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Chris Gower wants his transition to CEO to be like The Who’s lyric: “Meet the new boss, just like the old boss.”
Gower, who took the helm at Edmonton, Alberta-based builder PCL Construction on November 1he wants the company to stay the course and watch its core strengths. He takes care of the follow-up Donald Trump’s electoral victory amid questions about how the administration’s economic policies will affect the entering construction industry.
PCL, which has its US headquarters in Denver, will continue to look at infrastructure projects as a key part of its building portfolio.
Here, Gower talks about his vision for the company, his take on some of the key sectors building the company and his reaction to Trump’s victory.
How has the transition to your new role as CEO been?
It’s like slowly turning on a switch over the last year. The lights keep getting brighter and brighter, and the day I took over on November 1st, they just needed to get a little brighter.
I use that phrase to describe it because our succession is very robust, very thoughtful.
Chris Gower
Permission granted by PCL Construction
Dave Filipchuk, the former CEO, now chairman of our board, and I have partnered in my deputy role over the last 12 months. I’m going to back it up and say that even before that, we’ve been together for nine years in the CEO’s office, and on the board as well.
I hope no one feels there is a big change. In fact, I’d say it’s like steering a big ship. There should be no waves.
I showed up, had a new office and a new parking space. Beyond that, everything else is the same.
Donald Trump will return to the White House. What is your initial reaction?
People talk about rates. Here’s the PCL perspective.
We look at it from two fronts. First, the election will affect the US economy. And we have a very large business in the U.S. The strength of the U.S. economy is important to us on that front.
Then we have a big business in Canada, and the impact of the US in Canada is obvious.
The things Trump will do and has promised can hurt us as well as help us. I’m not sure today, not knowing how these plans will play out, if it’s neutral, if it’s positive or negative. We are looking at it from several fronts and are tracking how it will affect us in more detail.
In light of the election, what does PCL think about the future of infrastructure funding?
Personally, I think infrastructure in general will continue to need funding.
If you think about water scarcity and/or changes in water quality in different places and the demand for water, the construction of wastewater treatment facilities does not go away.
I don’t think that will change under any administration.
The CHIPS Act or the Inflation Reduction Act could change, and we can’t control that, but what we can control is how nimble and flexible we are to adapt to various new opportunities.
I would say the best way for any company to do that is to be very diversified, combined with being resilient and nimble enough to change and move into markets like manufacturing or data centers, as we have done in the past. We are a great developer of solar energy because the opportunity exists today. If it changes we will adapt.
But overall, I don’t think there’s going to be a big pullback in infrastructure spending. I think this market will continue to be strong in the US
PCL has concentrated on stadium projects. What are your predictions for the market going forward?
A lot of these facilities, some are new, some are aging and need to be replaced, and we don’t see that changing.
Sports facilities in the US, particularly with college sports and the demand in the US for adequate facilities, along with unique events like the Olympics, these events drive demand.
We see that the sports and entertainment industry needs to continuously evolve and change as customer needs change. It’s not a done deal.
What other sectors is PCL looking at moving forward?
The energy transition in the heavy industrial scenario where we see quite a bit of growth with hydrogen and even small modular reactors.
There is a lot of need in North America and Australia, not to mention solar. That’s where we work in Australia, with solar, I’d say a lot of those markets are going to grow.
Things like energy are in transition, and the products that go along with that transition are in greater demand, and that won’t change.
And obviously we can’t control how some of these things play out, so we’d rather be on the side of adapting to them as they change.
We would certainly like to influence that, and we do, to some degree, but it’s more about us reacting to the markets and positioning ourselves to provide that service to our customers in the right place.
