Leadership

Inspired by the tall Houston skyscrapers that towered over his high school graduation ceremony, Paul Little got his first job in construction before starting college that fall. Now, 40 years later, Paul is a superior leader and a successful contractor. But when Paul looks back on his career, he doesn’t always think of the hundreds of successful projects he’s completed for a diverse client base. He thinks about the mistakes. Those mistakes made him the man who he is, the one who knows that a successful project is one that fits for both the contractor and the client. Paul is a great guy to have on your team. He believes client empathy is the key to project success and instills that tenet into his staff of talented professionals. Paul finds them inspiring in their accountability and trustworthiness, and is proud of what they accomplish with the tools and procedures Alston provides. To Paul, communication and commitment create successful construction projects. By communicating openly with the client and committing fully to a project, Paul has brought some great buildings to life. 

Adam began his career in construction more than two decades ago with his first job out of college as the Assistant Controller for Aneco Electric in Clearwater, FL.  He earned his first role as CFO for Winter Park Construction where he was also a partner.   Adam joined Alston in January 2012 and was instrumental in helping steer the company out of the Great Recession.  Today Alston is # 112 in the ENR Top 400 and a must consider firm for anyone building industrial warehouse/distribution centers anywhere in the US.  Adam holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Rollins College and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Evan Hamilton thrives on the creative process. With an eye always on the big picture, he thoughtfully meets the needs of his clients by identifying challenges that threaten construction projects and swiftly solves them. He enjoys providing innovative solutions to challenges and routinely keeps project teams on track by emphasizing the importance of forward-thinking throughout project execution. This proactive approach enables him to consistently manage risk and, therefore, deliver superior results for Alston’s clients across the country. A busy multi-tasker, Evan manages many projects simultaneously, while emphasizing customer service with personal and meaningful interactions. He also prioritizes safety. In fact, Evan’s emphasis on safety was recognized by Alston’s receipt of the National Safety Award from the Associated General Contractors of America in 2015. This award underscores the best of what it means to work at Alston:  a strong safety culture, trust, open communication, accountability and people taking care of people. For Evan, receiving the National Safety Award was a top moment in his 20-year career in the construction industry. When he’s not working, he’s spending time with his wife, Karen, and coaching, exploring, fishing and keeping up with his three boys – Jack, Miles and Luke.

Chad first got into the industry because of an epiphany that inspired him to leave a position as a union carpenter and transition into a general contractor role. Throughout college, Chad was on a pre-law track because of his interest in negotiating contracts and closing deals. This interest led him through his shift into construction, ultimately combining his interest in negotiation with his interest in building. His greatest strength is his ability to lead people, rather than manage them, ensuring that his dissemination of information remains collaborative and visionary rather than managerial. He remains most proud of his on-time and on-budget work on a complex project that was historical, redaptive-use, and LEED Platinum: transforming a nineteenth-century factory into a progressive, green space. In that project as in all projects, Chad lives by the motto “the client is always right,” leading his team to adapt easily to client wishes in an industry that places such a premium on service.

Bill was brought up in the construction industry, in a family that moved often, following construction. Bill owned a car repair shop before ending up in the family industry, at Alston. Alston’s small-company feel and relationship-based culture supports Bill’s common sense approach, centering teams to deliver success. Bill’s work shines on the Southpark Industrial Park in Smyrna, Tennessee, one of Alston’s earliest distribution park projects. Bill was involved from the planning phase on the entire piece of property, and delivered millions of square feet in a multiple-building project for the clients. Bill’s guiding philosophy utilizes business planning: he believes that the first step in hitting goals is articulating those goals. After all, a relationship with a client is having a common goal; in Bill’s case, that common goal is delivering over and above the client’s expectation.

Bob believes that “failure to plan is planning for failure”, a credo borne out of his life as a third-generation member of a construction family. His family history also guides his philosophy of treating clients as he would want to be treated. Bob always delivers the quality that he would expect as a client, and prides himself on exceeding client expectations and forging those lasting relationships that bring repeated partnerships. The premium Bob places on subcontractor accountability allows him to orchestrate projects rapidly, like completing a Medline project in Minnesota in 4.5 months, start to finish. Bob consistently meets the client’s timetable because his team of seasoned individuals and younger staff are all trained in the Alston way. Bob’s belief in the Alston way motivates him to continue educating teams to drive them toward success in the industry. His biggest strength is the design end of the process: value engineering to design a building at the best price. At the end of the day, Bob truly loves what he does. 

Matt started as a civil engineer, before joining three generations of his family working in the construction industry. His family taught him to always view projects from the macro perspective of developing lasting relationships, ensuring his accessibility to and engagement with every client in such a service-driven industry. Matt’s most challenging project was building a West coast distribution facility for Zulily, working with a third-party developer to deliver in six months. Matt literally moved a small mountain for the client on that project. Matt’s favorite part of the job is getting the call or email that Alston has been selected and knowing that he can get to work moving mountains to deliver on the client’s dreams.

Jim has 25+ years of experience in the industry, but he has been building things for people since childhood. The first in his family to graduate college, Jim knew from the beginning that he wanted to pursue a degree in civil engineering. This singular drive shines through in his determination to steer the team toward a successful project completion. He prides himself in his ability to quickly understand the requirements of the front-end due diligence which allows a project to come to fruition. Jim believes that true client service starts well before the construction, by understanding of the scope the client hopes to achieve and balance that with budget and schedule. His proudest moment was completing a signature project for a client, in which his team was brought in as a ‘Hail Mary’ on the struggling project. Jim brought his team in to value engineer, and successfully improved the project’s environmental footprint while providing the client with a premier project within budget and on-time.

Early in Shane’s career, he managed construction on complex, heavy power industrial facilities.  Since that time, his portfolio has become greatly diversified with projects successfully delivered in commercial, industrial, manufacturing, higher education, retail and medical sectors.  Shane enjoys the design-build process because it’s challenging and allows us to deliver the best results for our customers.  There’s been several projects throughout his career, where customer’s have asked for delivery deadlines that seem unachievable at first glance.  However,  he finds it’s quite rewarding when projects are repeatedly delivered as agreed through team buy-in and methodical planning.  He believes a “make it happen” attitude and a desire to serve your customers well is the key to success.

Don works with clients through a three-pronged approach that allows him to identify all critical project goals, convert productive planning into action, and close out projects successfully and in a timely manner. Don is a strident believer in implementing patience and perseverance through difficult project phases combined with hard work and accountability thus leading to success after success. Effective communication is at the core of his philosophy, allowing him to contrast empathy and client expectations with innovative contractor commitments. Although Don interacts on many projects for Alston, he remains deeply invested in each client’s specific needs and earnestly strives to support strong working relationships for successful results.

Deren Wilcox works closely with clients to formulate a plan that defines success for their individual projects. After all, success can be defined in a myriad of ways. Deren endeavors to always find the ways that create value for the client’s business to help its organization grow and thrive. Sometimes that just means picking up the phone when a project challenge arises, rather than wading through the ambiguity of email. To Deren, client service is about creating partnerships that see teams through the challenging – and rewarding – times of project development. He’s created those partnerships in the delivery of such projects as The Carrell Clinic medical office / surgery center – where Deren would later have six shoulder and knee surgeries – and the Southwest Airlines Corporate Headquarters Expansion. A 15-year veteran of the construction industry, Deren loves spending time in the field with the great people who physically bring a project to life to change the landscape of a community.

in the Pacific NW with a large GC before, finally after a life of rain and snow I headed to Sunny Southern California. I have worked for a few very reputable GCs during my career that included a wide variety of product type including, office, institutional, healthcare, and industrial. I also have experience and a deep passion for working directly with developers from the onset of a project to help ease their workload as it migrates from the initial site plan concept, through entitlements and eventual Construction. I am dynamic leader who encourages full team collaboration to ensure a enjoyable and successful workplace. 

Chad was drawn to construction to contribute to the growth of his own community. He has assembled a strong team of experts he considers to be family, bound together to deliver exceptional results to each and every client. To him, delivering a great project on-time and under-budget is a byproduct of the relationships that his team develops with clients. This mentality has served him well through the delivery of  multiple Alston projects, including the General Electric Commercial Aviation Services facility, for which he served as both the project manager and superintendent, the Kellogg’s facility, which posed significant site challenges to the team, and the Volvo project, for which Chad worked closely with the client to develop and deliver upon specifications rooted in European design. He finds great joy in working with his teammates at Alston and draws daily inspiration from his wife and three children.

construction company and his grandfather, who owned a commercial door hanging company. Radie uses his knack as a strategic planner and thinker, to create a solid plan for a project early on, as he believes early planning equates to a successful project at the end. A measure of success for him is hearing from a repeat client, who had an outstanding experience with his construction process. Radie follows five simple principles, which have helped him develop a successful construction career: 1) Protect your reputation by being ethical, professional, fair, and treat everyone you work with respect; 2) Always do what’s right, not what’s easy; 3) Be engaged and learn everything you can as quickly as possible; 4) Invest time in the field so you can learn from everyone (listen more than you talk) and 5) Work life balance is very important, don’t push yourself so hard that you forget who you are and what’s most important.

you have to enjoy seeing the progression of a project from inception to completion, as well as put people in jobs that can and will make them truly happy For more than 25 years, Gary has been striving to do just that. His passion for working with people and developing strategies for both the client and the construction process has been the keys to his success. He ensures the whole team understands the game plan, by knowing first what the client wants and the desired outcomes for the project. This open line of communication and collaboration not only with his team, but continually with the client helps to align expectations during construction and at project completion.