Maria Candler: President and CEO, James River Grounds Management

What have you been up to since you won the award?
Personally, I was going to have a baby like two days after the photographer left (for the award shoot). So life completely changed. And we’ve added a second child to the mix.

So personally it’s been very busy and lots of things have changed there and that’s been great.

Also during that same time, we were able to buy the company from the original owners. So, that was a very big thing that happened.

That was in May of 2005. That’s something we had been working on for a long time and it was a fairly seamless transition, and the two original owners were fairly uninvolved at that point.

What is your take on how the industry will recover from the economic troubles of the past couple of years?
I try not to pay much attention to it honestly because if you listen to NPR on the way to work every morning, and you take what you hear as gospel, you’ll probably drive your car off a cliff. But we’ll come out of it just the way we went into it. It was a long, slow process so that’s how we’re going to pull it out. It’s going to be a long slow process.

But I do believe the companies that kept their chin up and focused on lean practices and really tried to be the best that they can be in all areas and are really focused – I think at the end of it, they’ll come out a much better, stronger company in the end. We don’t really talk about it around here.

We talk about how we can be  better, and we take each issue as it comes and we try to be strategic and not really buy in to “Oh, the economy is bad.”

It’s like this ultimate excuse for everything and we just aren’t going to have that conversation.

But shouldn’t you keep an eye on the economy?
Well yeah, we keep an eye on everything. We are reacting and being proactive and trying to be strategic regardless. That’s our mission, that’s our culture. I guess when things get rocky, our culture was already that. So it’s not been that big of a change.

We were disappointed that we’re not growing at the rate we’re used to growing, but you redefine what a great year is and you keep moving forward, and I think staying positive has been a huge thing.    

Where do you see the industry being in 2020?
Part of me worries that the quality just won’t be there. I think I sense that with almost everything. Quality just is taking such a dive.

But I am also optimistic when I see things like what Jim McCutcheon is doing at HighGrove where he is turning a really horrible regulatory environment into a great opportunity.

So, I think you’ll have great cutting edge companies like that and you’ll always have the startups. But I think you’ll have less of those in the middle.

Why is quality taking a dive?
Well, right now it’s taking a dive because companies are forced to cut their margins and some of us are trying hard not to play that game. But you have to be creative, and when your customer tells you they need to cut their specifications and you want to keep them as a customer, you are going to do less. So, that’s going to take a long time to change. And then that becomes the new status quo. I hope that is not the case, but it certainly feels that way.

In your 2004 profile you described yourself as a control person. Is that still the case?
I think it’s good and bad. It’s definitely my big challenge because of the personality that I am and something that I always try to keep my eyes on and be aware of.

And I think what’s important is that I’m aware of it and that I work on it.

But I’ve sort of overcome it by really focusing my need for control on the things that I really should be controlling. ...  And I think what helps me is that I am very energized by other people accomplishing things. So that helps me.

I just re-shift my control over controlling the tools I can give them.

That’s just been my tool over the years to try and regroup and not be the one to do everything and be in the middle of everything. It’s definitely been the hardest thing to overcome.