Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/756888
AGGREGATES MANAGER / December 2016 11 AGGMAN OF THE YEAR 2016 "Selling Kilgore Paving to Tom created growth opportunities for my employees and business. Tom is a man of integrity and does what he says," notes Jason Kil- gore, president of Kilgore Companies. Going public Hill estimates that Summit Materials has completed 43 acquisitions and deployed approximately $2.5 billion. In a little over seven years, the business has grown to about 40 million tons of aggregates, 5 mil- lion tons of asphalt, a little over 4 million cubic yards of ready-mix, and two cement plants along the Mississippi River. What Hill describes as "a business of pretty good scale" is doing about $1.5 billion in revenues with guidance of $360 to $370 in EBITDA. That growth led to the next challenge for Summit Materials. Unlike private equity firms that buy and grow companies before selling them, Blackstone uses the public markets for an exit. So, in March 2015, Summit Materials went public. Having his family at his side to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange that day is a highlight of Hill's career. "They had sacrificed a lot in terms of my travel," he says. "To have them on the dais with me was a very special moment in my life. It sums up my career." The change to a public company created new opportunities, but also new responsibilities for Hill. "When you run a large portion of a public company like I did at Oldcastle, you're really only running one side of the balance sheet," Hill says. "Now, running the other side of the balance sheet, you have to raise debt and raise equity instead of calling Dublin and asking for $100 million for an acquisition." Understanding both the debt and equity markets is a learning curve, and, while Hill understands both much better than he did seven years ago, he says he is still learning. "It has been a challenge, but it's been very interesting," he says. Other changes include handling quarterly calls, working with investors, and dealing with sell-side analysts. "It's time consuming, but I've found the people involved are incredibly smart," Hill notes. "They ask good questions. They want to understand the business. I've really en- joyed meeting a lot of the smart, interesting people inside the financial community." While Hill's humility shows through, his team has confidence in him: "Tom has a unique ability to not only run a success- ful business from an operational perspec- tive, but also to communicate to industry outsiders and investors," Keenan says. "He always has his fingers on the pulse of the organization and is able to translate this into a language that our investors and Wall Street understand." The trials of heading a public compa- ny may be cumbersome, but the biggest challenge Summit Materials has faced is how long it took the market to improve. "We had some very challenging years in 2012, 2013, and early 2014 because we really thought the market would get better and it really didn't," Hill says. "It's a slow, grinding recovery. That's still where we are, but business is definitely continuing to improve." "Summit's success certainly wasn't a straight line from starting out with an idea to where it is today," Keenan elaborates. "There were many bumps in the road and obstacles along the way, but Tom had the ability, as a leader, to navigate through these obstacles, no matter how impossible they seemed at the time, and to get us over the finish line." Taking the best from both worlds As Hill and his team continue to build Summit Materials, he's very much influ- enced by lessons learned from his mentor at CRH, Don Godson, who served as group chief executive until his retirement in 1999. "What he really left me with, and what I strive for every day, is that everyone in this business deserves the same amount of respect," Hill says. "If you do that, it's very motivating for people." "You don't come down with all the wisdom from above. Sometimes, you learn from below," Godson quips, adding, "Tom was a super golfer and a strong compet- itor. He continues to fight for his business like he does on the golf course." His employees appreciate both the respect and the work ethic. "It's been a once-in-a-lifetime chance to work with such an innovative and char- ismatic leader as Tom and help him realize the vision of growing a business from the ground up," says Anya Civitella, senior vice president, performance improvement. Hill says that having his wife, Jane, and daughters, Maggie and Ellie, with him at the New York Stock Exchange for Summit's IPO was a highlight of his career.