Great River Industries

A good deal of business arises from word-of- mouth advertising, but the GRI team also spends countless hours in business development meetings and lunches, doing presentations day in and day out around the country. “Our sales team is very large,” says Bourgeois. “We go to a lot of industry events and belong to many associations. Plus, we post daily updates on our projects, our people, and the business on our Facebook page. Social media is definitely a growth opportunity for us. Peak Media out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana manages our social channels – they are a valuable group because they know our industry. Not only do they do a great job at marketing, but they understand the content. So, it’s a seamless transition – when I give them basic general information and a photo, they can put it together well.” GRI’s number one priority for the future is to keep growing. Bourgeois confirms, “We want to be a $250 million per year company within the next five years, with offices all throughout the Gulf coast and up the east coast. The idea is to expand and take over more market control. We’ve grown from a $30 million per year company in 2016 to $100 million, now. The primary reasons for that are the growth of our sales teams, and we’ve hired high-level management to develop our divisions; the procedures, the processes that go on when we execute the work. Sales and execution go hand in hand.” Technically speaking, GRI is an industrial mechanical contractor that specializes in ASME pressure vessels and API tanks, among a multitude of other construction, maintenance, and EPC services. But at its very core is a culture of caring. As Bourgeois shares, “We care about our people. “People. Safety. Execution” is our new motto. We want to make sure our people know they are important. Every manager in our company goes to meeting after meeting on how to present what we’re doing as a business to our people, so they feel comfortable and know they have a long- standing future with us. And we’re always looking for more people to join our team.” A final word from GRI President, Kenny Lawson, sums it up: “The most important statistic for our GREAT R I VER INDUSTR I ES