FORTIS NETWORKS, INC.
“We’re making changes now, laying the foundation today, to be even better positioned for the future.” — Clarence McAllister, CEO, Fortis Networks, Inc., right, with Robert Martino, vice president of operations
Clarence McAllister, an electrical engineer from Panama, and his wife Reyna, started Fortis Networks in 2000 out of their home. At first, the company provided security system installations for consumers. Today, they are a fullblown general contractor that works on federal government projects, including transportation projects in Phoenix, Houston, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco. In 2007 the company entered into the Small Business Administration 8a program, designed to help small businesses compete in the marketplace. The program has played a large part in Fortis Networks’ growth, which was 50 percent last year and 30 percent this year. Revenues for 2011 are estimated to be $10 million. The goal is that in 2016 when Fortis Networks graduates from the 8a program, it will be competitive enough to get contracts without the government setasides. To make sure they are, the company has been working to build the
infrastructure that will enable them to be self-sustaining by 2016. In 2010, Fortis Networks hired Robert Martino as VP of operations. Martino has “instituted structure” within the firm, but credits McAllister for adding management expertise. “If Clarence didn’t recognize that he needed help, the company wouldn’t be where it is today,” he says. Martino developed a system for contract administration and an estimating department, which allows the firm to go after bigger contracts. The results? In six months, Fortis Networks’ overhead fell 7 percent and income rose 9 percent. Name of business: Fortis Networks, Inc. Nature of business: Engineering, Construction and Technology Services Address: 4108 E. Air Lane Phoenix, Ariz. 85034 Web: www.fortisnetworks.com Founded: 2000 Number of employees: 50
JONES STUDIO INC.
“Every project gets the same level of attention. No matter how small or how big it is, it’s not about the money. The focus has always been on making better communities.” — Neal E. Jones, president, Jones Studio Inc., left, with Eddie Jones, principal
100 AB | November-December 2011
Brothers Neal and Eddie Jones always knew they wanted to be architects. They also knew they wanted to work together. In 1986, Neal Jones came to Arizona to join Eddie, who had started Jones Studio seven years earlier. Their first big break came a year later when the Phoenix Cardinals and City of Tempe hired Jones Studio to design their corporate headquarters and training facility (which, for 10 years, was recognized as the best training facility in the NFL). The firm made its debut in sustainable design with the first self-sustaining trailhead (“an outhouse,” Eddie Jones clarifies). That project led to a commission in 1992 to build the APS Environmental Showcase Home, a “pioneering example of sustainable design in Arizona” that turned into a college textbook and an eight-part PBS documentary — and lots of new work for Jones Studio. The firm’s largest project to date is the Mariposa Land Port of Entry in Nogales, a
$213 million, seven-year adventure. Neal Jones quickly points out “that we had no land port of entry experience when we got that job. Now we are rewriting the book on how to design a land port.” Neal and Eddie Jones judge the “outhouse” and the land port with equal measure. “That sums up our story best: that a little outhouse was just as important to us as a 53-acre land port of entry. We are a profitable company, but it has never been about the money. We impose standards of design excellence on ourselves in order to make better places, to make better communities, to make better cities.” Name of business: Jones Studio Inc. Nature of business: Architecture, planning, interior design, sustainable design, environmental design, and graphic design Address: 4450 N. 12th St., Suite 104, Phoenix, Ariz., 85014 Web: www.jonesstudioinc.com Founded: 1979 Number of employees: 13