Our Team

Jon attended Harding University on a baseball scholarship and graduated in 2002 with a degree in accounting. Jon loved the competition and camaraderie of college baseball and college life. The relationships that were formed and the life and business lessons of true friendship, leadership, work ethic, and teamwork still resonate with him to this day.

After college, Jon accepted a job with Big 4 accounting firm PwC, in their Audit division. While at PwC, Jon met some of the smartest, dedicated, and diligent young people he had ever met. Jon loved the team atmosphere that PwC fostered. He liked helping clients find simple answers to complex problems, and he enjoyed having clients of all sizes and seeing the unique challenges each of them faced. Jon considers his experience at PwC as immensely valuable. After more than 5 years at PwC, Jon decided he was ready for a new challenge and moved his family to Dayton, OH.

Around the time Jon was winding things down at PwC, Jon’s father asked if he’d be interested in moving to Ohio to open the family office and look for ways to deploy the family’s capital. Jon liked the idea of starting a business from the ground up and setting strategy and direction. He also liked the thought of working and learning under his Dad, whose experience and business knowledge were invaluable. Jon brought financial expertise, scrutiny, and organization to his family office and was willing to take risks where needed. Jon started both a commercial and residential investment firm for his family office that continues to this day.

While working for his family office, Jon came across an opportunity in Southeast Missouri to be a Controller/CFO for the Lawrence group on their agriculture side. The Lawrence Group is one of the largest farming and land-owning enterprises in the country. After meeting with the owner and the President, Jon jumped at the opportunity to learn from these successful businessmen. Outside of growing up on a family farm, Jon didn’t have a lot of exposure to agriculture. Jon quickly fell in love with the industry. Agriculture made sense to Jon, and he felt like food and agriculture had a bright future. Working for The Lawrence Group exposed Jon to how different business owners think about investment, strategy, finance and countless other aspects of a business that owners need to consider. Jon was able to help bring stability and expertise to an accounting and finance department that needed it. Jon regards his time at the Lawrence Group as the most challenging and rewarding jobs he has had.

Soon after Jon and Johnny met, they came up with the idea of Cypress Street Group, named after the street of their first office in downtown Essex, MO. The idea behind Cypress Street was to build an alternative investment company that centered around revitalizing and transforming privately-held investments by implementing strong leadership, innovative ideas, and renewed strategies.  Cypress Street Group is now a professional family-owned alternative investment firm with Jon and Johnny solidifying investment opportunities, extending their business acumen to many industries, and building strategic partnerships.  To date, Cypress has closed on $20+ million worth of investments in the Mid-South.