Caring Crusaders

WHEN THEIR ASSOCIATES describe Larry Webb and Joe Pusateri, they use words like “hero,” “risk taker,” and “optimist.” Without prompting, they explain that if not for the leadership and generosity of Webb, chairman and CEO of Newport Beach, Calif.—based John Laing Homes, and Pusateri, president of Elite Homes in Louisville, Ky., their organizations might cease to exist today.

In 1999, Hearthstone Advisers, a national firm that provides financing to home builders, and Builder established the Hearthstone Builder Awards to pay tribute to builders like Webb and Pusateri, who improve their communities through their dedication to charitable work.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Larry Webb, chairman and CEO of John Laing Homes, has brought his lifelong commitment to service to his employees and peers.

Webb and Pusateri's efforts have provided shelters for orphans, battered women, as well as HIV and AIDS patients. They support a wide range of nonhousing causes, too, from the Boy Scouts of America and public schools to public television and the arts. What's more, they have leveraged their contacts within the building industry—employees and business associates alike—to build upon their own good deeds.

Those who work with them know that great things lay ahead. Joe Davis, president of Irvine Community Development Co., says that Webb's leadership style “causes people to want to be engaged in his cause and follow his lead.” Scott Provancher, executive director of the Louisville Orchestra, describes Pusateri as “one of those few people you'll meet who you have the ultimate confidence that if you're partnered with him, the project will be successful.”

More great ideas will take shape thanks to this year's 45 Hearthstone sponsors: Webb will receive $150,000 to donate to his charities, and Pusateri will receive $100,000.

Larry Webb has made community service a way of life.

LARRY WEBB HAS BEEN A BUILDER FOR more than 15 years. In that time, companies he has worked for and led have constructed tens of thousands of homes. Yet, the only picture of a home hanging in his office is one of Emmanuel House, a transitional shelter for homeless adults living with HIV and AIDS.

Scott Larson, executive director of HomeAid Orange County in California, counts the construction of Emmanuel House (it was built for Mercy House Transitional Living Centers) among Webb's greatest accomplishments. Webb led the multi-year effort to see Emmanuel House built as a HomeAid project, struggling through architectural guidelines, funding crises, and garnering support from the shelter's neighbors.

“The more we got to know the Emmanuel House people, the more we didn't want to let them down,” explains Webb. “We made an internal commitment that even if we had to pay for it all ourselves, we were going to build it.” In the end, Webb estimates John Laing Homes pitched in about $1 million of Emmanuel House's $4.5 million cost.

That kind of charitable effort is the rule, not the exception, for Webb. From his first job teaching high school social studies and coaching soccer to encouraging a culture of community involvement at John Laing Homes, doing good has been a fundamental part of Webb's life.

LONGTIME FRIEND: Larry Webb has volunteered for Interval House, which provides shelters and outreach programs for domestic violence survivors, since 1989.

A self-described “evangelist” for community service, Webb encourages his employees to participate in charitable events. he believes the work serves both the recipients and his workers. “Often, the people we're helping have so little, and yet they are wonderfully optimistic,” he says. “That rubs off on you. You can't be involved in that and then complain that you have too much work the next day. I think this work has really transformed the company.”

He leaves it up to each division of the company to decide which charities to support and how much to donate. He has just one rule: Dollar donations must be matched with time and energy. “The dollar amount is, in my mind, less significant than the enthusiasm of the team and sweat equity,” he says. “The closer we are to each community on a divisional level, the better we understand what these people are like. We find out the areas where they need help.”

Webb has set quite an example for his employees. He met many of the directors of Orange County's nonprofits when he served as a county housing commissioner in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (The organizations came before the board for grants.) The best applicants were passionate and excelled in their roles, Webb says. “Over the last 15 years, I've tried to align myself with their causes.”

Tim Shaw recalls meeting Webb when, as part of his first job, he requested grant funding for a program covering rent for families transitioning from homelessness. Days after the presentation, Shaw met Webb again when he was refereeing a basketball game Webb was playing in. “From that moment on, Larry became a supporter and a friend,” says Shaw, now CEO of the Irvine (Calif.) Public Schools Foundation, which raises private funds to supplement the public budget for the 25,000-student district.

In the 15 years since meeting on the basketball court, Shaw estimates that Webb's activities have contributed at least $3 million toward his work. “He's brought in money that never could have been raised otherwise,” Shaw says.

Most recently, Webb donated a John Laing condominium worth $670,000 at cost, minus $25,000, to a house raffle benefiting Shaw's foundation. The organization sold 10,000 tickets at $200 each; minus costs and other cash prizes, Shaw says the school district will receive about $1.4 million from the raffle.

As a result, Irvine will be able to restore elementary school science classes, lower its student-to-nurse ratio, and update outdated health education materials.

Donating his energy to causes like Shaw's excites Webb. But he expects a lot from them, too. “If we're going to give our time and money, I want to make sure the nonprofit is passionate and extremely efficient in how they use it.”

To that end, Shaw credits Webb with teaching him to be a better executive. “He's been a mentor to me in terms of running my organizations like a business,” he says. “He loves to dig into things that are well run.”

Webb admits that despite his high expectations, he's a soft touch. He's witnessed the increase in energy nonprofit directors must put into fundraising, time that's taken away from interacting with people who need help. “The people who are really heroes in my mind are the people who run homeless shelters and worry every day about the less fortunate,” he says.

Among that group, Webb counts Carol Williams, executive director of Interval House, which provides shelter and outreach programs for domestic violence survivors in Orange County. Webb met Williams when he helped build an Interval House shelter as part of HomeAid's first set of projects in 1989.

He built a second shelter for the group the following year and then joined the board of directors. He now coordinates an annual golf tournament to benefit the charity, which has become one of the hottest golf tickets in Southern California. The 144 player slots sell out before Webb even distributes a flyer.

“We used to beg people to come to play. We originally did it hoping to make $15,000 or $20,000 a year,” Webb recalls. “Next year, we will make more than $200,000.”

That comprises a significant portion of Interval House's annual budget, which has struggled as its state funds have been cut by 50 percent due to California's budget crisis. “Interval House never could have stayed stable without [Webb's] help,” Williams says. “Larry Webb has been the foundation and strength and inspiration that made this possible for all of us.”

Webb eschews the spotlight that Williams and her staff would gladly shine on him for his efforts. Instead, he turns it back on the women and children Interval House serves. He invites some of the women to speak at the golf tournament, and at each tee, he installs signs that tell parts of Interval House's story. The goal: to keep the golfers focused on the tournament's cause. “By the time they're done, for the rest of their lives, every time someone says ‘Interval House,' they remember,” Webb says.

The message continues throughout the year. Webb relies on the dozens of tournament sponsors for continuous support. Interval's shelters, which house between 20 and 40 people each, endure a lot of wear and tear; washing machines, stoves, and air conditioners break. When they do, Interval House calls Webb or a member of his staff—24 hours a day, seven days a week—who then calls a trade partner. “When the phone call comes in, we call GE or Westinghouse, and they jump to help,” Webb says.

People are eager to support Webb's causes because his generous nature makes it hard not to be, his friends say. “Larry believes that he's offering a gift to people by letting them know how they can help others,” Williams explains. “He's not asking people for favors, [he's] giving them a gift to show how they can use their good fortune to help others.”

Webb doesn't reserve that side of his personality for just his charity work. Davis, of Irvine Community Development, has worked with Webb for more than a decade, and he's seen his commitment to honesty and integrity in both his business and community activities. “What you see is what you get,” Davis says. “He has no agenda other than what he's working on. People respect that.”

Shaw says Webb's respect for everyone he works with makes him a standout. “He's a good man,” Shaw says. “We live in an age, particularly in big business, where you don't find a lot of good men. He's one of them.”

Larry Webb
Age: 56
Company: John Laing Homes, Newport Beach, Calif.
Title: Chairman and CEO
Charitable Work: HomeAid Orange County; Interval House; Irvine Public Schools Foundation; Mercy House Transitional Living Centers; Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America; Families Forward; Friendship Shelter; Hillview Acres Children's Home; Sage Hill School; Tustin Public Schools Foundation; Tustin Center Senior Center
Award: $150,000

Joe Pusateri has found a passion for improving lives in Louisville—and abroad.

JOE PUSATERI WAS ON THE HOME builder fast track.

A custom home builder, Pusateri was president of the Louisville, Ky., HBA by the time he was in his mid-30s. He was active on national committees for the NAHB, and he was expected to become president of the state HBA. He was even considering a future run for the NAHB presidency.

Then he learned more about his city.

In 1989, Pusateri joined Leadership Louisville, a year-long leadership development and civic education course. Each class spends one day per month learning about different aspects of the community.

That's when Pusateri realized how little most residents knew about home builders. “I thought, at the time, that I could do better for our industry and get out in the community and represent the HBA,” recalls Pusateri, president of Elite Homes, which builds several dozen custom homes each year. He pushed his aspirations of higher HBA offices aside and dove into a variety of activities centered on life in Louisville.

NEAR AND FAR: Joe Pusateri opted to volunteer for charities in Louisville, Ky., and abroad rather than run for HBA offices.

In a little more than a decade, Pusateri has involved himself in almost every aspect of the community, from the redevelopment of economically depressed neighborhoods to financial support for the arts. Along the way, he's involved many of his peers, garnering support for the area's charities they might not have otherwise received.

Leadership Louisville sparked Pusateri's interest in community service. He joined several local boards of directors and became involved in the United Way. His participation in Bingham Fellows in 1993 stoked the fire.

Bingham Fellows participants, chosen from Leadership Louisville alumni, develop solutions for a particular issue facing the community. Christine Johnson, president of the Leadership Louisville Center, which runs both programs, says Pusateri was a natural choice. “I always use him as an example of what the Bingham Fellows program is about,” she says. “He's not one to sit around and study something to death. He's a doer.”

At the time, the country was still reeling from the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots. For that reason, the group chose to focus on redeveloping Smoketown, a troubled Louisville neighborhood with high unemployment and low hopes.

Pusateri recognized that he could bring his own professional expertise to the program by building Homearama, Louisville's annual parade of homes, in Smoketown. New homes hadn't been built in the area for more than 60 years.

Bingham Fellows overcame initial resistance from wary Smoketown residents and the HBA, which had eyed other neighborhoods for the traditionally high-end homes, and organized the construction of 12 new homes for Homearama. Elite Homes, built three.

Since then, Smoketown has undergone a revival. Another 50 homes and a community center have been built, and the first new retail businesses in decades opened. “It rekindled hope in the people of Smoke-town,” Pusateri says. “There had been so many promises made there that were never fulfilled. But this actually happened.”

Channel 15, Louisville's public television station, approached Pusateri with a different kind of community service opportunity, one that's evolved and that continues today: The station asked if Elite would build and sell a home and donate the profits to it.

At the time, Elite built about 30 homes a year, and Pusateri thought the company could make it without the profits from one of them. He built the home and donated $22,000 in profits to Channel 15. He went on to build and donate the profits from four more homes to the station, totaling more than $200,000 in gifts; $80,000 in profits from two others went to Habitat for Humanity.

Through Leadership Louisville, which Johnson refers to as “the human resources department for the city,” Pusateri joined the board of directors of Family Place, a child abuse treatment agency, in 1994. Once there, he volunteered to build a house and donate the profits to the organization. Again, he exceeded his promise: Over five years, Elite built and donated $167,000 from three homes. Family Place used the funds as seed money to start other programs that eventually drew additional resources to the organization, says Joe Roehrig, Family Place's former executive director.

Along the way, Pusateri learned a lot about building charity homes. The first year, for Channel 15, he simply asked his major subcontractors and suppliers to donate or discount something for the house. “Over the years,” he says, “I have learned to go into every category in the house. For a lot of years, I never thought to ask for free blueprints or dumpsters.”

Donations are organized on a spreadsheet. With each new home, Pusateri or one of his employees calls and asks the vendors or subs to give what they did the year before. And he's made the donation more of a celebration: He now has 15-foot mock checks made, which he gives to the charity in a presentation with subcontractors and suppliers.

More experience has expanded Pusateri's horizons. His last two charity homes have been built to benefit the Evergreen Charitable Education Foundation, which runs two orphanages and a rescue center in Romania.

Pusateri volunteered to build the first home, dubbed the “Home of Hope,” with little first-hand knowledge of the plight of Romanian orphans. He then took an eight-day, eye-opening trip to the country. With the help of its subs and vendors, Elite cleared $165,000 for Evergreen, more than double what had been made previously on a charity home.

Elite recently completed its second home for Evergreen, raising $145,000. It's a cause Pusateri has found passion for. He intends to bring employees with him on a trip back to Romania, and he's committed to building more homes for the charity. “I don't know how far that means, but I'm hoping it will be for about 20 years,” says Jerry McCandless, Evergreen's president.

Pusateri might be best known throughout Louisville for his efforts to keep the city's 67-year-old orchestra out of bankruptcy in 2003.

A combination of poor management, diminishing proceeds from its endowment, and fewer ticket sales had left the orchestra on the verge of bankruptcy, and the organization and its musicians were at an impasse over wage cuts.

Pusateri, a ticket holder to the orchestra's Pops series, says he expected someone to come forward with a solution to save the orchestra. “Something in the back of my head said that person was going to be me,” he recalls. After a call to the orchestra's president, Pusateri put the wheels in motion to halt the bankruptcy. He made a personal donation of $100,000, vowed to drum up another $465,000 from the home building industry, and helped to win concessions from the musicians.

“If he didn't appear on the scene, I am confident that the orchestra would have gone under,” says executive director Scott Provancher. Pusateri leveraged his contacts outside of the traditional orchestra base to cultivate a new crop of supporters, Provancher adds. “He's been very effective in telling the story that you might not go to the orchestra, but if the city doesn't have it, it's not the kind of city you want to live in.”

Pusateri, who will become president of the orchestra's board in May, says he helped other builders connect the dots between the orchestra and their own businesses. The orchestra's bankruptcy would have hurt them, he explained.

Other builders followed his lead once they saw his own level of commitment, he says. “I want to lead by example. I'm not going to ask anyone to do something that I'm not committed to,” Pusateri says. “Some people I persuade, some I coerce, and some I have to cheer on. I use whatever strategy I have to.”

Joseph Pusateri
Age: 53
Company: Elite Homes, Louisville, Ky.
Title: President
Charitable Work: Family Place; Evergreen Charitable Education Foundation; Louisville Orchestra; Metro United Way; Salvation Army; Boy Scouts; University of Louisville; Habitat for Humanity
Award: $100,000

Once again, Hearthstone and BUILDER have selected three builders to receive honorable mentions for their charitable work and contributions. They are:

Ralph Drees, chairman, The Drees Co., Fort Mitchell, Ky.

Ron Terwilliger, chairman and CEO, Trammell Crow Residential, Atlanta

Stephen A. Goldberg, president, The Stephen A. Goldberg Co., Washington

The judges were asked to measure the nominees' charitable activities against these six criteria:

Bernard Drueding III, president, B.J. Drueding Builders, and a 2002 recipient of the Hearthstone BUILDER Lifetime Public Service Award

J. Roger Glunt, CEO, Jayar Construction/Glunt Development, and a 2004 recipient of the Hearthstone BUILDER Lifetime Public Service Award

David K. Hill, CEO, Kimball Hill Homes, and a 2004 recipient of the Hearthstone BUILDER Lifetime Public Service Award

Lewis S. Ranieri, chairman and CEO, Ranieri & Co.

Nicolas P. Retsinas, director, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies

Stacey Stewart, president and CEO, Fannie Mae Foundation

Robert J. Strudler, COO, Lennar Corp., and the 2003 grand award winner of the Hearthstone BUILDER Lifetime Public Service Award

Lee Wetherington, CEO, Lee Wetherington Homes, and a 2003 recipient of the Hearthstone BUILDER Lifetime Public Service Award

John Wieland, chairman, John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, and the 2002 grand award winner of the Hearthstone BUILDER Lifetime Public Service Award