Forty Under 40: Patrick Tenney

Patrick Tenney, 39, says being dispatched in August of 1997 by Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. of Little Rock to manage its Northwest Arkansas office in Springdale was the defining moment in his career as the company’s director of pre-construction services and division manager for Northwest Arkansas, Tenney says he’s at the point in his career when he’s learned to trust his instincts.

Tenney interned with Townley Williams Blair Architects of Little Rock and Morris & Associates Architects in Little Rock before joining Baldwin & Shell in 1990. Tenney says after becoming registered in 1988 and operating a private practice for two years, he wanted to get into the construction end of the business.

He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Arkansas and was hired by Baldwin & Shell as estimator before doing extensive work in both estimating and project management. Tenney is a past president of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Society of Professional Estimators and in 1995 received that chapter’s Estimator of the Year award. He’s a member of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce and serves on the property owners’ association board for Harber Meadows in Springdale.

“The varying aspects of what I have to do in dealing with owners and clients is my favorite part of my job,” Tenney says.