Our 2025 Alan Curtis Service Award Winner made the sun.
Or at least that’s what his 5-year-old granddaughter said. To crews out on construction jobsites at night, though, it’s not too far from the truth.
Craig Shellman invented the only balloon light on the market with a field-replaceable LED light bulb and a patented easy slide assembly, one with parts that can be replaced from any hardware store. Shellman’s company, Portable Lighting Solutions Inc. (PLS), is today a fast-growing partner of manufacturers like LeeBoy.
Although Craig, 61, passed away in early 2024, his daughter Christine Shellman is keeping his business – and his mission for safety and reliability – alive at PLS.
A Mission That Matters
In 2018, Craig was running the asphalt and concrete divisions of a local construction company when his frustration with unreliable jobsite lighting boiled over. After 27 years, he’d had enough.
“Every single time they turned one on there was a breakdown of some sort, and then he would have to get woken up and have to come down to the jobsite, have to figure out something at 11, and as soon as it was figured out there’d be another issue,” Christine recalled.
The aggressive schedules for highway projects and limited labor made it even more infuriating to Craig, who “never wanted to see his guys sent home” due to faulty lighting. Christine said he wasn’t the kind of guy to be content “being delayed more days than not” or having to waste time with maintenance and constant trips to the rental company to cover the downtime.
Hands-on Invention
Craig rolled up his sleeves and got down to business himself.
“He wanted something durable and serviceable on the jobsite, something you can throw in the back of a truck and not have any problems with. He wanted to have all steel,” Christine said. “No plastic parts.”
He didn’t relinquish any part of the process, not even to his daughter. He created the drawings, machined the parts and built the prototype himself. And he worked fast, holed up in his shop day and night for 18 months.
As Christine said, “This was all him.”
A Need for Speed
Building the portable light wasn’t Craig’s first foray into mechanics. His favorite hobby was drag racing. He had a 1998 Camaro Prostock car and was running low 8 seconds in the ¼ mile track. He loved flying at 167 mph at Chicagoland speedways all summer.
“He was breaking down his own motor in the middle of the winter. He never wanted anybody to touch his motor,” Christine laughs, “so he already had those machines on hand. That was his passion.”
Emphasis on “was.” Then came PLS.
“It became his biggest obsession,” Christine said. “He just let the race car sit.”
Made In the USA
The PLS light is manufactured in and around Chicago. The light bulb is made in California. Craig valued relationships above all else. He looked for partners committed to quality, even if the price was a little higher. That has paid off over the years.
When a month of bad weather delayed supply chain for one component manufacturer, PLS was their first call and their first shipment, before others. “Those were his racing buddies,” Christine explained.
And when it came to his earliest customers? Well, those were relationships that went way back, too.
“I've actually known some of these guys since I was a little girl,” said Christine. “Especially after my dad's death, a lot of them came forward. They remember him being on the job site, working with them. He built these relationships because he was so level-headed.”
A Father-Daughter Duo
Christine got back into the family business in 2022 with her dad’s enthusiastic encouragement. After a decade as a kitchen and bath designer, it felt like a homecoming.
She used to tease her dad about including her in every meeting, even on every email. He was so excited to have her back.
“This used to drive me nuts, but looking back I’m very fortunate because I know what he was talking about. It’s been a very easy transition,” Christine said, adding that she knew exactly which vendors and customers to call when her dad passed away unexpectedly following a routine medical procedure.
All seven of PLS’s employees stayed on following his death.
“These guys have been doing this for years, and I'm only 34 years old, so I'm also looking at their advice. Our foundation has been shaken but it has not crumbled,” said Christine, who is working on a Women’s Business Enterprise certification for PLS.
Craig spent the last year of his life looking at ways to grow PLS while staying focused on his mission to keep construction crews safe. Christine is trying to honor his plans. They’re growing manufacturer partnerships, moving into the utilities market, working more with rental companies and dealers—broadening horizons.
The Next Generation
As a foreman, employer and father, Craig was always willing to put in the extra time to mentor the next generation, even when he was busy. One message he imparted: “There are bumps in the road, but we get through it.”
It’s a sentiment that has helped his family this year, especially his five grandchildren, whom he doted on. Christine said they’re growing up in the industry, too.
“I really hope that at the end of the day, they pick up his work ethic, not just in construction but in everything he did,” she said. “It takes hard work to get where you want to be.”
Thanks to Craig, there could more Shellmans in the industry someday. His “little diva” granddaughter has taken a shine to Caterpillar equipment. And of course there’s the granddaughter who asked: “Why did Grandpa make the sun? We already got a sun!”
“My dad just started laughing,” Christine said, smiling. “But then she was like, ‘You know, Grandpa, that's pretty cool!’”
