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Voted "Most Shy at Hull High School," Jon Charles is a Successful Entrepreneur

By Steve Silberberg

Like most Hull High seniors, native Hullonian Jon Charles was in a big hurry to leave town and get on with his life. It's not that he didn't like Hull, he just couldn't wait to see the world beyond the peninsula. He was so busy with work, friends and the future, that instead of earning his diploma by going to High School, he actually earned it by attending Quincy College. He found that college suited his disposition better and he responded to college's adult responsibilities by getting A's & a few B's.

Many people remember Jon as a somewhat shy, but well liked kid. In fact, he was voted "most shy" in high school, but this is probably due to the fact that there was no category for "most likely to be a supermodel"! And although he now makes his home in Braintree, his parents still live here. That means you may catch glimpses of him around town either visiting relatives, or more likely doing home projects for clients of his contracting business.

So although Jon's business is primarily in Braintree, he wistfully says he can't think of a better place to grow up than Hull. He fondly remembers the days when Hull was more of a blue collar fishing village, but now he says "It's turned into Yuppieville, which is not all bad." "Despite these changes", he says, "much of the character of the town hasn't changed".

Jon grew up in the 80s, when he remembers hearing stories from a long gone era about the grandeur that was once our fair peninsula. He says he longs for a return to the greatness that he had heard about all his life, but never got to experience while growing up in a more honky-tonk version of Hull. He'd like to see Hull become a high-class resort town. He loves that Hull is a town full of characters, but never liked when people referred to it as Brockton-by-the-Sea.

These days, Jon works assiduously to build up his business or more accurately businesses. He envisions a future in real estate management and/or development. In fact, he dreams about creating a small development of about a dozen homes that are completely energy independent, powered by solar panels and a small windmill. This idea was largely inspired by Hull 2.5, which powers the green building. Maybe someone should paint that thing green again!

Jon has other projects in the works. For instance, he has plans to develop and market a niche beverage that he thinks could become a wildly popular regional phenomenon that appeals to tourists. While the details are still secret, he hopes that someday the beverage will be available "down the Stoppy" as he jokingly refers to Stop 'n' Shop.

Another of Jon's entrepreneurial pursuits was one that he dabbled in just after graduating High School. He enrolled in the Northeast School of Broadcasting, with an interest in becoming a broadcaster. While there, one of his teachers was John Moscovitch, a regular guy from New York that most people know as the late Johnny Most.

Jon quickly realized that even if he had the talent to be a broadcasting legend, it would be a labor of love for little pay, so he earned an MBA and moved onto sales and marketing. He joined a company that distributed specialty products such as imported candy to gift shops and candy stores. His relentlessness as a salesman paid off and the business tripled its size when Jon expanded the company's distribution to colleges, hospitals, and larger stores. In fact, he became the highest selling sales person in the company's 75 year history.

Nobody can guess Jon's cat-like next maneuver, but eventually he says he'd like to collect cars and travel. Where might he like to travel? "Oh, definitely tropical destinations" he says. So the next time you visit the Caribbean or even Borneo or Java, look around the dense jungle and just maybe you'll catch a glimpse of the bright-eyed kid from Hull.

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