On June 1, 2013, Grant Bryant and Erin Brownlee became majority owners of The Wakefield Corporation with equal ownership. Following a strategic plan and buy out process that began in 1999, Jim Wakefield, former President of The Wakefield Corporation, sold his majority ownership to Bryant, Brownlee, and 3 other minority owners.
In 1997, following her graduation from The University of Tennessee, Erin Wakefield Brownlee, Jim’s daughter, began her career at The Wakefield Corporation. Although she had been part time for many summers throughout high school and college, in August of 1997 she began at TWC as a project manager and estimator. In 1999 she began to purchase stock from her father and in 2001 she became Secretary-Treasurer of the company. With the majority purchase from Jim, her new title became CFO.
While the first 12 months of her increased role in management and ownership are drawing closer, she had these words to say: “It has been a very exciting year. Not the easiest in terms of the economy and construction industry, but exciting none the less. I am looking forward to many more years of success at The Wakefield Corporation building on the strong core values, ethics, and leadership my Dad has built this company on since 1986. There is a legacy here I want to pass on to my children and the other generations of our Wakefield employees.”