heating, Cooling & Insulating had about 25 employees and was generating $3.5 million in sales. The company implemented several changes as a result of the Goldman program and really began to focus on business development.

In February 2020, Standard was producing about $6.5 million a year in sales when Keida purchased the company from her parents. One of her first acts was to make Waite a minority owner. “He’s the guy who believed in me,” she says.

Since Keida took over, Standard Heating, Cooling & Insulating has grown from about 45 employees to just under 100, while sales topped $20 million in 2022 and are on track to hit $29 million this year.

In early 2022, Standard opened a Capital Region location at 187 Wolf Road. NYSERDA, for which Standard is a top contractor, had indicated the region was underserved. 

Standard has three main business areas — its market rate business where customers pay for the work, its NYSERDA business where various energy programs pay for all or part of the work, and its commercial projects division.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Standard stayed busy on the commercial side, which was deemed essential. The company adapted to remote work for the office staff, furloughed some employees while increasing the pay for those still working, and brought 100 percent of its staff back on board as soon as it was able.

While her staff is quick to credit Keida with providing opportunities and perks other companies do not — Standard provides employees an annual vacation reimbursement of up to $2,000 — Keida quickly credits her success to her team. The Standard team includes Waite as COO/EVP; Jason Porter, VP of operations; Jeff Belisle, VP of finance/CFO; and Brooke Konifka, VP of talent and culture.

Keida also credits her mentor, Jeff Schafer, who operated Schafer Sales Development Group in Utica for many years. She connected with him through an ad for sales training in the Central New York Business Journal.

“He was that guiding person that challenged me,” Keida says. Schafer told her when she was wrong, pushed her when she needed pushing. “He held me accountable. He also reminded me that I had the skill set to do it,” she says. Schafer remains a mentor to both Keida and many on her sales team.

Both at Standard and in her personal life, Keida strives to be a positive role model for women and focuses on providing opportunities for women and breaking barriers.

Keida, who holds a bachelor’s in fine arts from Alfred University, is currently working toward her MBA from Boston University.

The Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce recently named Keida its 2023 Businessperson of the Year and will honor her at an event later this year.