Clark retiring from firm he helped found

When Dave Clark joined forces with B.J.

Sullivan to create Sparks-based Clark & Sullivan Constructors, they began with the end in mind.

Two decades later, the end they had in mind a smooth transition when the partners retire is coming to fruition as Clark steps down from his posts as chairman and chief executive officer.

He'll remain a member of the board of the privately held company although he won't play a role in day-today management of the firm.

Sullivan, who is about 10 years from retirement, will continue as the company's top manager.

From the first days of the company, Sullivan and Clark then decades from retirement developed a plan to transition ownership of the company to its employees.

Today, 20 percent of the stock of Clark & Sullivan Constructors is vested in an employee stock ownership plan.

Senior managers, meanwhile, participate in a stock-option program and are groomed to take over control of the company.

The benefits have been two-fold.

First, Clark says, the possibility of an ownership stake keeps employees' interests aligned with those of the company.

Second, he says the process of grooming potential successors keeps the company's founders closely involved with the development of good employees.

Every three weeks, for instance, the management team gets together for a meeting that runs from noon until late in the evening to hash out issues facing Clark & Sullivan.

Even though the transition plan had been in place for years, Clark says nailing down the final details occurred during the past five years.

"Those five years just evaporated," he says.

"It forced me to plan what I'm going to do."

At the time they launched the company, Clark and Sullivan also took the unusual step of creating an outside board of directors.

"They aren't advisors," Clark says.

"We made commitment when we formed that the board that we would be bound by board decisions."

Along with the guidance provided by the board members, Clark says the board helped open doors for Clark & Sullivan Constructors when the firm was young.

Plenty of doors opened for the company through the years.

Its revenues these days run about $150 million annually compared to $8.3 million in its first year and the firm has been listed among the 400 biggest contractors in the nation by Engineering News-Record.

Among projects the company has handled in northern Nevada are the Nevada Museum of Art, more than 80 schools, and the Nevada Supreme Court building in Carson City.

Clark's retirement wraps up more than 30 years in the construction business.

A graduate of Claremont Men's College who later undertook graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, Clark served as a flight officer in the U.S.

Air Force.

He flew numerous combat missions in Viet Nam.

After his military tour, he worked as vice president of development for a California construction company.

He began visiting Reno as a consultant turning around and liquidating troubled real estate projects and decided to launch a construction company here because of the potential growth he saw in the market.

For the past decade, most of Clark's work has been focused on Las Vegas, where Clark & Sullivan has extensive construction operations.

The company also handles work from an office at Sacramento.