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Bronti Samuels • Derek Gannaway • Jenna Jackson • Lance VanderLaan • Lauren Weber • Megan Curry • Montana Graboyes • Phillip McClain • Quintas McCorkle • Tommy Ingram
Bronti Samuels, 32
General Manager / BathWorks of Michigan / Byron Center, Mich.
Samuels unknowingly fell into her life’s passion at BathWorks. She joined as its sixth employee and office admin in 2020.
Today, she leads the 50+ employees with the CEO and assisted in growing BathWorks nearly 800% (that’s not a typo).
"I was a bartender before I started working here, and I went from not being sure what I was doing to now I definitely know why I’m here and what my purpose is," says Samuels. "It’s to help grow other people around me."
Life's Purpose
Scaling effectively comes from transparency, processes, and recognizing people’s strengths, she says.
Samuels achieved this with The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) and company values. Plus, she plans processes with the future in mind, creating SOPs as a $2 million company for a $20 million goal.
“If you want to be a good leader, you should be of service to everybody around you," she says.
Business Book Recommendation:
Swim!
Derek Gannaway, 37
Sales & Operations Manager, Co-owner / Neal's Design Remodel / Cincinnati
Last year, Neal’s invited Gannaway to become part owner.
This wasn’t on his radar in 2017 when he drove past their office and decided to cold call about open positions.
Gannaway was fed up with insurance work, and his bold move surprised CEO Alan Hendy—in a good way.
“Alan called me out of the blue and said, ‘We’d like to offer you a job.’ And I said, ‘Okay, doing what?’ And he said, ‘ I don’t really know.’”
Gannaway, in Hendy’s words, embodies an “amazing, caring, servant leader.”
He’s the first non-relative to own any part of the 51-year-old family business.
Business Innovations
Gannaway’s values of people and process improvement come from his background in the U.S. Coast Guard.
At Neal’s, he’s created individual development plans for his staff, new SOPs for production, and company-wide metric and workload dashboards.
The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader
Jenna Jackson, 37
COO / Acadian House Design + Renovation / Baton Rouge, La.
Jackson entered the remodeling field after a 15-year career in health care, and while the industries may be different, her passion for operational excellence was a perfect fit.
Acadian completes over 60 projects per year with six in-house designers, and in order to enhance efficiency, Jackson overhauled the CRM system and brought on CompanyCam as a project management software.
“It has significantly streamlined communication for the team,” she says. “We can prevent issues from occurring on the jobsite in real time.”
Professional Challenge
In an effort to prevent “quiet quitting” from taking hold at Acadian, Jackson worked to create a positive workplace culture. That includes an open door policy and emphasis on developing team members.
“I want them to have all the tools they need to meet or exceed their own goals.”
Book Recommendation: Never Split the Difference
Lance VanderLaan, 35
Director of Operations / Abby Windows & Exteriors / SE Wisconsin
Throughout his dozen years in the industry, VanderLaan has proven to be a professional problem-solver.
At Abby Windows & Exteriors, he’s tasked with rebuilding company processes from sales through installation. He finds bottlenecks in the customer experience and works to alleviate them.
“I identify where the roadblocks lie,” says VanderLaan. “Then, I determine where the solutions will come from.”
The solutions could be as straightforward as more education and training for team members, or it could mean swapping roles and responsibilities inside of the organization.
“We have moved several people from one role to another that better fits their skillsets,” he says.
Professional Accomplishment
Despite VanderLaan making a lot of changes in his time at the company, he speaks proudly of his record of keeping employees on board.
“My greatest accomplishment is the lack of turnover,” he says. “My goal is to retain people by empowering and supporting them.”
Lauren Weber, 37
General Manager / Cornerstone Remodeling / Ellicott City, Md.
Weber began working for Cornerstone as a designer back in 2015, and was promoted to general manager in 2022. Although she had no formal construction background, she spent enormous time and energy immersing herself in best practices and learning from the production team.
“I’m really proud of how far I’ve come, and treasure the respect that I’ve earned from the guys who are experts in this line of work,” she says. In her role, Weber has contributed significantly to the company’s systems and processes by creating alignment across marketing, sales, and production.
She’s streamlined meetings, and developed Root Cause Analysis procedures to resolve issues more efficiently. As a result, Cornerstone achieved 15% in revenue growth in her first year, even in the absence of both owners who have stepped away from the business.
Best Advice
As a manager, Weber often finds herself in the position of putting out fires, whether it’s an upset client, employee issue, or just the day-to-day challenges of a busy remodeler. To avoid burn out, she suggests consciously remaining empathetic to everyone to others.
“Once you make that mental shift, it changes how you approach hard situations and creates space for you to take better care of yourself, your family, and your clients,” she says.
Megan Curry, 30
General Manager / Revelare Kitchens / York, Penn.
Home improvement is in Curry’s blood, but between her and her five siblings, she’s the only one continuing to carry the torch in the family business.
Curry joined the business for good in 2018, and while she’s had her hands in every department, nothing was given to her.
“With Mark [Curry] being my dad, he didn’t make it easy,” she says. “I had to bust my tail probably harder than I would have had to anywhere else to get to where I am today.”
She’s now responsible for overseeing the operations, sales, and marketing at Revelare Kitchens locations across 11 states.
Professional Accomplishment
Curry’s accounting expertise has led to her being an integral part of a new service called The Profit Masters. It’s designed to assist small to mid-sized remodelers with bookkeeping and growth strategies.
“Watching the positive impact it has on business owners is rewarding and life-changing,” she says.
The Wealthy Contractor
Montana Graboyes, 35
Executive Vice President / Graboyes Window & Door / Greater Philadelphia
Graboyes’ parents wouldn’t let her get involved in the family business until they knew she really wanted to go down that path.
And, even then, she earned her place by splitting time between administrative duties and running sales calls during the first year.
She combined what she learned about people and products in those 12 months with modern marketing strategies and digital processes to help the business double in size.
Professional Accomplishment
Maintaining her grandparents’ and parents’ core values and culture remains top of mind as she makes the business her own.
“We’ve got this great legacy,” Graboyes says. “But when the pandemic happened, my brother and I sat down and decided we were going to act like a startup. All of the old systems were out the window.”
She brought the business into the digital age, but she is committed to caring for customers the way the family company always has.
Phillip McClain, 37
VP of Production / Precision Homecrafters / Birmingham, Ala.
Just a year ago, McClain was Precision Homecrafters’ sole project manager.
After an acquisition and subsequent 370% business growth, McClain took the role as VP of production, joined the leadership team, and was tasked to bridge the two companies.
It was a major dynamic shift, but moving from managing projects to managing people is McClain’s favorite part.
His unwavering dedication to people guides the success of projects, and now, the company.
Innovations
Sky’s the limit for McClain and Precision Homecrafters’ growth.
To ensure production success, McClain developed a scalable, repeatable production system that can plug and play.
The biggest focus, though, is ensuring culture can be passed on.
“All these projects we built are not going to be around [forever], but hopefully impacts will be made on some lives, that’s what we hope stands the test of time,” McClain says.
The Tim Faller Show
Quintas McCorkle, 35
COO / The Home Doctor / DC Metro, Maryland, North Carolina, & Virginia
McCorkle is the epitome of the American Dream.
He started at The Home Doctor as a canvasser six short years ago with a negative checking account balance. He worked his way up through a handful of positions including salesman and project manager before earning his current title of chief operating officer.
In June, he will be named CEO for a company that projects $14 million in revenue for 2024.
Success Trait
McCorkle admits to having a big personality, but warns that “a big personality pointed in the wrong direction doesn’t help you accomplish anything.”
He used this trait often to prove himself.
When trash needed to be taken out, he did it. When he didn’t have sales calls scheduled for a day, he still came into the office. When the company couldn’t collect money from customers, McCorkle would personally visit the homeowner and almost always come back with a check.
It’s that work ethic that created every promotion.
Tommy Ingram, 37
General Manager / Coastal Windows & Exteriors / New England
When Ingram joined Coastal Windows & Exteriors, the company sold jobs based on local brand recognition. He needed to implement a more predictable and profitable business model to grow and scale the business.
That’s exactly what he did.
In the past year, he’s put into place new sales, marketing, and production systems. The company is projected to do $25 million in revenue in 2024, with goals of opening five new locations over the next three years.
“I plan on having at least one location in every New England state with multiple locations in some states,” says Ingram.
Business Innovation
Ingram installed “Recognition Fridays” once a month. These meetings bring all employees together to play games when they would typically hold trainings.
“Every time we hold Recognition Friday, we see improved performance the next week,” he says. “The positivity is infectious.”
