Sumner Douglas honored as 2024 CEO of the Year by Utah Business Magazine

Each year Utah Business honors a selection of CEOs across influential industries, and we’re proud of our Founder and CEO Sumner Douglas for making the list this year. Check out the profile here.

The profile features an abridged interview. You can read the full interview below:

What key principles guide your leadership style?

Innovation and creativity have always guided me as an individual and as a leader. I believe in seeing potential, whether it’s the potential to change or disrupt an industry, to create a unique solution, or the potential in the people around me. I have a lot of faith in my team to bring their own creativity to the roles they fill and it’s important to me that everyone who works for me knows that there’s space for their own ideas.

What professional achievements are you most proud of?

Scaling the company into a fully vertically integrated manufacturer in 2023, developing a team that is uniquely capable of disrupting the construction industry, bringing sustainability to an sector that has been historically unsustainable, and establishing key partnerships that will allow us to drive a bigger impact and demonstrate the benefits of modular construction for residential and commercial applications.

How would you describe the culture of your company, and how do you maintain it?

From the very beginning our company has had a strong culture of collaboration. Rather than creating a hierarchical structure where everyone stays in their lane, I invite all team members to tap into their potential to contribute to solutions we’re seeking together. As we grow and our teams become more specialized, maintaining this culture requires an open flow of communication between departments so that we can continue to strategize together.

What has been a significant challenge you've faced? How did you overcome it?

Modular construction only accounts for a small portion of total projects, which shows how great the need is for education around its benefits, such as more predictable costs and timelines, quality control, and greater sustainability. We’re still in the process of breaking through the barriers of tradition to solve the housing problems before us. The solutions we need most won’t always fit into old boxes.

What are you most looking forward to accomplishing in 2024?

This year we look forward to accomplishing scale with our partners and achieving a higher level of efficiency within our manufacturing facility, producing two to three modules per day. We’re very excited to be taking on meaningful projects like supportive and affordable housing that will benefit communities throughout the Western US. We’re also assisting in nationwide rollouts for franchise owners and successfully deploying a large-scale tract home development. This is by far the biggest year for Stack Homes with the most dynamic spread of projects.

How do you define success for yourself and your company?

Disrupting an industry to make a large-scale positive impact and address one of the biggest challenges of our time.