The phrase, “There’s gold in them thar’ hills,” is an apt description of Sean O’Keane’s tenure as partner and chief financial officer at Garrett Excavating. In the four years since he came aboard, the third-generation firm has seen explosive growth and is poised for an even brighter future.
“When I started with Garrett Excavating, we were a mid-sized firm,” he said. “We just had one location in central Arkansas, and we had about 120 employees. Since we acquired a northwest Arkansas presence, we’ve had 300 percent revenue growth in four years, and we’ve grown to over 300 employees.”
O’Keane is frequently asked how the firm has been able to achieve such growth without increasing its market footprint, the vast majority of projects coming from within the state’s borders. It is a deceptively simple strategy worked to perfection.
“We were previously focused on sitework/excavation and now we have diversified to offer total site solutions,” he said. “We are a large-scale civil construction company, and we needed to maximize that market, so we redefined our business model. Essentially, we now do everything outside the building other than landscaping.
“Once we redefined that very strong, very strategic focus, along with acquiring northwest Arkansas, we gained some vertical integration that’s allowed us to achieve that growth.”
The results speak for themselves. Prior to the strategy shift, Garrett Excavating generated about $25 million in annual revenue. Last year, revenue from the two locations was in excess of $100 million, the result of a relentless pursuit of excellence and a bone-deep commitment to employee job satisfaction.
“People ask all the time, ‘How much of your growth was just due to that acquisition?’ It was actually very little of it,” O’Keane said. “We’ve grown dynamically according to what we call the three E’s. You’ve got to have expertise, you’ve got to have execution, and you’ve got to have engagement. We’ve focused particularly on the engagement element of it, developing talent from within, teaching employees how to lead and growing a dynamic culture.
“Our focus, from a culture perspective, is we are going to love and care about people, and we’re going to put people first in our organization. Our belief is that if we have committed employees and we have dynamic leaders, the rest will take care of itself. Obviously, you have to have expertise and you have to execute, but what companies often miss is developing their people. In our case, that’s what’s enabled us to keep up with the rapid growth over the last four years.”
A native of Hot Springs, O’Keane earned his undergraduate degree from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. During his time working for heavy equipment dealer Riggs Cat, a tenure that began in 2001, he also earned an executive Master of Business Administration from Stanford University in California through a program offered by Caterpillar.
In addition to his classroom credentials, his 18-year career with Riggs Cat also invested in him the tools to lead, plan and execute operationally. Working his way into the position of president, he got the chance to show the cumulative effect of this training combined with a natural competitiveness and drive to be the best.
“When I took over as president, Riggs Cat was underperforming,” he said. “By 2012, we were the No. 1 Caterpillar dealer in North America.”
Having worked a similar turnaround with Garrett Excavating, and with a firm grasp of the company’s identity and mission, the future looks very bright indeed.
“Our company slogan is ‘best on earth,’” he said. “Internally, when we talk about best on earth, we talk about wanting to be the best on earth workplace. We want to have the best on earth culture.
“We incorporate that mentality into everything we do. In doing that, we create dynamic leaders to carry out our very defined, strong strategy that will allow us to continue to maintain pace and continue to grow.”
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