Passion, Caring, Hustle, Detail. These are our Core Values and they are the foundation for everything we do at Dow Smith Company. 

In May, we held a banquet for our employees and gave awards for each Core Value as well as the Gary Grisham Service Award in memory of one of our greatest servant leaders.

Each partner at the company gave out an award.

Dow Smith presented Project Manager Mike Speirs with the Passion Award. 

“Part of passion is that you’ve got a chip on your shoulder. You’ve just got a strong internal motivation to succeed,” Dow said. “There’s a strong internal He also brings a presence of fearless wisdom.”

Shauna McConnell presented Superintendent Josh Beasley with the Caring Award. 

“He leads to serve our clients, subcontractors and other team members,” Shauna said. “It has been said that the core values model him, not the other way around. He loves Jesus, he adores his wife, and he’s an awesome girl dad.” 

Joey Rhyne presented Superintendent Nathan Pfeifer with the Hustle Award.

“There’s the kind of hustle that moves fast and the kind of hustle that moves appropriately,” Joey said. “He moves fast when needed and steady when necessary. He goes above and beyond for coworkers and clients.”

Trey King presented Construction Technician A.J. Blankenship with the Detail Award.

Trey told a story about visiting a jobsite at 6 p.m., knowing A.J. had been there all day. When Trey asked him why he was still there, A.J. said, “Because it isn’t right. It’s not good enough. When I think of detail and when we think of detail, it’s A.J. Blankenship.”

Dow Smith presented the Gary Grisham Service Award to Steve Williams. The award is named after Gary Grisham, who served Dow Smith Company from 1999 until he retired as a partner in 2018. He passed away in 2022 after being diagnosed with cancer. To many of us, Gary was a friend, a mentor, a partner, and a hero. He was a key contributor in creating our core values and he lived all of them.

While the Core Values awards were given by the partners, the Gary Grisham Service Award was voted on by employees. Here are some of the things fellow employees had to say about Steve:

“Steve is a product of Gary’s work at DSC, and he continues to exemplify everything that makes us great. His heart for serving our clients is unmatched.” – Ryan Sanford

“Steve fulfills all criteria for this award.” – Joey Rhyne

“Always a kind word, always a good piece of advice, always willing to serve clients and coworkers.” – Taylor Loyal

“Gary was so good at handling clients onsite. Steve has done this well for years. Clients love him. I have been in so many places over the years and the first thing people ask me is, ‘How is Big Steve?’” – Trey King

“Steve exemplifies this award. He always goes above and beyond for DSC and for our clients. He is a great mentor and teacher to our younger guys. Everyone can rely on Steve to get the job done and to get it done right.” – Shauna McConnell

“Big Steve serves incredibly well. I could not think of anyone more deserving to receive this award first.” – Aaron Fisher

“He goes above and beyond every time he’s with a customer. The definition of the award describes Steve perfectly.” – Trace Petrilli