Ingram's May 2024

Terry Dunn Terry Dunn a banker? Before he would go on to a long career turning JE Dun Construction into one of America’s big gest contractors, Dunn did indeed log some time in a financial services setting while he was concurrently working on his MBA from UMKC. “I worked in a management training program at Columbia Union National Bank from January 1972 until Febru ary 1974,” he remembers. “I served in every department of a $450 million bank. The last six months, I served as the assistant internal auditor. The experience was an outstanding opportunity to gain a greater understanding of banking.” At about the same time, Bill Dunn Sr., Terry’s father, was winding down negotia tions to buy out the elder’s brother, Ernie Dunn and his family. “I was offered and accepted a junior officer position at JE Dunn in February 1974, the day after the acquisition was completed,” Dunn says. What followed over the next 40 years is the stuff that entrepreneurial dreams are made of. Entrepreneurship, in fact, was the defining quality he demanded not only of himself but the entire team. As recently as 1990, the year after he became CEO, the company had revenues of $155 million. Even account ing for inflation, revenues when he retired in 2014 had grown more than seven-fold on his watch, and the firm soared from 247th on the list of America’s Top 400 general contractors all the way to No. 12. Nearing the end of its impressive career, disaster struck: The Great Recession. It took a while to drain the work flow pipelines of contractors, but by 2009, the whole industry was in crisis. “Our company had not faced a major recession until this time,” he says. “Our revenue dropped from $2.8 billion in 2008 to $2 billion in 2009.” Then came the tough choices. “As CEO of JE Dunn, I had to oversee letting go over 100 office and field-management employees in January of 2009,” he says. “I tried to encourage empathy and respect for each person who we let go.” He considers himself fortunate in his early career to have been exposed to an executive class here that’s long been known for collaboration, mentorship and shared guidance. “I learned leadership and team building under many community leaders who were also great mentors,” he says. “As I was learn ing from these great leaders, I tried to hone my skill set to be a leader, teacher, and mentor to many future leaders in Kansas City.” Nearly a decade after retirement from the firm, he’s pur sued a passion for addressing social inequities after founding the non-profit KC Common Good, which will add a new element to his story, his work, and his contributions.

Greg Graves There’s a difference, Greg Graves will tell you, between climbing a mountain and plotting a career. The mountain eer sets his sights on a goal before taking that first step. But to reach the pinnacle in business? “Personally, I don’t think careers work like that,” says Graves, who retired as CEO of Burns & McDonnell at the end of 2016. “The best leaders I’ve known usually just set off to work hard at what they are doing and at the same time worked even harder on making themselves get better.” In his own case, that meant time on construction sites while working on his MBA at Rockhurst College. “I was blessed for one to spend my entire career at Burns & Mac, and through multiple random acts of hustle and blessing, I found myself named just the firm’s 6th CEO in 104 years,” Graves says. “I was probably way too young at just 42 when I was announced, but my board was wicked smart and gave me an 18-month transition before I took the helm. Eighteen months is a long time to ‘listen’ and ‘think,’ and my now infamous list of 100 things to make better had me ready to act and to act fast.” The list and the will to act were logical products of an upbringing framed by a special value placed on hard work in his native South Dakota. “No second car, no vacations other than the occasional camping trip, summers on the farm,” Graves says. “My Dad was grounded in the Great Depression, so it should be no surprise that he was always working—always.” It wasn’t long before Graves and his four brothers were working, as well; he started as a neighborhood paper boy at the age of 8. As college approached, he recalls, “I have always loved the search for the ‘why’ of things. How do things work, how is life possible, how does the science of life set things apart? That led me to the SD School of Mines & Technology.” He came on board at Burns & Mac in 1980 and, in 2003, was named CEO. Over the next dozen years, the em ployee-owned firm tripled its staff and more than quadrupled its billings. He was fortunate, he says, to lead a company based here. “I had spent my entire adult life living here, but basically zero of my work experience was local,” Graves says. “I’d been all around the world but hadn’t really been home. Within days of being named CEO, I started reaching out to local business legends—Henry Bloch, Don Hall Sr., Tom McDonnell, and more. Every person I asked for time said yes; it’s simply built into the fabric here to help each other and to always question what’s best for our town, not just for ourselves.”

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May 2024

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