make a positive difference for Martin Marietta. Q. Recognizing that you’ll put an immense amount of faith in not just your team, but others across Martin Marietta, what traits or characteristics do you expect all employees should possess? A. Above all, I expect high integrity. Most of the time, what our jobs require of us is well defined. We win the customer contract. We improve production. We get the report filed and so on. But we’re also stewards of our shareholders’ resources and citizens of the communities where we live and work and our obligations in these roles are not always so easily defined. We need to be better than our competition and conduct our business in a way that makes communities better. That’s what I think truly winning looks like for us. When it comes to workplace decisions, I expect every Martin employee to place our stakeholders’ interests above their own as long as doing so is safe and ethical. We play by the rules and where the rules are not clear, we discuss it with our peers and supervisors to make a decision we can all stand behind. Q. “Community” is an important word at Martin Marietta. What do you enjoy doing when you leave the office to spend time with your family and friends? A. Most of my spare time is spent in activities where the family can spend time together. It’s increasingly rare and hard to do as we all get busier, but I like Nickolas listens as Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller Dana Guzzo speaks about the company’s finance team during a meet-and-greet at corporate headquarters in Raleigh on Aug. 21. www.martinmarietta.com | September/October 2017 The Conveyor 9 Q. What type of leadership style do you intend to bring to Martin Marietta? A. I try to be very accessible. I can’t help address an issue if I don’t know about it. When questions arise, we’ll often need to leverage our collective experience to find the right answer, so I hope to encourage open and frequent communication across functions like Operations, Human Resources, Information Services and Legal as well as Finance and Accounting. I also want to get out into our operations and visit frequently with our customers. For me, that’s one of the best ways to stay connected. I enjoyed that at my last job and find it to be incredibly valuable. Q. The importance of maintaining a connection seems like a great lesson for any young employee hoping to climb the ladder. What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned in your career? A. My first boss at Coopers & Lybrand used to say that a manager needs to give his team challenging assignments and then let the team deliver. His quote was, “You will be amazed at what people can accomplish if you challenge them.” Years later, I was asked to develop and lead a team to execute on some of the largest and most complicated corporate transactions in Caterpillar’s history after having only been with the company for two years. I was amazed at how much room to run we were given. I look back now and see what we accomplished and feel that experience proved my first boss’ point. I want to put others in a position to to take the family skiing and camping. We also like to do seasonal activities like apple picking. I’m told there are ample opportunities in central North Carolina to pick strawberries and blueberries, so we’ll take advantage of that along with trips to the beach and trail hikes. Q. Are you and your family involved with any community groups or charities? A. We’ve only been in Raleigh a short time, so we’re still figuring our way around. We recently volunteered at the Raleigh Greek Festival – a fundraiser for a local Greek Orthodox church. At our old home near Chicago, I was on the board of two non-profits. One was with my church and the other was focused on student housing at the University of Illinois. We’ll look to give back to the Raleigh community in similar ways after assessing where we can have the biggest impact and where we feel a special motivation to address a community need. If history is any guide, my wife and I will actively volunteer at a Greek Orthodox church and at our children’s schools. It’s also likely we’ll work with a civic or philanthropic organization. Q. Jim, before we wrap this up, can you tell us the happiest moments of your life? A. I imagine my answer is pretty standard on this one: The births of my children and my wedding day are at the top. By and large, I’ve been blessed with good health and good family my entire life. ▼
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