Mr. Joseph Allen

I was born and raised here on a small dairy farm in Vincentown. My childhood mornings and evenings were spent feeding calves and milking cows, while weekends and summers were spent driving tractors and tossing hay bales.

My mother was a kindergarten teacher at Southampton from the mid 80’s until around 2016.

After graduating from Southampton Schools in the 80’s, I attended Lenape High School and then Burlington County College. As an adult I have taken online Computer Science courses purely for personal development.

Throughout the 90’s I ran my own landscaping company and worked in various construction trades each winter. I also worked a few hours each week for Bancroft “workshop families,” running discrete trials for young children with severe autism.

Determined to take a shot at becoming a rock-n-roll star, I sold the company and moved to Manhattan in 2000. Instead of fame, I found freelance work doing background music and foley work on TV commercials. I’ve yet to be nominated for a Grammy.

I traveled in the early 2000’s to work in the independent restaurant industry, overseeing the development of owners’ concepts from the remodeling phase through to the successful opening and operations of a few dozen casual Italian restaurants in NJ, PA, OH and FL.  My responsibilities ran the gamut from hands-on construction to general management, including the training of waitstaff, menu creation, pricing, and bar operations.

When the recession of 2008 put a halt to the opening of new locations, I moved back to Southampton and started over as a laborer for a local steel erection company. After working to become foreman and then supervisor, I was promoted from within to my current position(s) as Administrative Project Manager and Safety & Training Manager.

Currently, I serve as Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Metal Building Contractor and Erectors’ Association Mid-Atlantic Division. My past achievements include contributions to the MBI Temporary Bracing Guidelines manual, contributing to the development of the AC-478 accreditation standard, and winning the 2016 Metalcon National Roofing Championships. Through the Metal Buildings Institute and NCCER, I currently participate in various national committees responsible for the development of training curriculum and national industry standards for steel erectors across the country.

My wife is a high school teacher, and my two children attend Southampton Schools. I’m committed to serving the best interests of all Southampton children and parents as a BOE member. I appreciate a good debate, and I tend not to take things at face value; I believe that skepticism and rational common sense have a place in every discussion.

In my nonexistent free time, I enjoy playing with my kids, guitars, graphic and motion design, remote aircraft, electronics, and carpentry.