Grant Gibson receives Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award

FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. — The outstanding accomplishments and courageous actions of Grant Gibson, CEO/managing principal, GATE, Inc., made him this year’s recipient of ZweigWhite’s Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award. During tough times, Gibson has had the bravery to help his firm pursue new markets and overseas projects, kickoff a world class marketing program, and make acquisitions with tight resources. Gibson has made many sacrifices to better the firm as a whole — even electing to give himself a significant pay cut to make sure others in the company weren’t at risk.

During periods when GATE was faced with severe financial difficulty, Grant mortgaged his personal real estate and kicked in his own cash from savings to ensure that all employees would continue to be paid.

“People that come across him in life and work are affected by his humility, brilliance and kindness, but know of his achievements being courageous under fire and in bad times,” said a colleague.

Gibson’s care for GATE employees extends outside his professional duties. After Hurricane Katrina, he traveled in poor weather conditions to help fix an employee’s roof personally, he paid for another employee’s foundation repair, and even paid for medical treatments for an employee diagnosed with cancer.

“Grant has always been a long-term vision-based person. He has refused takeover bids from other companies when he felt it would not be in the best interest of GATE’s employees. He is always of the mindset that everyone around him should be happy and content and successful,” said Karthik Annadorai, principal at GATE.

Under Gibson’s leadership, GATE has gone from a fledgling company in 2000, to a highly profitable enterprise in 2013.

The Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award is given each year to someone working in an A/E/P or environmental firm who has demonstrated in a unique way, personal courage in their actions that have impacted their firm. The award winner is one that has courageously overcome obstacles to advance their firm to a new level of success and accomplishment. Nominees can be in any role and come from A/E/P and environmental firms of all sizes and types.

The Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award is named after Jerry Allen. The first person in his family to graduate college, he eventually was known not only for being the CEO of Carter & Burgess, but also as an innovative and inspirational leader. Under Allen’s direction, Carter & Burgess grew from some 200 employees and $17 million in revenue in 1988, to 2,300 employees and $381 million in revenue by 2002. Allen, who was an incredible athlete and in fantastic physical condition most of his life, was struck down by colon cancer at age 62.

Allen was a friend and mentor to Mark Zweig, founder and CEO of ZweigWhite. In his honor, a portion of the proceeds from the awards program will be donated to The American Cancer Society.

For more information on the award, visit https://hotfirm.com/our-awards/.