Forty Under 40: Christopher Crossland

Christopher Crossland started working for the family business, Crossland Construction Co., in his hometown of Columbus, Kan., on steel and concrete crews while he was still in high school.nA few years after that, he became a foreman and eventually a superintendent at the age of 21. Crossland held that position for seven years. He had built about 20 projects in Kansas before becoming vice president in 1996 and moving to Rogers to head up a new branch there. Since then, his division has completed more than 4 million SF of building space and it earned $66.5 million in 2003 revenue, a 58 percent increase over its $42 million in 2002. The Rogers division accounted for about 40 percent of the company-wide total revenue of $166.6 million in 2004. Crossland said his father, the late Ivan Crossland Sr., was his mentor and that he admired the company founder’s “total optimism.”n”He just had a great way of motivating you,” Crossland said. “He was just a great leader.”nCrossland enjoys Motocross and wants to eventually travel 500 miles across the desert on his dirt bike.nCrossland serves on the board of Loving Choices, a crisis pregnancy center in Rogers, in addition to being a youth group leader at Fellowship Bible Church in Lowell. n