Ronny Salameh, long-time chief operating officer and senior vice president of Dan Ryan Builders, was recently named president of the company, succeeding founder and CEO Daniel M. Ryan.
Since Salameh joined the Frederick, Md.-based firm in 2009, Dan Ryan Builders has expanded its reach across the Mid-Atlantic region. The builder rose from No. 102 on the BUILDER 100 in 2008 to No. 28 in 2017, and its annual sales closing volume increased from 505 to 1,981.
“For the past decade, Ronny has been driving the growth of Dan Ryan Builders in the Mid-Atlantic Region,” says Ryan. “As chief operating officer, he focused on expanding market share in the original operations, revamped product and brand while adding three new markets to the company’s footprint. As I step back from the day-to-day operations, Ronny will assume more responsibility as president.”
Here, BUILDER talks with Salameh about his experience in the home building industry, his impact on Dan Ryan Builders, and how he plans to continue the company’s operations.
How did you enter the home building industry, and when did you join Dan Ryan Builders?
I started out of college. I worked for a company by the name of Centex Homes. At the time I wasn’t really sure that new home construction would be my career, but I ended up being there for about 16 years. I started as a field production assistant and just learned my way around how to build homes and work on the production side. As time went on, I started getting into operations and land acquisition, and soon became a division president for Centex. I did that for several years, and became an area president, and before you know it I’d been there 16 years.
I stayed there until 2008, and that was right when Pulte and Centex were in a merger situation. I was in North Carolina at the time, running the Charlotte and Raleigh markets. When the merger happened, I was considering moving back to my home town, which is [in] Maryland. Dan Ryan was actually recruiting for COO and vice president at the time.
As chief operating officer you had an instrumental impact on the company’s recent expansion. How has this expansion impacted and changed Dan Ryan Builders?
When I joined the company in 2009, we were building about 350 homes [per year], and we were in three markets. Dan and the board of directors’ primary goal was to work through the recession and make it to the next year. But the second goal was to deploy new capital into new markets. The markets that we were in were really second-tier markets that were going to take longer to come back. So my plan was to get us into places that would recover quicker. One of the first things I did was take us back down to Raleigh, where I had just come from, and we started a division there. Land was a little cheaper, and the recovery was feeling a little better. Seven years later we’re the No. 1 private home builder and the third-largest home builder in the market. We build about 800 homes in Raleigh now. (Click here for more about how U.S. builders weathered the recession.)
So that was the first step. And then I took us into the Washington metro market, and that was an area that I was very familiar with. That was where I worked with Centex and that’s where I come from. So we grew into the Maryland market as well. We grew into Greenville out of Charleston, and we grew into Pittsburgh out of Bordentown. So over the last seven years we grew into six states and about eight markets.
Now we do about 2,200 to 2,500 homes a year. And it was all organically done, none of it was through purchase of another builder. It was all done one deal at a time.
How has this career at Dan Ryan Builders prepared you for your new position?
I think it’s been a great experience. Sixteen years with Centex was a fantastic education. I really learned how big business works. I learned how to build homes efficiently and effectively. I moved on to Dan Ryan, where we were almost a small builder, and we were dealing with the recession. But over time I was able to rebrand the company, all the architecture, product, and build a team. Really my goal was to prepare for the next 10 years and ironically it’s been 10 years. So I think it’s been great. It’s exposed me to a board of directors, which I wasn’t exposed to at Centex so much. Between both it’s been a great experience.
As president, what are your plans for the company and its growth?
It’s to continue to do the same. We have recently brought on a new partner, Sumitomo Forestry out of Japan. And they’ve been a really great partner, and they’ve allowed us to continue to do what we do, but with the intention of continuing to grow. So that puts a little more muscle in the business for us from a capital perspective. Our short term plan is to continue to grow our current markets and get those markets that we’re already in to what we would call a steady state market, where we’re the right size for the market. And that varies by market. I think the long-term plan is to continue to consider new markets and further expansion.
What leadership methods would you like to introduce to the company, and what elements of Dan Ryan’s leadership will you continue in your plan?
I think, from a Dan Ryan perspective, one of the things that he has always done and I will continue to do is keep our company culture. He’s very hands on when it comes to our employee base and our staff. We’re very visible, he and I are both very visible to our divisions and our employees. We try to separate ourselves from being just a corporate group. We feel like we’re more transparent than that, we’re more hands-on with the people actually doing the work. I think the culture here is great, and it started with Dan many years ago. So, job one would be to make sure that I can continue that and maintain that.
As far as going forward, we don’t need to change a lot of what we do. We’re a very disciplined company, we kind of act like a national home builder, but we’re a private. What I’d like to do is just make sure we don’t lose our focus on our customers and our people and our discipline.
