Shelby Johnson - A Blueprint For Success

When Shelby Johnson showed up for her first engineering class at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, her response is a pretty good way of explaining her success. "My first reaction was surprise. I was the only woman there. Back then, I had no idea that women didn't do this."

Twenty six years later, her way of thinking hasn't changed. Johnson has become the 70 percent owner of Theodore Williams Construction Company, LLC. She is one of a handful of successful women who occupy leadership roles in the construction industry. The new entity, like the old (Theodore Williams Construction Company, Inc.), will specialize in corporate interiors. There is one difference. Its reorganization, with Johnson as President and majority owner,  has enabled the new company to be certified as a Women's Business Enterprise (WBE).

Johnson's entry into the construction business is no surprise. Her father was an electrician, and her brother an electrical engineer. If this makes Johnson sound like the first woman who broke the gender barrier at places like The Citadel, that description isn't too far off. When Johnson was applying to colleges, she applied there and received an application for admittance. The Citadel was completely unaware that Shelby was a woman and Shelby was completely unaware that it would be a problem. That attitude has stayed with her. "If I don't expect there should be a problem doing something that hasn't been done before, people respond to that, and there usually isn't a problem."

Theodore Williams Construction Company, Inc. from which the new company was formed, is a $25 million a year firm that served many of the Fortune 500 companies. Its list of customers includes major firms like Rudin Management Company, Inc.. Theodore Williams, the company's president, established the company in 1972. He will join Ms. Johnson as vice president of the new company.

Like its predecessor, the new Theodore Williams Construction Company, LLC, will be a full service provider of interior alterations, restoration and base building construction. Its range of services includes general contracting, construction management, pre-construction budgeting and value engineering. The new entity will keep its hands-on management approach that ensures that its clients are kept fully informed about their projects progress. That suits Johnson's hands-on management style perfectly. As president, she will oversee the entire company, review estimates and make sure the work gets done.

Ms. Johnson has been at Theodore Williams Construction Company, Inc. for fifteen years, and can boast 20 years in the business. Johnson, who started out in the plan room at Nico, was known for seeing to it that the work got done. She caught on quickly. By the end of two years, she was doing her boss's job.