Odom is elevated to CEO at builder EMJ Corp.
Current chief Jolley to remain on as chairman
EMJ Corp., the Chattanoogabased builder on course to become a $1 billion a year company for the first time this year, is undergoing a shift in its top ranks.
Jay Jolley, chief executive and chairman since 2010, will give up the CEO’s job to focus on the strategic direction of the commercial construction company that works coast to coast.
Burt Odom, who became president in 2010, will take on the chief executive’s role and oversee dayto-day operations of the business that has about 600 employees, including 327 in Chattanooga.
While Odom lives in Dallas, he said he’ll continue to travel to Chattanooga on a regular basis.
The company’s corporate headquarters will remain at its Hamilton Place location, Odom said.
He said he sees staying on a course of “solid, steady growth” that includes improving the customer experience and the company being “recession resistant.”
Jolley, 56, whose father Edgar M. Jolley founded the construction company in 1968, said the move is about transition at EMJ as he mulls retirement, having joined the business in 1983 as a project manager.
EMJ, like many firms, was hit hard by the Great Recession and
“They poured a lot into a college graduate who didn’t know anything.” — NEW EMJ CORP. CHIEF EXECUTIVE BURT ODOM, ON PAST COMPANY LEADERS WHO MENTORED HIM
Jolley helped lead the company to diversify into what is nine other, though complementary, business segments.
The builder and its family of companies was recently ranked No. 82 among Engineering-News Record’s Top 400 Contractors.
Jolley, who had succeeded Jim Sattler as CEO of EMJ, said he’ll work with the board of directors and an advisory panel to help chart a strategic vision for the company.
Odom, also 56, joined EMJ the same year as Jolley. Early in their careers, they both moved to Dallas to oversee a construction program of Food Lion stores. Odom said Dallas eventually became an office he oversaw and Jolley returned to Chattanooga.
He lauded former EMJ leaders, and those at Chattanooga-based shopping center operator CBL & Associates Properties Inc., which was the construction company’s major client for a long period.
“They poured a lot into a college graduate who didn’t know anything,” Odom said.
Also, he said, he wants to build EMJ’s workforce into “a career-for-life culture” that focuses on “servant leadership.”
The idea of servant leadership, he said, is unique in the construction business which often has a tough-guy mentality.
“It means having a positive influence serving people in your sphere,” Odom said. “If you serve people well … you’ll have good results.”
The new CEO said he won’t set revenue targets for the company. If the company is patient, picks “good clients” and provides value, revenue will come, he said.
Among challenges he foresees is the lack of skilled labor coming into the construction industry. More people are pursing technology opportunities than wanting to pour concrete or become construction superintendents, project leaders and estimators, Odom said.
“That requires us to
implement a strong training program,” he said.
Another big challenge is the unknown of the economy, Odom said.
“That’s a question mark,” he said.
The company has offices in Chattanooga, Boston, Dallas and Tulsa and serves a variety of sectors, including retail, industrial and health care.
EMJ, which has built over 260 million square feet of construction projects across the nation, recently was ranked No. 47 among construction firms in Building Design + Construction’s Giants Report.