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Business Lessons from a Founder

I have worked with and learned from amazing people on my journey – let's build together.

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Groundbreaking at Renewal by Andersen Manufacturing Facility

Construction has started on a new facility for America's premier window and door manufacturer – Renewal by Andersen! The company selected Clayco, CRG, and Lamar Johnson Collaborative to channel our integrated approach into a new 638,000-square-foot state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Locust Grove, Georgia. Renewal by Andersen is the full-service window replacement division of Andersen Corporation, which manufactures, sells, and installs exclusive replacement solutions to customers throughout North America.

Clayco's Alumni Night in St. Louis

Wow, what a reunion! This week I was fortunate enough to have a few slices of pizza with some amazing Clayco alumni and current team members. We shared memories and reflected on how we got to where we are today.I couldn’t help but think about all the challenges overcome, the opportunities won and lost, the risks that paid off, the risks that didn’t pay off, the setbacks, the hard work turning into something bigger than myself, and of course, the friendships I made along the way. I was so happy to see Clayco’s very first employee, Allen Conner, who started on the first day we opened for business on July 23, 1984. Joining us was also my longtime partner Jeff Cannedy, as well as John Gebel who started at Clayco in 1985 and made a huge difference to the company back when we were still finding our footing.

WestRock Packaging Plant

Our Clayco team started our first-ever project with WestRock! We were selected with our partner company, Lamar Johnson Collaborative, as the design-build team for WestRock’s 409,550-square-foot packaging plant in Longview, Washington. Developed by JB2 Partners and owned by an investment fund managed by ElmTree Funds, the facility will host WestRock’s corrugated manufacturing operation. This development will enable WestRock’s regional team to better serve customers with various new capabilities and efficiencies. It will also create 40 jobs.

Receiving the 32nd Annual Burnham Award for Distinguished Leadership

Last night’s 32nd anniversary of the Burnham Award Dinner was a massive success! The award honors Chicago leaders for making the city a better place to work and live – and I am humbled to be among them. I made Chicago my home back in 2010 and moved Clayco’s Headquarters to this great city because of its amazing business community, which the Chicago Chamber of Commerce helps support.

Clayco's STL Office Teams are Relocating & Expanding!

Missouri has played a fundamental role in Clayco’s history and my own. I grew up and started Clayco in the St. Louis region, and it is a heartfelt focus of mine to help the area regain its past glory. As the next step toward this mission, I am thrilled to announce the relocation and expansion of our St. Louis offices and operations center! Our St. Louis regional offices will come together in Berkeley, Missouri, in a newly recycled and renovated Clayco hub. What’s truly serendipitous about this is that Clayco designed and built the office for another company 11 years ago – and soon, it will be our new home. The 230,000-square-foot facility in NorthPark Development will accommodate over 1,000 team members committed to engaging the local community with their time and hands.

Clayco is Building Our Team Across America

Nothing slows our Clayco team down! We are celebrating several office openings across the country, demonstrating the success of the continued growth of our construction family. In the Southwest, we commemorated the grand opening of our regional headquarters in Phoenix! The 48,000-square-foot office is home to 400+ employees and our partner companies, LJC, CRG, Concrete Strategies, and Ventana, that support thousands of skilled workers throughout Arizona.

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My Mock Death is Today

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The concept of earning is an instinct of mine

My first job was stamping cans at a little grocery market in exchange for candy at about 10 years old. The concept of earning was an early instinct of mine.

During my teen years, I had a car wash on my home driveway, after which I started doing small painting and odd jobs at neighbors’ homes for extra money, but mainly to avoid mowing my own yard by paying the kid down the street to do it. I could make more money doing the other jobs, which allowed me to pay him very little to do something I didn’t want to do that was much more time-consuming. Looking back, that was an entrepreneurial experience.