Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009
Road to Palm Springs
Gail Warrior-Lawrence
Warrior Group, Inc.
Desoto, Texas
As a child, Gail Warrior-Lawrence helped her entrepreneurial father with his growing insurance business. After earning accounting and marketing degrees and an MBA, she launched Warrior Group, Inc. on a shoestring budget in 1997, overcoming challenges not only as a newly formed business but as a minority woman in the construction industry.
Today, the company she heads as CEO is the nation’s largest woman- and minority-owned permanent modular building construction company. Sales have risen from $42 million in 2004 to nearly triple that figure in 2008. The company has expanded the adoption of permanent modular buildings for applications in nearly 30 states, including school buildings, military residences, administrative offices, and medical offices. Projects in 2008 included the multi-story barracks at Fort Houston and Fort Sam Houston.
The keys to success for Warrior Group have included a focus on customer service, quality control processes, and project management. In addition, it has benefited from strategic alliances with industry leaders and the top four manufacturers of modular building components. In 2008 the company broadened its scope by moving into mainstream construction services, based on its expertise, financial strength and ability to bond large projects.
The Heart of a Warrior Charitable Foundation, created in 2007, is dedicated to creating a brighter future for underserved children.
