CONTRIBUTED GRAPHIC Matt Goshon, a Marshalltown native and MHS graduate who now lives in Le Grand and serves as the design manager for Archkey Solutions, was recently recognized as one of the “40 Under 40” Champions of Construction for 2025.

LE GRAND — Matt Goshon, who serves as the design manager for Archkey Solutions, is honored that he has been named one of the “40 Under 40” champions of construction in 2025, but the recognition is especially meaningful considering the difficult path he took to where he is today.

Goshon, 37, a Marshalltown native, MHS alum and father of six who now resides in Le Grand, works with clients to manage designs and ensure that the blueprints match what is installed in the field on any given project and that they are constructible. Archkey is one of the top 10 electrical contractors in the nation with around $2 billion in annual revenue. He supports national jobs and has worked mostly on large data centers including one built for Facebook in Altoona several years ago.

While he couldn’t be happier about his current position, it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows for Goshon. Back in 2016, on the heels of a difficult divorce, he was arrested for possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver while living in Boone County and was eventually sentenced to 10 years in state prison after pleading guilty to the charges later that year.

He spent about 10 months in prison, but a judge granted him a rare reconsideration that provided him with a second chance at life.

“It’s kind of like a shock treatment basically, and then you just have to stay out of trouble, do everything right until your court date, which my court date was the day after Memorial Day, and then that’s when I got out,” he said.

Goshon’s brother, an electrical journeyman working with Cupertino Electric, got him a job immediately after his discharge, picking Matt up and taking him to work every day as he didn’t have a driver’s license at the time.

“He wanted me to stay out of trouble and really supported me,” Matt said.

For several months, he did construction work with the Local 347 electrical union in Des Moines, doing manual labor building racks, connecting conduit and other prefabrication work at their warehouse in Ankeny. One day, he noticed a company executive from California was in town, and, having just gotten his license back, he decided to take a shot in the dark and ask him if he’d consider Matt for a computer job due to the fact that he already had a bachelor’s degree in the field.

His brother doubted whether the strategy would work, but Matt responded that the worst he could hear was no.

“I think that’s one of the biggest things. People don’t put themselves at risk to hear the word. They’d rather just keep doing what they’re doing instead of putting themselves at risk,” he said.

As crazy as it sounded, the executive immediately invited Goshon upstairs and introduced him to the design group, and he started the next week. He had 30 days to prove himself, and after two weeks, he was asked to stay on full-time.

Amidst a round of layoffs in 2018, Goshon eventually moved over to a company that is now known as Archkey and took on similar work, and he’s continued to turn his life in a positive direction all the way up to the present day.

“I feel like everyone makes mistakes, but it’s how you learn from your mistakes and what you do about it moving forward. And I think that was the biggest thing about myself was I had a family that supported me and wanted me to do good, and I didn’t want to feel sorry for myself. And I also had kids that were counting on me to be a dad and to help provide a life,” he said. “So those were the two major driving factors, and I just was willing to do anything it took to not go back to prison. I made $0.31 an hour when I was in prison helping people get their GEDs. Getting out was, at first it was kind of a shock and everything, but I think honestly, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It helped me stay aware of my choices and have a greater appreciation for the things I have and the things I work for.”

And the job hunting process as a convicted felon was difficult, as he readily admits, with interviews, letdowns and failures due to his background and a gap in employment between Cupertino and Archkey before he finally secured a job and worked his way up to his current position by being the first in and last to leave.

“I just came out of an extremely rough part of my life, so I was not gonna take anything for granted and just kept grinding and showing up to work and learning and growing every day, putting in the time after work to try to invest in myself so that I could provide for my family and kids,” he said.

He also admitted that as a youngster and in high school, he didn’t make the best choices, hung out with a “rough crowd,” and thought his life was stuck on that path until he had kids. When he sees people from his past now, they have remarked on how they were “all in the same spot,” but Goshon wasn’t willing to accept it and did everything in his power to get out of that spot.

Now that he’s made it out of that cycle, he would like to serve as a mentor to those who might be heading down a similar path. Looking forward, Goshon has no plans to slow down and hopes to do what it takes to become a director at Archkey — where his wife also works — and feels a sense of loyalty to the company for taking a chance on him when others wouldn’t.

“Right now, I think the goal is to keep learning and growing and not settling, but also just remaining appreciative and grateful because I know where life was,” he said.