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TRACY HART: LET'S BUILD!
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By Christine Imbs
Tracy Hart is a trailblazer. As president of Tarlton Corporation,
she is not only the first woman in St. Louis to lead a major
general contracting firm, but one of only a few to do so nationally.
Yet being a woman in a predominantly male-driven industry is
not something she dwells on.
“I don’t think about it,” she says. “I really don’t see myself
as a woman in construction. I’m a contractor. And at the end
of the day, we all just want to build.”
Hart’s grandfather started Tarlton Corpor-ation in 1946. Although
on the surface it appears that she was born into the business,
Hart says it was actually the last thing she wanted to do.
“I was good in math, so my father suggested I might try engineering,”
she explains. “I said, ‘No. That’s what you do!’ I mean, who
wants to do what their parents do? But I was a teenager at the
time, and I guess a bit rebellious.”
That rebelliousness eventually led Hart to Chicago, where she
hoped to work in advertising or public relations. Unfortunately,
jobs in that field were few and far between. Once again her
father made a suggestion. Construction companies have PR and
marketing departments. Why not try one of those? This time she
listened and got a job working in the PR department for Pepper
Construction in Chicago.
“I believe when you’re in the right place, you feel it in your
gut,” she comments. “I got that feeling the first time I walked
a job site. There I was in my boots and my hardhat, walking
with the superintendent, asking all sorts of questions for an
article I was writing for the company. The whole time I kept
thinking, “This is pretty cool.”
It was so “cool” Hart stayed with Pepper Construction for five
years. Then fate stepped in. Her husband, Geoff, received a
job offer back in St. Louis. Suddenly, the career she never
wanted began looking more and more interesting.
“I told Geoff, ‘Hmmm, I think I know someone in construction
there,’” she says smiling. “I guess sometimes life has a way
of giving you exactly what you need.”
Hart began her career with Tarlton as a project engineer, hoping
to not only learn about the company’s services and processes,
but to gain valuable technical experience.
“I knew if I was going to do this I’d need to learn as much
as I could about the business,” she says. “So I took advantage
of every training opportunity that came my way. As time went
on I moved up in the company.”
Now with 22 years in the industry—17 at Tarlton—Hart has been
involved with some impressive projects in the St. Louis area,
including: the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center
on the Washington University campus; the first Nordstrom store
in St. Louis; and the Zoo’s Fragile Forest and Penguin and Puffin
area. Currently under Hart’s leadership, Tarlton is working
on such projects as the new Pfizer research building, the Social
Sciences and Law building for Washington University, and the
expansion of MSD’s Lemay Plant.
“We’re also finishing up the concrete restoration and short
term parking at Lambert,” Hart says. “It’s not exactly a glamorous
job, but if you’ve seen the before, and after, it’s incredibly
dramatic. So it may not be as high profile as the Knight building,
but I’m just as proud of it.”
Still, Hart admits there are some projects that stand out in
her mind because they were just plain fun.
“I think our superintendent got to know the names of all the
bears when we were working at the Zoo,” she says laughing. “And
after completing work for the Muny, we got to sing Karaoke on
the stage. How fun was that?”
Looking back over her career, Hart says she couldn’t be happier
with her choice.
“It’s been exciting, and just a wonderful industry to be in,”
she says. “And what’s great is that it’s a team sport. It’s
not ‘I’ did this. It’s ‘we’ did this. I’m thrilled to be a part
of it. And I still love putting on my boots and walking the
job site. It really is kind of cool.”
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TalkingPOINTS
FAMILY:
Husband, Geoff; two sons, Brendan (9) and Dylan (11).
EDUCATION: Degree in
English and Communications, University of Michigan.
FAVORITE BOOK: “Good
to Great” by Jim Collins
HOBBIES: “I like running,
biking and swimming. I also try to run a triathlon each
year. It’s good to have a goal.” |
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