By now you might have seen or heard that with the support of Chairman Emeritus Charles Nabholz and our entire Board of Directors, I will be relinquishing my duties as CEO and taking on a new role as full time Chairman of the Board, effective January 1st.

As Chairman, I will focus on working with the Board to devise sensible growth strategies, both in terms of the geographic areas and the market sectors that we serve. I will continue to represent Nabholz, educating others and emphasizing the importance of our values and founding principles. I will also continue my work to strengthen our company through unification and growth strategies supporting all of our offices throughout Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Mississippi.

I am proud and excited that Greg Williams, our CFO for nearly two decades, has been chosen by the Board to serve as the new Chief Executive Officer. There is no one more deserving or more capable than Greg to fill this role. He has been a key member of our management team for 22 years and has an in-depth understanding of all facets of our company and industry. He lives our values and is respected both inside and outside the company. I look forward to working with Greg and his management team during the transition and in the years to come. I hope you will take the time to congratulate and support Greg as he begins his new role and a new era for Nabholz.

On January 1, 2014 we begin our 65th year of operation here at Nabholz. It will also mark my 42nd year of employment with the Company. I often reflect back on how fortunate I was on that day in 1972 to be offered a job and to get to know Bob, Charles, Tom, Ed, and the rest of the Nabholz family. We were a much smaller company in those days, and I had the opportunity to interact with and be mentored by the other Nabholz associates every day—people like Bob Tyler, Bob Nutter, Ed Bruich, Maurice Moix, and David Thessing, all of whom were instrumental in shaping and building the strong foundation and company values we enjoy today.

During the past 64 years, we have endured some challenging times, but we have never strayed from our core values. Thanks to the leadership of Bob and Charles Nabholz, we have always maintained our integrity and demonstrated respect and appreciation for our employees, clients, design associates, subcontractors and our suppliers. We know we do not exist without them.

Since becoming CEO 12 years ago, I have had the pleasure and honor to get to know and work with many of our craftsmen, young emerging talent, support staff, middle managers, and the senior management team. It is a great pleasure to see the knowledge and talent being developed at all levels and to know that we have a great depth of organization with tremendous bench strength to support our future growth. Our depth and our commitment to developing talent and planning for the future are what make this transition possible today.

When Charles and I began our discussions about the transition almost two years ago, we knew we wanted to stick to our “promote from within” philosophy. Knowing that we had a number of talented and qualified candidates to serve as the next CEO, we established a timeline for implementing the transition by the end of 2013. From there, our Board’s Composition Committee led the transition process.

One of my most important duties is to ensure the future success of our company, and a big part of that job is creating and successfully executing an effective leadership transition plan. I believe we have done exactly that, and I can honestly say that I have never been more confident about the future of Nabholz.

Sincerely,