Craig Williams, CEO of PRIDE Enterprises, likes to describe himself as “a decades-long overnight sensation.”
Williams’ family has been in construction for more than three decades. His father owned a construction company, and Williams launched his own, partner company in 1996, before eventually acquiring his father’s firm. They had a lot of experience working in Philly (the firm is based in Norristown), and they primarily worked on federal government projects — for the Department of Veterans Affairs in West Philadelphia, for the Army Corp of Engineers, for the National Park Service.
Williams wanted to break into private sector projects, but it was challenging. Most of his relationships were in the public sector and “it was not easy to sell our services and convince clients to give us a try, to give us an opportunity to take on significant projects,” Williams says.
It was in the midst of this that Williams met Blane Stoddart, the CEO of the construction project management firm BFW Group. Stoddart has his own company, but he was also working with organizations like the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Economy League to create opportunities for Black business owners, like himself and Williams, and other entrepreneurs of color. He and Williams worked together for more than a decade, vouching for one another and recommending each other for projects.
So it was natural that Williams would join the Economy League’s Real Estate and Construction Committee, a program that Stoddart launched as part of the Economy League’s PAGE Initiatives (Philadelphia Anchors for Growth & Equity), which are meant to help large Philadelphia institutions and businesses contract with local businesses. The program has helped PRIDE develop and grow its relationships with hospitals and universities.
Today, PRIDE Enterprises has secured major contracts with the University of Pennsylvania, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Temple and PECO Exelon, to name a few. They’ve grown by nearly 100 percent over the last three years — in part because of the relationships they’ve been able to build through the Economy League’s Real Estate and Construction Committee. Stoddart is hoping to spend more of his time on these initiatives going forward, helping to support and grow more businesses in the process.
“I’ve celebrated this with Blane on several occasions,” Williams says. “Where my organization is now and where his organization is now is a far cry from where we were when we met.”
Launching the Committee
Stoddart’s own experiences informed the idea for PAGE’s Real Estate and Construction Committee. He had seen how securing contracts with one big anchor institution, like Penn, led others to believe in the work BFW Group could do. He wanted to help other Black- and Brown-owned companies find similar opportunities.
Stoddart approached the Economy League about creating the Real Estate and Construction Committee in 2021 with Harold Epps, senior advisor to Diversified Search and Bellevue Strategies. (Note: Diversified Search is a supporter of The Citizen.)
The Economy League estimates that White-owned companies are overrepresented in construction in Philadelphia and its collar counties by about 10 to 13 percent. Black-owned businesses are underrepresented by 9 percent and Latino-owned businesses by 3.5 percent compared to the region’s demographics.
“If we didn’t do work at Penn, or didn’t do work at Jefferson … we would never be able to have the opportunity to be a direct vendor with Princeton University,” Stoddart says. “It’s relationship-based.”
“You cannot make the world a better place and be conventional. It’s impossible.” — Blane Stoddart
Stoddart has long been a connector, looking to create opportunities for people of color and immigrants, like himself. His family came to the U.S. from Jamaica when he was a teen. He studied at Wharton, worked on Wall Street and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and eventually launched his own business. But through it all, he was community-minded. He wanted to create for others the opportunities he had. In 2010, he co-founded the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s CEO Access Network, a group that connects women, LGBTQ+, disabled, veteran and minority business owners with C-suite executives from large companies.
So far, the program has paired 213 businesses with local leaders, like former Comcast executive and Ambassador to Canada David Cohen, Diversified Search founder Judith M. von Seldeneck, Temple President John Fry, and Philadelphia magazine owner David Lipson.
“It’s meant to open up networks,” Stoddart says. “You don’t go in here to sell your services to your mentor. You go in here to build a relationship.”
“In the ecosystem that is Philadelphia, you have owners. They could be institutions or private developers that pay for construction services. They need something built. They need something repaired,” says Kenyatta James, Economy League deputy executive director. “And then you have the small and minority business community, which doesn’t always have access to the owners, or even if they know them, they’re not considered as thoroughly [for these opportunities].”
How PAGE works
PAGE receives pitches from small businesses interested in bigger contracts, meets with leaders at large institutions interested in diversifying and localizing their contractors, and hosts events to bring business leaders together to talk about best practices for working with diverse contractors. So far, they’ve hosted two such events, including a 2023 Real Estate and Construction Summit with 21 anchor institutions. James estimates they’ve reached 250 people in the industry through these events.
“One of the things that we’ve done is really allowed both construction managers and owners that are serious about supplier diversity to sit in the same room and strategize,” James says. “We were able to build a very direct set of relationships, and also to bring examples of best practices.”
Stoddart has already seen local, diverse entrepreneurs secure major contracts because of the Real Estate and Construction Committee’s work. He points to PRIDE as an example of the ways programs like PAGE can help businesses expand. Stoddart says they now have nearly $50 million in contracts within Philly.
“PRIDE is now one of the largest minority contractors in the city of Philadelphia,” Stoddart says. “We’re developing systems in the city of Philadelphia to create economic opportunity.”
The future of Philadelphia construction
The Real Estate and Construction Committee is only a few years old, but Stoddart hopes it will be able to continue to grow and establish long-lasting systems, just like the CEO Access Network. If other Philadelphia construction worker training and development programs like OIC of America and Rebuild succeed, there should be many more Black and Brown construction workers seeking this kind of work.
“I’ll always be community-focused,” Stoddart says. “My goal is for these systems to grow so that small businesses can become medium sized businesses, and medium sized businesses can become large businesses.”
Stoddart estimates that in his career, he has spent about half of his time focusing on his companies and professional development and the other half working on initiatives that benefit his community. On top of his work with the Economy League, he served as a member of Governor Josh Shapiro’s transition team for housing, banking and insurance, and co-founded the Black-Jewish Alliance of the Anti-Defamation League. His current goal: double his company’s size by 2027 before turning it over to his employees to run and own. Then, he’ll be able to focus even more on his Real Estate and Construction Committee work.
“I think the future of BFW is to become an employee-owned company,” he says. “You cannot make the world a better place and be conventional. It’s impossible.”
Every Voice, Every Vote funds Philadelphia media and community organizations to expand access to civic news and information. The coalition is led by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Lead support for Every Voice, Every Vote in 2024 and 2025 is provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Comcast NBC Universal, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation, Judy and Peter Leone, Arctos Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, 25th Century Foundation, and Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation.
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