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Beverley Raphael
South Florida CEO, Women in Business, May 2004

One industry with an obvious male bias is construction. But that didn't stop Beverley Raphael, CEO of RCC Associates, from more than tripling her building firm's revenues since taking over six years ago.

When Beverley Raphael's husband died suddenly six years ago, the mother of two found herself at a crossroads. She had inherited RCC Associates Inc., a Deerfield Beach-based general contracting firm founded by her late husband Richard. And with family, friends, employees and the firm's customers closely watching, Raphael – who had run her own fashion industry business for 15 years, but who had no construction experience – had to decide whether to sell the business, hire someone else to mange it or step into her husband's shoes to run it herself. All while grieving.

"My first feeling was that l wanted to understand what it was that l was really left with," says Raphael. "l also wanted to get a feeling for what the company wanted, because most of the people had been here for many years." In the months that followed, Raphael became a student of the construction business, while operations continued under the managers Richard had previously put into place. Against the advice of friends and trusted advisors, and refusing to take the easy way out by accepting an offer to see RCC, Raphael stepped up and took the helm in 1999.

" Beverley really didn't have any understanding of the construction business," says Stuart Sobel, a long-time family friend, and an attorney with Siegfried, Rivera, Lerner, DeLaTorre & Sobel PA in Coral Gables, which represents RCC. "There were vultures swooping around, trying to pick the skin and bones of the business, but something made her resist. She was the quickest study I've ever seen." And how. Since taking over, Raphael has not only grown the business, but has diversified it. She forecasts revenues this year of $55 million, up from $17 million the year she took over.

To get there, she first had to overcome the doubts of customers and subcontractors, who were concerned about her lack of experience. "My advisors felt that the business would collapse within a year because the rainmaker – Richard – was no longer there," she says. But Raphael's flair for design helped her propel RCC into a new niche, one in which she is the rainmaker. Instead of focusing just on high-end residential interiors, as it had before, the company now earns 50 percent of its revenues from constructing restaurant interiors; the Cheesecake Factory, Capital Grille and Tommy Bahama Café are among its long list of clients. "She has become well known in a market that Richard barely scratched," Sobel says. "All the restaurants she builds have her special touch."

Raphael also faced down the challenge of being a female CEO in a male-dominated industry. She recalls visiting a job site at City Place in West Palm Beach wearing jeans, boots and a baseball cap soon after she took control of the company. A subcontractor saw the attractive blonde and, assuming she was a worker's girlfriend or wife, talked down to her. Once he learned she was the owner of the general contracting company – and his boss – his attitude changed. "Even though l was dressed in appropriate work clothes for the project, he still considered me a woman first, not the owner of the project," Raphael says. "I think I've gained the respect of the men we work with since, but it didn't come easily."

RCC now has 64 employees and is licensed in 17 states; Raphael is aggressively pursuing new opportunities, especially in Las Vegas, where the company has been operating for three years. "RCC has only gotten better," says Rich Vaughan, vice president of construction for The Cheesecake Factory Restaurants Inc. in Calabasas Hills, Calif. He has worked with the firm for 10 years."

The professionalism is really what stands out now and l think Beverly has a lot to do with that." ---- Robyn A. Friedman