Cornerstone General Contractors.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: 2015 Top 49ers

The Top 49ers are ranked by revenue, which is one indicator of success, but in the Alaska business community, it's rarely the only one. What else makes the list? Joe Jolley, president of Cornerstone General Contractors, says, "That's easy: repeat business, staff retention, and safety excellence."

A Little History

Cornerstone was formed in 1993 "to offer an all-Alaskan general contracting option to the state's leading organizations," Jolley says. Its original founders were C. John Eng and Jaysen E. Mathiesen. The company is currently owned by three partners--Jolley; Mark Palmatier, VP of Construction; and Mike Quirk, VP of Estimating. Jolley continues, "During the last two decades, Cornerstone has become an industry leader and trusted general contractor specializing in collaborative project delivery methods for new commercial construction and precision renovation of existing facilities."

Cornerstone has contributed to a number of significant projects, building education, government, healthcare, industrial, and residential infrastructure. Some of their notable projects are "school renovations and additions for the Anchorage School District at East, Service, and West High Schools; several major facilities for the University of Alaska Anchorage [UAA] such as the UAA/APU [Alaska Pacific University] Consortium Library, ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building, Health Sciences Building, and the Alaska Airlines Center; the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Muldoon; numerous precision renovations inside Providence Alaska Medical Center and Alaska Native Medical Center; and rural community assignments across the state including the South Peninsula Hospital Expansion in Homer, Kodiak Public Library, and AVTEC [Alaska Vocational Technical Center] Alaska Culinary Academy and Dormitory Replacement in Seward," Jolley says.

Leadership at Work Leadership is a key word at Cornerstone as it's a leader externally in the industry and leadership is found at every level internally, from the president down. "To me, an effective leader takes charge, sees an objective through from start to finish, builds up others along the way and encourages them to own the outcome, and then gives credit where credit is due," Jolley says. "Leadership is absolutely vital to the success of our company, and you'll find it at every level, but it's teamwork that gets the work done."

A culture of collaboration isn't just promoted in the company, but is a significant part of...