AMS Earth Movers hauls 30-35 truckloads per day for a project at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.


despite the recession. The hauling and supply company is the first WBE-cer- tified company to supply aggregate in Illinois, Wisconsin and to the Indiana Department of Transportation (DOT).


The company’s notable improvement began because Savitt made the delib- erate decision to focus on company operations and developing a reliable client base—and to do that she needed insight from the top experts in Chica- go’s construction industry.


DIGGING IN


AMS was founded in 2008 by Savitt and her then-partner, who had a truck- ing license but wanted to own his own company. In the midst of starting the business, her partner had to return to his home country and Savitt was left with little backlog and mounting bills. She recalls, “Many of our early cus- tomers saw that the business was new and struggling to gain a foothold. They assumed that it would fail and just didn’t pay their invoices. I was amazed at the degree of unethical behavior that existed in the business.”


While some might have given up at that point, Savitt dug in. She obtained her commercial driver license as a way to


immerse herself in the world of truck- ing and to understand the challenges associated with hauling materials. Then, she went in search of those who could offer advice and possibly assistance.


“One of the first things I did was figure out who and what I needed to know,” she says. “I must have met over 2,000 worthy contacts in the first two years of starting the business—everyone that I needed to know to run a successful trucking business.”


She developed a professional friend- ship with Hedy Ratner, Founder of the nonprofit Women’s Business Devel- opment Center, which is headquar- tered in Chicago. She also joined the Cycle-of-Success Institute, a


Chicago-based program that teaches business owners how to transform their companies into profitable, high- growth businesses. Additionally, she participated in the Small Business Ad- ministration’s Emerging 200 Initiative, which selects 200 high-potential busi- nesses from inner cities across the country to take part in a seven-month- long executive training program.


What’s more, Savitt partnered with the Federation of Women Contrac- tors to better understand how leg- islation and the economy affect the trucking business, joined the Illinois Tollway’s Construction Coaching for Growth Program, and enrolled in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Busi- nesses program.


AMS Earth Movers’ truck fleet


10


THE WHO’S WHO IN BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION


DISCOVER MORE @ WWW.THEWHOSWHO.BUILD


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