Joan founded a renowned woman-owned construction business in Minnesota
Colleen Donovan, president of Donovan Enterprises, a trucking company serving five Midwest states and based in St. Cloud, Minnesota, donated $15,000 to create new named scholarship at Dakota County Technical College (DCTC). Colleen created the scholarship to honor her late sister, Joan Marie Donovan, the founder of J.D. Donovan, Inc., a highly respected, woman-owned, Minnesota-based construction business.
Kim Shaff, executive director of foundations and community relations at DCTC and Inver Hills Community College, reported that Colleen also donated $5,000 to fund the Doug Differt STEM (D3M) Endowed Scholarship at Inver Hills.
“We are honored that Colleen selected DCTC and Inver Hills for these generous gifts,” Kim said. “We’re especially touched to honor Joan Donovan’s legacy at DCTC through the Joan Marie Donovan Scholarship. Joan and Colleen Donovan broke barriers in a male-dominated field, paving the way for others and showing what’s possible with hard work and determination. This gift ensures their legacy will continue to empower students and inspire future students to dream big and make their mark.”
More about Colleen and Joan’s life together…
Colleen Donovan related that she and her sister, Joan Marie, worked together for more than 40 years before entering and finding great success in a trucking industry where more than 90 percent of the workforce is male. “We plowed snow with a 950 loader and shovels,” Colleen said. “Joan and I would shovel the sidewalks at the accounts we had, so every time we got two inches of snow, we knew what was on our schedule, no matter what plans we had made.”
In 1987, the first big job Colleen and Joan had was with Ames Construction on Interstate 394, formerly known as Wayzata Boulevard. “There was an area at the intersection of I-394 and Highway 169 where Joan would have the trucks pull in so she could check the trailers,” Colleen recalled. “Joan took off her diamond ring and set it on the fender of a trailer to fix something. Then Ron Ames drove up, and Joan was talking with him when the truck pulled away with the ring. But somewhere the ring fell off, and Joan and Ron were crawling on the ground looking for it—never to be found. So, at the intersection of I-394 and Highway 169 there is a diamond ring.”
Joan working on I-35 to Minneapolis construction job; J.D. Donovan, Inc., handled all the hauling on the project.
Colleen and Joan worked together and ran both J.D. Donovan and Donovan Enterprises until 2015 when they finally split the two companies. “We had talked about it for years, but at the end of each season, we always said next year—we were tired out,” Colleen said. “The funny thing is we only told two people, our banker and accountant. Contractors and people in the industry were talking, saying the sisters were fighting. We just laughed—if they only knew why we were splitting the companies.
“One night, we got a call from a major customer and put him on speaker. He said he knew why we were making the move. We never admitted it to him, but he was right. He figured us out. LOL.”
Colleen and Joan were always together—they even vacationed together. A contractor’s wife once called them bookends. “We were the best team—and we each had our own duties,” Colleen said. “When Joan decided to get into the oil-hauling business, I just shook my head, but again she made the right decision.”
Joan Marie was a number of years younger than her sister. “I have always believed a person gets a gene from a family member and that you have part of that person in you,” Colleen said. “Joan was only eight years old when our father died, but I can tell you she had lots of his personality and actions in her. Some days, I would look at her for something she did and say, ‘You’re just like Dad.’ I had worked several years for my dad and saw him come out in Joan.”
Colleen understood how much her sister loved and supported the construction industry. Joan was never afraid to challenge anything connected to the career path she followed. “I remember the time an owner-operator wanted to work for Joan, but could not back up a truck and trailer,” Colleen said. “She made him back up all day long in our shop yard before testing and then hiring him.”
Because Joan was always helping out people—friends, family, employees, ITOs, and people in the industry, Colleen thought the best way to keep her sister’s memory alive was to fund a current college scholarship and create a new college scholarship in her name.
“That way Joan Marie could continue to bring people into the industry she loved,” Colleen said, “and she would still be helping people out. From the time she was a little girl to her passing, she could and would talk with anyone about anything. Joan did love to talk.”
Joan Marie Donovan Biography
Joan Marie Donovan was born June 28, 1965, in St. Cloud, Minnesota, to John and Donna Donovan. Joan passed away November 7, 2023. Joan attended schools in St. Cloud, graduating from St. Cloud Business College with an accounting degree in 1985. Four years later, she established J.D. Donovan, Inc., as a woman-owned construction business. Her passion for the construction industry was in her DNA as her father was an asphalt contractor.
Joan learned the construction business from the ground up by working on job sites. She could change the brakes and set the slack adjusters on a construction truck and trailer. She really knew her way around the traditionally male industry.
Joan’s greatest strength in her 34 years of owning and operating J.D. Donovan, Inc., was her ability to build relationships with contractors, government employees, bankers, and truck drivers. She treated her employees with respect because it didn’t matter who you were—just do the job and do it right.
On the other hand, if you did something not in the best interest of the company, you knew you were going to feel the wrath of Joan Marie.
In 1991, Joan diversified the business from rock hauling to hauling asphalt oil at a time when a company needed authority from the state to deliver this type of material. She was the first woman in Minnesota to receive statewide authority to haul asphalt oil.
J.D. Donovan, Inc., eventually expanded from Minnesota into Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Joan started the business with three truck tractors and 10 belly dumps. The company currently operates 11 truck tractors and 26 asphalt trailers along with leased equipment to manage the business when necessary.
Joan built a reputation of owning and operating the best and most reliable company in the asphalt industry. People knew if anybody could help them with a construction project, it was Joan.
Joan’s motto: “We take care of our customers or someone else will!”
Joan’s achievements:
1991: J.D. Donovan, Inc., becomes the first woman-owned business in Minnesota to haul asphalt products.
1998: Joan receives the Blue Chip Enterprises Award, which was sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Nation’s Business, First Business, and MassMutual.
Joan helped form the Women in Construction Association and Women of Asphalt (WofA); she served as a Minnesota Asphalt Pavement Association (MAPA) board member.
Learn more about the Foundation and scholarship opportunities at DCTC by contacting:
Jenna Baumgard
Foundation Development Director
Dakota County Technical College
jenna.baumgard@dctc.edu
651-423-8265
