King Reigns as Construction Queen

Deb King of Rogers didn’t mind taking home economics, but she refused to be barred from agriculture classes. In 1964, the school system in the Faulkner County town of Enola insisted girls should take four years of sewing and cooking while the boys played shop.

Raised on a farm with four brothers and a sister, King took her first stand against gender stereotypes when she and some friends convinced the school to switch the classes for half a semester.

King gave her shop project, an apple-shaped wooden cuttingboard, to her mother.

She was just warming up. That same year, King took trigonometry with two other students after she lobbied a teacher in the school to offer higher math courses. Math classes beyond algebra were unheard-of in the school until then.

Now, as Nabholz Construction Co.’s senior vice president of project management in Rogers, King continues to challenge gender taboos.

“[Construction] is probably one of the last male-oriented professions out there,” King said. She remembers her co-worker’s reaction the first time she was introduced as a project manager.

“[Her co-worker] said, ‘I wasn’t expecting a woman,’ and it wasn’t with a smile on his face,” King said. Although King has dealt with a few similar situations, she proves herself in the field.

“If you’ve got the right attitude, they don’t care if you’re a woman, polka-dotted or not,” King said. “Demand respect by the way you act, not by your mouth.”

King’s 22-year career with Nabholz has offered opportunity for growth. She began work with the Conway location as an accounting office worker, moving later into project management.

Deadlines and late nights accompanied her promotion. Those aspects of the job could discourage some women because raising small children might not fit the tough job schedule, King said.

She helps other women and youths become involved with construction by sponsoring a construction degree scholarship for women through John Brown University in Siloam Springs.

She also gives speeches to local organizations, including the Northwest Arkansas and Conway chapters of the National Association of Women In Construction.

“These days, to get into project management … most all the people are coming out of the construction degree programs,” King said. “The days of what I did, growing up through the ranks, isn’t happening much anymore.”

The association encourages women to further their professional education by offering correspondence-style certification classes. Usually, employees’ companies cover the $75 cost of the classes.

“We don’t know who’s going to take our place when we retire,” said Sara Bennett, an administrative assistant with Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson of Fayetteville and president of the Northwest Arkansas NAWIC.

The local chapter has 17 members and serves as a support network for women in a male-populated industry, Bennett said.

“Sometimes when you’re working surrounded by men, you get the feeling that you’re the only one out there,” said Denise Marshall, a member who works for The Associated Builders and Contractors of Arkansas.