Having started at the age of fourteen as an understudy to Frank van Bentem, a Dutch naval architect, Jon decided early on to consummate the start of his career. "I remember when I finally got an interview with Mr. van Bentem he tried to scare me away by pulling out systems, machinery and structural drawings of vessels he designed and I vividly remember saying to myself I will do whatever it takes to learn this, and I did. Fact of the matter Mr. van Bentem succeeded, I was scared to death, but equally determined to learn. The rest of the interview I suppose went fine as he hired me at the age of 14 starting at a whopping $40.00 a week based on a 40 hour work week. I worked at van Bentem and Associates until the age of 18 finishing up with two years of accredited naval architecture courses in my junior and senior years of high school in a special co-op program with USM. I went to school in the morning and then to work. My time at van Bentem's was priceless and I am eternally in his debt for taking me under his wing. We covered every aspect of vessel design, I was not only learning but I could go to the shipyard's and look at what I drew. van Bentem and Associates produced many commercial vessels from simple deck or tank barges to sophisticated 190-foot offshore supply vessels. In the last two years there I had a hand in everything the office produced and did many of the proposals on new designs. When Frank knew I was ready for the next level he would let me do it." Jon had been through every phase of vessel design by the time he was 16 in a unique, vocational and "hands on" environment resulting in an accelerated learning program for him.