About Steve Ford, PE

Steve Ford of Franklin, Tennessee, vice president of Garney Construction, graduated Summa Cum Laude from Missouri S&T in 1979 with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering. He received the Outstanding Civil Engineering Senior Award from S&T by the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE). Ford estimates, bids and manages operations for multiple projects and is responsible for the organization and management of Garney’s Mid-South and Mid-Atlantic operations. These projects include major water and wastewater pipeline and facilities construction and rehabilitation. Since 1979, Ford has managed major infrastructure projects throughout the United States. He is also an active member of the American Water Works Association and the National Utility Contractors Association. Ford has been active in the Franklin Rotary Club at Breakfast for more than 20 years. His drive to help his club and charities in the form of fundraising for annual events like the annual charity golf tournament is such that in his club of 97 members, he singlehandedly raised 17 percent of their funds for 2019. Because of his help, his Rotary was able to build Habitat for Humanity homes; build ramps and make home modifications for children with special needs; fund programs for local Boys and Girls club; provide clean water systems for children’s hospitals and stoves for feeding stations in Guatemala; furnish supplies for a local domestic violence shelter; and give support for many other local services for the less fortunate. In his hometown of Jackson, Missouri, Ford established the not-for-profit Legacy Preservation Enterprise to preserve precious historical and natural resources for future generations in Jackson, Byrd Township, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. This effort includes the preservation and restoration of the Abraham Byrd house (ca. 1827), the Frizel-Welling house (ca. 1818/1838), and the Criddle House (ca. 1815). Ford’s passion for native plant restoration and re-establishment led him to design and install the Taylor Twins Memorial Garden in Jackson, planted with only native plants, and the work-in-progress to establish a native plant nature preserve, the Charles Shelby Ford Conservation Area, on the 50-acre farm where he was raised. Ford also supported establishing the Garney Undergraduate Scholarship in Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) through the Missouri Consortium for Construction Innovation (MO-CCI).