CORPORATE CORNER
CK Power employees participate in many community events as part of CK Power’s culture
CK Power Family of Companies
J
ohn Costello started out in business as a newsboy. Later he worked as an auto mechanic. Then, he started building a family business that employs more than 500 people in six companies with 11 facilities located in eight states. “In Glasgow Village, I stood on the corner and sold newspapers on Saturday nights when I was a kid,” John Costello says. “Later, my father (Tom Costello) was in the car business at Costello-Kunze Ford in North County. When it was at its height in the 60s and 70s, I was a mechanic.” As his father was leaving the auto business, John Costello was offered the opportunity to represent the Ford industrial engine line. Clayton Costello, one of John’s three sons now involved in the business, says, “Our father was graduating from college and
wanted to run with it. He sold Ford engines all over Missouri and southern Illinois. He started working out of the back of a pickup truck and grew it from there by building our own CK-branded products and getting distribution rights from various other engine manufacturers.” After Clayton and brothers J.J. and Clark graduated from college, “The three of us got into the business and wanted to take it to the next level,” Clayton Costello says. John Costello is chairman and chief executive officer of the companies. His sons serve as principals, with J.J. focusing on business development, Clayton on corporate strategy and operations, and Clark on standby power systems. John Costello founded the CK Power company as a branch of his
18 • SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation
Ford dealership in 1976. In 1980, he became affiliated with Western Diesel Services, which was founded in St. Louis in 1929. He acquired Western Diesel in 2000 and continued as CK John Costello Power Products and CK Parts and Service. From 2017 through 2021, the CK Companies acquired Consolidated Machine and Welding in Hannibal, MO, a contract vendor offering full-service metal fabrication; Hayes Manufacturing in Fife Lake, MI, a builder of powertrain accessories; Rocky Mountain Power Train of Commerce City, CO, a large-engine parts and service provider; and Terramac, which builds rubber-
