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Update: ‘Graduation day’ for mentor/prot

June 12, 2007 |

December 2000: The idea is simple: pair small, women- or minority-owned construction companies with larger, more established firms. Through a formal working relationship, a mentor from the larger firm offers business guidance to the owners of the up-and-coming company. The hoped-for result: a higher-than-average survival rate for the protégé companies.

Ron Stempel, who served as contracts and procurement manager for the Port of Portland from 1989 until his death in 1996, is credited with the plan, and there are around 10 such programs in the United States. We highlighted one of these programs, the Community Mentor/Protégé Initiative in Austin, Texas, in our Reporter section.

Today: Adrian and Harrietta Neely’s relationship with Chris Murray is in its third year, and the Community Mentor/Protégé Initiative is telling them it’s time to move on. “We’re saying, ‘What do you mean, graduate?,’” says Murray, president, Tremur Consulting Contractors of Austin, Texas. “No one can kick us out of our relationship,” agrees Adrian Neely, president of jobsite janitorial service Triad Maintenance, also in Austin.

CMPI came about five years ago when the Austin Independent School District began exploring ways to involve small, local minority construction firms in its $365 million bond program. Steve Swanson of Steven R. Swanson Consulting and CMPI chairman, encouraged the Neelys to sign up.

“We wanted to learn more about the business end of our company,” says Neely, “including how to maintain good books and understand contracts.” He calls his relationship with Murray “a good match. He started out like us, with no backing.”