Featured Alumni: Wes ’03 and Wyatt ’06 Couture | Avon Old Farms News | About Us | Avon Old Farms

Despite having differing experiences while attending Avon Old Farms School, Wes ’03 and Wyatt ’06 Couture say they received the guidance and life skills that ultimately led both of their paths to the same destination: founders of a thriving family business.

The Couture family hails from South Hadley, Mass. From an early age, the importance of family and hard work were instilled in Wes and Wyatt. “I remember as 13-year-olds we were helping out with a family roofing business. We would do that every summer,” Wyatt shares. “If we wanted spending money, we had to earn it.” Although it may not sound like it, this was the type of experience that the boys grew to appreciate. “We are a very tight-knit family,” Wes explains. “A lot of who we are gets attributed to our parents. They were hard-working and made sacrifices to get us to where we are today.”

Dad, Bill, and Mom, Suzanne, supported their four children in all of their endeavors, from the early days of youth sports to deciding where to attend high school. “I do remember a specific time standing in my parents’ room. They were asking if I wanted to attend Avon. They really let it be completely my decision,” Wes recalls.

For Wes, he knew right away he had made the right decision. “I never looked back. Part of it was the joy of having a new room after growing up sharing one with two brothers. I don’t remember having any regrets.”

For Wyatt, things were a bit different. “I wasn’t so sure about going. It was still my decision, but it was more about what I saw as being best for my future rather than what I wanted at the time. I saw what Wesley had grown into, but I had a lot of friends back home I didn’t want to leave.” His first year at Avon, Wyatt says he wasn’t all in, deciding to go home most weekends. It didn’t help that his hometown lacrosse team—the one with all his friends still on it—won the state championship that year, even beating his AOF team in preseason. “They were all letting me hear it after that.”

With the strong work-ethic that his parents had provided, along with the Avon campus environment promoting perseverance, Wyatt powered through the winter both literally and figuratively. “During junior year I broke my collarbone. I remember lugging my backpack on one shoulder with all my textbooks to and from the library. “Avon put me out of my comfort zone. It was definitely a challenging atmosphere. You learn what you can handle and how much you can handle. But it was that spring I really started to feel like I had made the right decision after all.” The spring break trip to Florida with his varsity lacrosse team left no doubts. “Those were some good times, and the level of talent I was playing alongside was unbelievable.”

While at Avon, Wes played soccer, hockey, and lacrosse. Co-captaining the varsity lacrosse team his senior year. He was also a monitor of Brown Dormitory, served on the Student Council as treasurer, and graduated second in his class. “I really had some good times. A lot of good teachers and friends. Even my dorm room was great. In the old Brown Dormitory, there was one room on the end that was a solo room and I had that one.”

Naturally, it would be hard to match the accomplishments set by his older brother. “I was trying to fill some big shoes,” Wyatt says. He was very involved on campus as well. He captained the JV soccer team, played varsity lacrosse, and his senior year tried his hand at wrestling where he was second in his weight class at Western New Englands and qualified for Nationals in Major John Bourgault’s ’80 first year as coach. “That was an experience I’m proud of,” Wyatt says. He was also heavily involved in community service, running the “Gifts of Love” program collecting food donations to provide to local charities.

The two took similar paths after graduating from Avon, both going on to play college lacrosse. Wes attended Bates for three years before making the decision to forgo his senior year season to enroll in an engineering program at Columbia University. “I made the choice to commit to academics,” Wes explains.

Wyatt attended Bentley University where he studied sales and marketing. He also excelled on the lacrosse field. “I had finally grown into my body, so I had the size in college. That went along with all the knowledge and instincts I had learned from coach Ted Garber. He was a legend. There were some legitimate coaches and mentors at Avon.”

Upon graduating from college, Wyatt began working in the sales department for a home improvement company, getting an important glimpse into that industry. Wes moved to New York City where he worked for a civil engineering company. Meanwhile, their other brother, Kurt, had gone the trades route, gaining technical knowledge and hands-on experience. With all of these pieces, their mom Suzanne put out an idea. “I was learning a lot about home insulation at the time, and then Mom is the one who kind of first planted the idea in our minds of coming together to start our own business as a family,” Wyatt explains. “We had several components together.”

In early 2013, Suzanne started off with some of the administrative work while Wyatt started knocking on doors to stir up demand for their services. Kurt headed up installations, and Wes worked with all of them from his existing job. Utilizing Mass Save, a collaborative of Massachusetts utilities and energy efficiency service providers, the family began providing insulation services and home energy assessments. “After a $50,000 bank loan and leveraging everything we owned, we went head first into working.”

Wes had a military base landing strip he was finishing up for his day job while helping the family build the business. At the end of that first summer, he joined full-time as an energy specialist. “It was a leap of faith, making that full commitment,” Wes says. “We were a very grassroots operation at the start, but five years later we had built a 75-employee company.”

That company, American Installations, had expanded rapidly, providing cost-effective, energy efficient utilities to homes and buildings throughout New England. In fact, they recently branched out with a new company focused on HVAC and heat pump installations called Alpine Heat Pumps.

After all the hard work and family support early on, Wes and Wyatt now have new roles within their company. Wyatt is the Director of Sales and Business Development while Wes does the job of CEO. “I started out as a guy in the field. Now, I’ve been in this role for years, just a general oversight of all operations,” Wes says.

Both brothers agree that their time at Avon provided a foundation for their future. “The structure was a big part of it, but also the competition there. Being a competitor pushes you to make opportunities. Avon pushes you to try to get to the top of your abilities—physically, mentally, all of it. You’re motivated by everyone around you to reach high standards,” Wes says. Wyatt agrees, saying, “I don’t think I’d be the same person without going through those experiences and challenges.”

With three sons himself, Wes says he hopes the family connection to Avon continues. In fact, his oldest son recently submitted his application to attend. “I had to write a parent essay,” Wes shares. “And I found myself reflecting on some of the mentors I had there myself, including Jim Detora P’12 who’s got a little bit of a different role now than when I was there.”

Wyatt has been doing some reflecting of his own recently, with his 20-year reunion coming up in the fall. “I haven’t had a chance to come back since my 10-year reunion, so I’ll definitely want to attend that.”

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