Ronald J. Gafford succeeds William T. Solomon as chairman of Austin Industries
Dallas-based Austin Industries, one of the largest general contractors/construction managers based in the southern half of the United States, promoted its president and chief executive officer, Ronald J. Gafford, to the position of chairman, president and CEO, effective March 17, in a planned succession. He replaces William T. “Bill” Solomon, who retired after more than 45 years with the company.
Gafford joined Austin Commercial, an Austin Industries subsidiary, in 1987 as executive vice president and was named president in 1988. Prior to that he was a partner with Trammell Crow Co. in Atlanta. In 1995, he was also named president of Austin Bridge & Road, another Austin subsidiary. He became president of Austin Industries in 1996 and was given the added role of CEO in 2001. He has a B.S. degree in building construction from Texas A&M University and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University’s business school.
“Ron Gafford has demonstrated through his role as president and CEO that he will make an exceptionally fine chairman and will lead the company to new levels of accomplishment,” said Solomon.
Solomon, whose grandfather, Charles R. Moore, founded the company in 1918, began working for Austin in 1958 as a summer employee and subsequently as a co-op engineering student, working in the field and as an office engineer-estimator. He graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.S. degree in civil engineering in 1965 and received an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1967. He was named vice president of Austin Bridge Company in 1968 and president in 1970, serving as the parent company’s chief executive officer for 31 years until Gafford assumed that role in 2001.
Austin Industries has a workforce today of about 6,000 and is 100 percent employee owned. Austin Industries is comprised of three operating companies: Austin Bridge & Road, Austin Commercial and Austin Industrial. They engage in almost every type of civil, commercial and industrial construction. Austin also provides in-plant contract maintenance and capital construction services to the refining and petrochemical industries in Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas.
Landmark projects Austin built in the Dallas/Fort Worth area include the historic triple underpass in downtown Dallas, the 72-story Bank of America building in downtown Dallas, the spine roadway and Terminal D at DFW International Airport, and the American Airlines Center, home to the Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks.