It’s A Family Affair…And Business
On the company’s official website, Malouf Construction founder, George Malouf, attributes the company’s success in the construction industry to the company personnel’s in-house expertise, commitment, and character.
“We have a phenomenal group of people in our offices. Their education, technical capabilities, character, and level of commitment to our customers’ projects along with a bias for mutually beneficial relationships with customers, suppliers, and subcontractors combine to allow us to offer ‘best value’ solutions for customers’ infrastructure and building needs. But make no mistake about it; the real heroes in the company are the 125 plus field personnel that put the work in place,” Malouf’s statement reads.
Anyone who has known Greenwood native George Malouf for any length also knows his modesty. While his brief company assessment is true, the fact is that Malouf Construction is a true family-owned business in every sense of the word—and that is a huge and integral part of the company’s ongoing success as one of the Southeast’s leading construction firms.
Malouf Construction was founded in 1987 by Malouf and his wife, Kathy. After earning a degree in Civil Engineering from MSU and a few years of moving around the country with Bechtel and Sundt Corp., two of the oldest and most capable construction firms in the nation, they came back to Mississippi to start the business.
In the company’s infancy, the primary focus was in the commercial and light-industrial markets, including office and municipal buildings, warehousing, and light manufacturing. Because of the company’s technical expertise and belief in self-performing work with in-house construction professionals, it was natural that Malouf Construction soon turned its focus to heavy civil, marine, and design/build industrial work such as agricultural product handling, food processing plants, cold storage facilities, steel mills, and other manufacturing facilities.
While starting the business in Madison County, Malouf Construction has maintained a full-time office in the Mississippi Delta since 1992. In 2004, a new facility was built in the Rising Sun community just south of Greenwood, George’s boyhood home. This office served as headquarters for Malouf Construction from 2004 until 2020 when the corporate office was moved to Greenville.
During those years from 2004 through 2020, Andy Holliday, a longtime friend and employee of the company since 1992, was a Principal and Vice President of the firm serving as Manager of the Civil Division.
Ann Marie Smythe, George and Kathy’s oldest daughter, with degrees in International Business and Accounting, joined the firm in February of 2015 as CFO after serving a number of years in accounting for a large Delta-based family business.
Steven Bowen, George’s younger daughter’s husband and also a MSU Civil Engineering graduate, joined the firm in May of 2015, after working for a few years in a multidiscipline civil engineering consulting firm. Bowen initially served as a Project Manager and has since moved into the COO role.
George Jr., the middle child, and yet another MSU Civil Engineering grad, joined the firm in May of 2019, after spending a few years in consulting engineering and design/build soil retention and deep foundation construction, also as a Project Manager. He later moved into estimating, and ultimately into his current role of Preconstruction Manager.
As the company grew and transitioned, the corporate office was moved to Greenville in 2022 and a new operations facility was built in Flora in 2023. In January 2023, Ann Marie, Steven, and George Jr. officially became partners in the firm.
“The MS Delta has always been, and continues to be, a primary hub for our business,” says George, Sr. “Over the history of the company, some 200 projects in the Mississippi Delta constitute thirty percent of the company’s total revenue. If you add the Arkansas and Louisiana Deltas, that number gets close to forty percent.”
Even in the second generation, the flat soft ground of the Delta and murky waters of the Mississippi River continue to have a pull on company management, notes George, Sr. Currently, between the new Mississippi River terminal for Simplot Grower Solutions and the new Sunflower River crossing on Highway 12, the company has approximately $40M under contract in the Mississippi Delta.
Some of the larger private customers in the Mississippi Delta for Malouf include Simplot Grower Solutions, Farmers Grain Terminal, Scott Petroleum, Entergy, Ergon, Consolidated Grain & Barge, Milwaukee Tool, Heartland Catfish, Viking Range Corporation and The Alluvian, as well as projects for public entities such as the US Coast Guard, the US Army Corps of Engineers, MDOT, as well as a number of cities and counties across the state.
Was there pressure growing up to enter the family business? George, Jr. says there wasn’t. “I didn’t feel pressured, it just felt natural. Dad always told us that we all had a place in the family business, but not right after school. He wanted us to go get some exposure doing other things. I worked for the company most summers in high school and college. The first summer I worked for the company we were actually working on a small project at my high school. After the first couple weeks, I asked dad when I would get my paycheck. That’s when I learned that he was donating the work and I was donating my time! I did a better job negotiating my compensation from then on,” she says.
Ann Marie says she recalls spending Saturdays on a job site, “taking my blanket and going for a ride with Dad.” As for Steven, he entered the Malouf family with a knowledge of what they did.
“My Dad’s career was spent in construction estimating, sales and project management including working with Malouf for a number of years, so I was exposed in that way growing up,” says Steven. “I never felt any pressure to enter any construction field, but I have always had a keen admiration for my Dad and looked up to him as a role model. So, there was probably a subconscious effort to ‘be like him’ that led me to this field.”
“If they felt pressure when they were young, it was unintentional on my part,” says George, Sr. “This business, like a lot of other businesses I’m sure, can be tough at times and you better love it at your core. I recall talking to my girls more about engineering and other fields that were not typically considered careers for ladies at the time, and talking to George Jr. about being a coach or teacher or a pastor—I wanted them to understand that they were free to follow their heart.
“Once George, Jr. decided on engineering, I certainly had dreams of him coming home and us working together one day. But the way it has worked out, with Ann Marie joining the firm after I had to recruit her for three years, and Steven—who is married to Kathy—and my youngest daughter, Rachel, who is also a civil engineer—it just does not get any better than this. No way I could have foreseen or planned it—it is just all a blessing—for which I am most grateful,” says George, Sr.
“Dad had the foresight to engage a consultant to begin planning for succession before I ever joined the company,” says George, Jr. about the siblings joining the leadership/ ownership team. “The process of putting together that plan and vision for the future of the business was a huge positive step in aligning our goals and structuring our roles. We all do different things and we support each other. It’s pretty incredible to have business partners that you can completely trust and who have the same ultimate goal as you do—to leave this company better than we found it and have a great place to work for future generations.”
Ann Marie agrees that the current company structure is a positive one. “The benefit is immeasurable. The built-in trust, mutual respect and shared values makes business planning fun because we are on the same page by nature,” she says.
Steven says, “From my perspective, there is no ‘rivalry’ or jockeying for personal advancement or recognition over what’s best for the company. We work very well together. I am very thankful for my partners and the roles that they fill. We all have different gifts, and I believe that our corporate structure allows us to work in the areas where we can best use those gifts. Also, it is inevitable that there are some hard days and things that don’t go our way. I believe we do a good job of helping each other maintain a positive attitude and good perspective to get through those times.”
George, Sr. says he can’t hep but feel immense pride when he looks at the company Malouf Construction is today.
“I would call this a dream come true—except that I could never have dreamed that things would turn out this way. Kathy and I simply call it a blessing—for which we have a huge sense of gratitude. It’s hard to explain the pride and emotions. When one of them has a big ‘win,’ I am happier than they are. And when one of them has a rough day, I die a little, even though I know the natural stresses that come with work will only make them stronger for tomorrow.
“I get compliments all the time on the three of them,” he continues. “Sometimes it’s from a customer and other times it’s an engineer or subcontractor that I have known for many years who just had their first opportunity to work with one of them. When it happens, I just go take a walk around the equipment yard and soak it in. They are great young individuals, great construction professionals and even better people, better husbands and wives, and parents. They were raised by great mothers. They have a very high level of care.”
As far as going from family members to business owners and whether that creates any conflicts, George, Sr. says, “There is really no transition—only one hat. I told them all from the beginning that I’m the same guy at work as I am at home. If you don’t like being around me at the house, you’re probably not going to like working together. But if you’re okay with me at home, we will be fine at work. Our structure is flat—on January 1, 2023 when they came into ownership, we all became even partners. The only added influence I have is possibly their respect for my experience (I’ve made a ton of mistakes over the years and that’s where good instincts generally come from)—and Kathy.”
And the family dynamic has been working well, with the company in its 39th year and doing better that it ever has—for a number of reasons.
“One of our primary indicators for success is client satisfaction, which we typically evaluate by seeing the number of customers that we do repeat business for,” says Steven. “Over seventy-five percent of our work is for repeat customers—our customer service is something we are very proud of. Another indicator of success is the growth of our team—personal development and growth for those members and taking young employees from entry level positions to leadership positions very quickly.”
According to George, Sr., “I believe we are a better company today than we have ever been. These young people have only been in ownership for two and a half years, but they have been in the firm for up to ten years now and they began making positive contributions the day they got here. As we went through our succession planning with the consulting firm Navitas (now Balefire), they spent time digging deep into the firm’s Core Values and Beliefs and our Business Purpose, which we committed to writing nearly thirty years ago. They bought in. They liked who we were, what we did, and how we did it and they liked our markets and diversity. The young folks told me from the beginning they wanted to continue that tradition, but they believed they could help do it better—and they were right. They have made us better.
“When I measure us against the ideals that we established those many years ago, we are living them more fully today than we ever have,” continues George, Sr. “Did I mention that these young people have fabulous mothers?! From a business perspective, both the top line and bottom line are moving in the right direction. Geographically, we are doing more work out of state now than ever before and our average project size is growing. With our technical capabilities and diverse skill set, there are some projects that we believe are just made for us and some of those are further away from home. While we have maintained licensure and perform work in Mississippi and all the states that touch the border of Mississippi for a number of years now, in the last few years we have taken on more out of state work and currently have projects in Texas and on the Ohio River in southern Illinois.”
As far as what the future holds for Malouf Construction?
“I love what I do and, the Good Lord willing, will continue to work as long as I can make a positive contribution and the kids will have me,” says George, Sr.. “I’m still figuring out my new role. Historically I ran the company from the boiler room—not the wheelhouse. We would just sail along until we hit something or ran aground, and I would run up, steer the other way, and head back down. We are doing a lot more planning these days—working on the business and not just in the business. One of my responsibilities needs to be vision—seeing around corners and through the fog. See what’s coming before it gets here. That’s somewhat new and exciting to me. I hope I will get better at it. I am needed less and less in the day to day of the business and I am having to get used to that.”
As far as family get-togethers: is it all shop talk?
“I think we do a pretty good job of keeping things separated,” says George, Jr. “But you would probably get a different response if you ask our spouses! We enjoy being together and we share hobbies outside of work. We like to cook, watch Mississippi State sports, enjoy the outdoors, and raise our kids, grandkids, niece, and nephews together. We’re up to six in the third generation now, with the seventh on the way!”
Ann Marie says, “Family and business—it’s all one and the same. We are not the first generation of Maloufs that enjoy being together. We grew up with lots of family around for holidays, celebrations and Sunday cookouts at our grandparents. Our kids are being raised the same way.”
“Leading a construction company in today’s environment of fast-paced project delivery and the technology that supports the operations provides for very little time when we are not in some way connected to work,” says Steven. “Rather than separating business from personal, I really see it as all the same. Certainly there are times when the primary focus at the moment is on one or the other, but the other side never completely goes away. The conversations that we have at work versus at a get together are indistinguishable from one another—really just business and family woven together.”
“I worried about this a bit in the very early days of them joining the firm,” says George, Sr. about how family dynamics might come into play. “I love what I do and can get lost in talking shop. Kathy and I started the business together on her dining room table, so she has always been part of it, but she has had to rein me in many times over the years. So, I tried to stay conscious of not letting work conversations dominate family time.
“What really happens now is that we slide into and out of work conversations at home and home conversations at work frequently and with ease.”