FMI, a provider of management consulting and investment banking to the engineering and construction industry, is pleased to announce that the Associated General Contractors of America recognized Hugh Rice at the 94th annual convention. Rice was presented with the “James M. Maloney Memorial Service & Supply Award for Lifetime Achievement.”
This award is only given in years when an individual’s lifetime of service merits special recognition. It is intended to honor an industry service provider who has demonstrated, over an extended period of time, an extraordinary commitment to AGC and the greater construction industry.
The recognition has special meaning to Rice. As a long time personal friend of Jim Maloney, former AGC president who passed in 2009, Rice credits Maloney with mentoring him throughout his career with FMI. Accepting the award on behalf of all FMI employees, Rice made a special point to thank Doc Fails and Hoyt Lowder. Fails, the founder of FMI, was mentioned for his “grand idea” regarding the role he thought FMI could play in impacting the profitability of the construction industry. Lowder, retired senior vice president and managing director of the southern regional office of FMI, was mentioned for his immeasurable contributions to the AGC over the years on behalf of FMI.
Rice joined FMI in 1972 and opened the Denver office in 1979. He created the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group, now FMI Capital Advisors, Inc., which has completed more than 600 construction-industry acquisitions since inception. He served as chief executive officer and chairman of the firm until 2011.
Rice was elected to The National Academy of Construction in 2007. He serves on the board of directors or advisory board of several major construction firms, as well as the Executive Advisory Board for the Daniels School of Business at The University of Denver and is a current trustee of The Moles, an association of individuals engaged in heavy construction. Previously, Rice was the director of The Beavers, a heavy engineering construction association and was awarded the Golden Beaver Award for Service and Supply in 2005.
His expertise and experience in stock valuations, ownership transition planning, merger/acquisition advice, and strategy development for business in the engineering and construction industries has made him an internationally sought speaker on the construction industry including being interviewed for MSNBC’s Money Watch. Over the past three decades, Hugh has made presentations to virtually every major construction-industry organization in the United States.
Rice holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a master of business administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is based out of FMI’s Denver location.
