In 1979, Joe McCullough was
recruited by a small Irish company
as “an Irish-American
with an MBA from a good
school who wasn’t yearning
for the green fields.” He
joined a three-man team at Oldcastle in
Los Angeles with the objective of building
a North American business for its
Dublin-based parent company, CRH.
During his 27-year career Joe saw Oldcastle grow from a $14 million business to the largest construction products company in North America with sales in excess of $15 billion. Oldcastle now operates at 1,700 locations, and has 50,000 employees in all 50 states and four Canadian provinces. In the same period, CRH became a top five global construction products business operating in 25 countries with a market capitalization of $25 billion. Oldcastle is now quoted on the Dublin, London and New York stock exchanges.
Joe, the eldest of five children, grew up in the Ardoyne area of pre-Troubles Belfast, Northern Ireland. He moved to London in the 1960s and worked as an industrial engineer with the British National Health Service. There he met his future wife, Mary Alyce, a Marylander who was spending a year in London doing a post-graduate nursing course at a hospital where Joe was the “efficiency expert.” A1967 vacation visit to Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital yielded a position in that venerable institution and he moved there in 1968.
While working full-time and halfway to a degree in Northeastern University’s evening program, a chance encounter in a Boston bar encouraged Joe to apply to the Harvard Business School where he was accepted and awarded an MBA in 1972. In the years following, he gained experience in various management positions in Iowa, Chicago, Montreal and Dallas before joining Oldcastle. He also spent two years in Dublin as Development Director for CRH focusing on global strategy, with particular emphasis on China, before returning to the U.S. as CEO of Oldcastle Building Products comprising five product groups and then accounting for roughly half of CRH’s North American business. He retired from this position in mid 2006 but remains non-executive Chairman and an advisor without portfolio. He is a director of two small privately held companies and on the advisory boards of Glanbia plc and the Chastain Park Conservancy in Atlanta.
On the personal side, Joe and Mary Alyce have been married for 38 years and reside in Atlanta. They enjoy traveling, the occasional game of golf and spending time with children and especially grandchildren. They are members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and are active parishioners of Holy Spirit Church in Atlanta. They have two grown children, Judith a clinical psychologist who lives with her husband and two young daughters in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and Eamonn, who has his own hardscape contracting business in Asheville, North Carolina.
In summing up his career with Oldcastle, Joe highlights the satisfaction of accomplishment and in working with and building friendships with his Irish, American and European colleagues. He notes that his long association with an Irish company allowed him to maintain his ties to the homeland but also, through “home leave” visits, afforded the opportunity for his American-born family to establish an Irish heritage in their own right.
Though a “Northerner” by birth, Joe is deeply honored to be named a “Star of the South” and looks forward to a great evening at the Awards ceremony.
During his 27-year career Joe saw Oldcastle grow from a $14 million business to the largest construction products company in North America with sales in excess of $15 billion. Oldcastle now operates at 1,700 locations, and has 50,000 employees in all 50 states and four Canadian provinces. In the same period, CRH became a top five global construction products business operating in 25 countries with a market capitalization of $25 billion. Oldcastle is now quoted on the Dublin, London and New York stock exchanges.
Joe, the eldest of five children, grew up in the Ardoyne area of pre-Troubles Belfast, Northern Ireland. He moved to London in the 1960s and worked as an industrial engineer with the British National Health Service. There he met his future wife, Mary Alyce, a Marylander who was spending a year in London doing a post-graduate nursing course at a hospital where Joe was the “efficiency expert.” A1967 vacation visit to Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital yielded a position in that venerable institution and he moved there in 1968.
While working full-time and halfway to a degree in Northeastern University’s evening program, a chance encounter in a Boston bar encouraged Joe to apply to the Harvard Business School where he was accepted and awarded an MBA in 1972. In the years following, he gained experience in various management positions in Iowa, Chicago, Montreal and Dallas before joining Oldcastle. He also spent two years in Dublin as Development Director for CRH focusing on global strategy, with particular emphasis on China, before returning to the U.S. as CEO of Oldcastle Building Products comprising five product groups and then accounting for roughly half of CRH’s North American business. He retired from this position in mid 2006 but remains non-executive Chairman and an advisor without portfolio. He is a director of two small privately held companies and on the advisory boards of Glanbia plc and the Chastain Park Conservancy in Atlanta.
On the personal side, Joe and Mary Alyce have been married for 38 years and reside in Atlanta. They enjoy traveling, the occasional game of golf and spending time with children and especially grandchildren. They are members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and are active parishioners of Holy Spirit Church in Atlanta. They have two grown children, Judith a clinical psychologist who lives with her husband and two young daughters in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and Eamonn, who has his own hardscape contracting business in Asheville, North Carolina.
In summing up his career with Oldcastle, Joe highlights the satisfaction of accomplishment and in working with and building friendships with his Irish, American and European colleagues. He notes that his long association with an Irish company allowed him to maintain his ties to the homeland but also, through “home leave” visits, afforded the opportunity for his American-born family to establish an Irish heritage in their own right.
Though a “Northerner” by birth, Joe is deeply honored to be named a “Star of the South” and looks forward to a great evening at the Awards ceremony.