Joy Anderson
President
JRA & Associates
Contracting LLC
Joy Anderson’s mother always told her
“Go out and work hard for what you
want and don’t depend on anybody
else to get it for you.”Anderson followed
that advice in moving up from a job
as a part-time secretary in a fledgling
mechanical contracting business to
owner of her own construction firm.
After Anderson joined his company
in 1989, owner Kenny Tsakanikas
encouraged her to grow along with the
business. “I worked my way up through
the ranks, learning bookkeeping,
estimating and project management—
every aspect of the business,”Anderson
said. “Kenny was an open-minded guy;
he wasn’t afraid to have a woman in a
key position.”
After 10 years at the company,
Anderson was pretty much running it.
So when Tsakanikas decided to wrap
up his operations, Anderson rejected
the idea of working for someone
else and opened her mechanical
contracting company in 2007. Despite
the lean recession years, she’s been
successful in growing her business.
When Anderson started working,
role models were lacking; there were
few, if any, women in construction
management positions. So Anderson
makes a point of mentoring other
women starting out in construction.
“I give them some advice on programs
that have helped me, guidance on
how to become certified and get their
footing in the industry, how to start
small if you don’t have a lot of capital,”
she said.
She networks with other women as a
member of the International Women’s
Leadership
Association
and
the
National Association of Professional
Women and has just recently taken on
a leadership role in the construction
industry as chair of Associated Builders
and Contractors (ABC) of Metro
Washington’s Prince Georges County
Legislative Committee.
Building Washington 17
Growing into
Leadership:
Six Women Making Their Marks in Construction
