Company Description:
In 1998 I was invited by my father, David, to join him as the president of Friedler Construction Co., the company he had founded 10 years earlier. I had been an executive with Amli Realty Co. for 11 years, a lawyer for 3 years (after graduating from the University of Chicago Law School) and a professional tennis player for 4 years. At the time, I was excited by the potential of our business, by the opportunity to work on a daily basis with my father, and by the prospect of running a company.
I made the right decision on all three counts. In the first 5 years after I joined the company, our annual revenues grew from $4.5 million in 1997 to an average of $20 million over the following 5 years; I got to spend at least part of almost every workday with my father for over three years, until his death in the summer of 2001; and I have had the privilege of running this company since my arrival.
In 1998 I was invited by my father, David, to join him as the president of Friedler Construction Co., the company he had founded 10 years earlier. I had been an executive with Amli Realty Co. for 11 years, a lawyer for 3 years (after graduating from the University of Chicago Law School) and a professional tennis player for 4 years. At the time, I was excited by the potential of our business, by the opportunity to work on a daily basis with my father, and by the prospect of running a company.
I made the right decision on all three counts. In the first 5 years after I joined the company, our annual revenues grew from $4.5 million in 1997 to an average of $20 million over the following 5 years; I got to spend at least part of almost every workday with my father for over three years, until his death in the summer of 2001; and I have had the privilege of running this company since my arrival.