An Interview with Marty Cornejo

Posted on Sun, Jan. 27, 2008
Marty Cornejo
BY CARRIE RENGERS
The Wichita Eagle

As the youngest of Jess and Josephine Cornejo's five sons, Marty Cornejo was the last to join the family's construction business, Cornejo & Sons Inc.

Today, he's president of the company, which has six divisions: concrete paving, asphalt paving, ready mix, demolition, construction materials and warehousing.

What was it like growing up in the company?

"As a young child, my mom and dad started this business. Our office was at home initially.... When the phone rang, we just automatically knew to be quiet. We were all brought up in the business from diapers, virtually. It's all I knew."

Did you know you wanted to officially join the company one day?

"I wanted to grow up and join dad. (I was) ready to get with it the moment I could."

What kinds of things did you and your brothers do at the company while growing up?

"We'd always look for pop bottles out in the trucks... and sweep the shop and clean the trucks.

" (My dad) put us on equipment at a very young age. Back then it was a little bit different. The regulations weren't near as tight."

But you wish you could show kids that side of the business?

"At times I wish we could, because the kids brought up today don't have the work ethic... we used to as far as physical labor and kind of working from the bottom to the top.

"And a lot of what they miss out on is a lot of just good common-sense things."

What are your days like now?

"My day starts pretty early.... I am at work never later than 6:30 in the morning. My days go really quick.... There's so much going on.

"Sometimes I go home at night and scratch my head and think, what did I do today?"

Your main responsibility is overseeing managers. But your job is much more varied than that, right?

"Our company is set up that we do whatever we have to to make it work. If it means getting on a piece of equipment... I still do that."

What are the most important things you learned from your father?

"He taught us to work hard for everything we get. Don't ever have your hand out and expect anything to be given to you.

"Another important thing: never forget who got you there.... If the lady down the street wants one little sidewalk put in at her home, do it. That's when you start going the other way, when you think you're too good to do the small jobs."

What would your dad think of the company today?

"He'd be very proud to see what we've continued to do with what he left us.... We've more than quadrupled the size of the company since he's been gone.

"He would be proud of controlled growth.... As we venture into new things over the years, we try to make sure what we've done in the past is mastered before we jump ahead to something else and lose control."

What are your goals for the future?

"To continue to grow the business (and) diversify even more. We've had continued growth in our company actually from day one.... We've never had a down year. That's hard for a lot of people to believe."

What do you attribute it to?

"Determination. Hard work and enjoying your work. We enjoy it. We thrive off of it."

What's the key to working with family members?

"Leave work at work, and don't take it home with you. That's probably the key."

Do you hope your three sons follow in your footsteps?

"It would be nice, but I'll let time play that out. I'll let them pick their own road. Personally, I'd like to see my boys go out on their own two feet and make it on their own.... I just don't want them to have a handout."

A few years back, your company ran into some trouble by violating political contribution laws. Did that affect your business?

"Businesswise, it didn't... .

"I'd be lying to tell you it didn't bother me because anytime there's any negative comments or press, you go home and think about it."

Did you learn anything from it?

"We learned a great deal. Back when that happened I guess we were a little naive to everything and how it all worked.

"Was it an honest mistake? Absolutely."

Do you make contributions anymore?

"Absolutely. I support who I believe in. If it's going to make things better for my business or my community, by gosh, they're going to get my support."

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