Community Builder

The renovation of a dilapidated building in Grand Rapids, Michigan, served as Ralph Powell Jr.’s initiation to the wider world of construction. 

Working alongside his brother-in-law, a successful local businessman who purchased the old building to redevelop into a sports bar, the enterprising 17-year-old got an early glimpse of his future vocation. “I had the opportunity to work as a laborer and perform demolition and clean-up work as the building was being renovated,” Powell recalls. “It was fascinating to gut and rebuild a decrepit, rundown building.”

This experience sparked an interest in Powell that led him to secure a construction management degree and build a successful 21-year construction career at McCarthy. 

Since taking the reins as supplier diversity & community outreach director in 2021, Powell has drawn on his 18 years of field experience to expand McCarthy’s positive impact in the community. This includes forging relationships with minority- and women-owned businesses to mentor, support and help them succeed. This has resulted in an impressive $750 million being awarded to small and diverse firms across our four most recent major projects in St. Louis: the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Washington University School of Medicine Neuroscience Research Building, the BJC Campus Renewal Phase 3, and the SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. 

Powell plays a vital role in every stage of the project lifecycle, from pursuit to closeout. His proactive collaboration with McCarthy's marketing teams, project teams, owners, community organizations, and municipalities helps to champion the representation and success of small and diverse businesses. “We believe that individuals in every community should have opportunities to participate in a project, and it should be a fulfilling and rewarding experience for everyone,” he says. 
 

And Powell’s positive impact has been commendable. Since 2021, McCarthy’s Central Region has met or exceeded the companywide goal that every project achieve a minimum 20% first-tier spend with small and diverse businesses. “To me, that's an amazing accomplishment and a testament to the work of the entire McCarthy team,” he says. 

He’s part of a national team composed of more than a dozen DEI professionals dispersed across McCarthy’s regional office network. Led by Vice President of DEI Kamecia Mason, the group connects via weekly virtual meetings and quarterly in-person strategic planning sessions to share best practices, lessons learned and project successes. “I like to think of our team as Transformers and Optimus Maximus…we're good individually, but when we get together and collaborate, we can really do some truly great things,” Powell says.

Family Bonds

Powell hails from Flint, Mich., where he grew up surrounded by a close-knit family. 

His dad—Ralph Sr.—had a 37-year career at General Motors that brought the family to Grand Rapids after the GM plant in Flint shuttered in the early 1980s. Barbara, his mom, worked at a Meijer supercenter as a cashier and in the cash office for nearly 40 years. 

“Hard work and dedication are ingrained into my siblings and me,” Powell notes. “My parents laid a strong foundation that if you work hard, treat people well and have faith in God, good things will happen.”

Powell also gained inspiration from his two older sisters, both of whom excelled as college athletes. Tanya played basketball at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Jessie played basketball at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. Younger sister Andrea also experienced success on the basketball court.

“I wanted to emulate everything my sisters did on the basketball court,” he recalls. “We attended every home game and many away games. I think I've been to every Big Ten basketball arena…that’s when there were actually 10 Big Ten teams,” he jokes. “I have memories of traveling from Miami, Florida, to the upper peninsula of Michigan in the dead of winter to support and cheer my sisters on.” 

An athlete himself, Powell enjoyed playing baseball, basketball and football. When he wasn’t hanging out on a sports field, chances are he was working together with his dad on a home improvement project.                                                                              

“My dad was very mechanically inclined, whether he was working on a vehicle, fixing the lawnmower or putting furniture together,” he says. “I guess you could say I was his apprentice, handing him tools and taking what I learned from him to build tire swings, a treehouse, forts or snow igloos in the backyard.”

Constructing a Career

It was at a high school career fair that Powell learned about the construction management program at Ferris State University, located about 45 minutes north of Grand Rapids. “It intrigued me because I didn't even know there was such a thing as construction management or any of the roles that go along with that,” he says. “I mentioned it to my brother-in-law, who encouraged me to pursue that dream.”

As a Ferris State student, he connected with McCarthy at a career event and secured an in-person interview in St. Louis. “A couple weeks later, I received a letter saying I wasn't selected…but later that day, I got a call extending me an offer,” he says. “And the rest is history.”

Joining McCarthy as a project engineer in 2003, Powell worked on a few hospital expansion jobs for Sentara Health in Virginia before moving to St. Louis in 2006 to help construct a project for St. Anthony's Hospital (now Mercy Hospital South). During that job, he earned a promotion to superintendent. 

Powell stepped into a project manager role in 2015 while working on an assignment for Mercy Hospital Jefferson in Crystal City, Mo. “That was one of the most challenging, but rewarding times of my career,” he says, recalling many late-night conversations with then-Vice President Operations Doug Mangers, who was also functioning as project director and currently serves as Chief Operating Officer in McCarthy’s Central Region. 

In fact, he’s worked alongside many current McCarthy leaders during his time in the field. “I had some great role models who laid a solid foundation of what McCarthy meant—the teamwork, the fun, and how we counted on each other and continue to do so,” he says.

Before transitioning to his current position, Powell served as a project manager on the new 16-story Plaza West Tower under construction at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He remains actively engaged in helping the project team achieve ambitious DEI target goals. “For BJC, it’s not just about achieving a quantitative metric; they’re also focused on building capacity and ensuring that all stakeholders are having a meaningful experience,” he says. 

As Powell reflects on his 21-year career at McCarthy, he’s proud of his accomplishments and excited about the future. “I'm just coming out of halftime and moving into the third quarter. I'm wiser, stronger and committed to making these my best years going forward.”