SACRAMENTO’S FASTEST GROWING LIST

Williams + Paddon – honored by Sacramento Business Journal as one of Sacramento’s Fastest Growing Companies 2017

A word from our principal and founder Jack Paddon as he looks back on the company’s growth from the inception to present

Our team was recently included by the Sacramento Business Journal as one of Sacramento’s fastest growing companies of 2017, an honor bestowed on 50 organizations from the Sacramento Metro area. While we’re thrilled to be numbered among this illustrious list, and are excited to see our endeavors growing and expanding, growth for the sake of growth itself has never been an objective in the 36 years since Jim Williams and I established the firm. 

The first years after we started served as an experiment. We pursued a wide range of projects, many of which either didn’t suit our passion or our sensibilities. We discovered that, while you can be successful with that approach we didn’t find it enriching. By the eight to ten-year mark we had learned to plan and strategize. We identified our niches and areas we wanted to grow into as a company. It was then we really began to focus on projects in education, civic, urban planning, and hospitality realms. As our team has grown, so has our expertise; our focus has been, and remains, on markets where we have a depth of experience and a passion for the work.

While arbitrary growth has never been a priority for us, our approach to growing and developing the Williams + Paddon team has been paramount to our success. When looking to expand our team, the focus is on the individual and our ability to provide opportunities for new leadership to emerge, new talents and interest of strong individuals to be developed. Finding strong, vibrant professionals with the right blend of passion for the profession, professionalism and skill set is crucial, and without those individuals on our team growth and development of the company wouldn’t be possible.

While we developed our formula in the early days of our company’s development, growth has by no means been a given. We’ve weathered two major recessions and two somewhat minor economic blips. Recessions, while never pleasant, serve to test a company and its ability to deal with external factors. As an organization operating in survival mode, with an eye on the horizon and hope for the future, keeping good people and quality client contacts becomes crucial. For our team during the great recession, we were fortunate to have both of those elements in place when an opportunity with a former client in China became available and this helped us maintain our balance while others in our field were struggling.

Our focus and market has always been the seven county Sacramento metropolitan area, and our connections and one-on-one people-based approach are based on the business culture here. We do, however, pursue outside opportunities at our clients’ request, and this was the case in our portfolio of China-based projects. We’ve also done and enjoyed projects in the Caribbean and abroad, but our focus remains here and within our surrounding local markets and it’s an exciting time to watch the growth and development of our city. There’s a synergy of growth right now that was fostered, although not started by the new Golden One Arena, bringing new urban design and planning opportunities to the forefront. It was that energy and direction that led to our midtown office opening on the R Street Corridor. It was the natural solution to providing a no-commute office for employees living in the downtown area, and fostering our relationship with the community and neighborhood where we’re located.

The ways that communities come together to interact is changing and we’re seeing that effect wash across downtown and the surrounding areas and radiating out. With the challenge to brick and mortar retail establishments, people are seeking alternatives to meeting and engaging with their communities. Our passion for urban planning and lifestyle retail design along with the two Williams + Paddon offices have positioned us at the center of the continued conversation surrounding the development of our city, and we’re excited and honored to take on this next stage of growth.

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