All Podcasts
Utility Leadership
6 min read

From Warehouse to VP: Darrell Hallmark’s 54-Year Utility Legacy

Discover how Darrell Hallmark turned a warehouse job into a 54-year VP career. Learn his secrets to leadership & turning around failing utility companies.
Guest
Darrell Hallmark
Published on
August 26, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Incentives Drive Efficiency: Tying bonuses to project profits and safety records can instantly change employee behavior and reduce waste.
  • Listen to Lead: You don't have to be the smartest person in the room; you just need to listen to your team and synthesize their best ideas.
  • Train Your Foremen: Moving hard workers up the ladder without training them on the business and paperwork side causes companies to lose money.
  • Safety is Profit: A strict safety culture isn't just a requirement; it puts money back in the company's pocket by preventing injuries and reducing costs.
  • Balance is Key: "God and family is in your job"—finding a balance is crucial for long-term success and happiness.

Introduction

In this episode of From Boots to Boardroom, host Hari Vasudevan sits down with industry veteran Darrell Hallmark to uncover the grit and vision required to succeed in the utility. They talk about how a high school dropout went from stacking boxes in a warehouse to becoming a Senior Vice President turning around multimillion-dollar companies.

With a career spanning over five decades, Darrell offers a masterclass in leadership, supply chain challenges, and organizational culture. Whether you are a lineman, an engineer, or a business owner, this episode reveals the practical "secret sauce" behind turning failing projects into profitable successes.

Meet Darrell Hallmark

Darrell Hallmark is a testament to the power of hard work and field experience. Starting his career in 1972 as a material handler for Texas Power and Light earning just $525 a month, Darrell rose through the ranks to hold Senior Vice President roles at major companies like Tesco and Power Line Services.

Despite never finishing high school, Darrell’s ability to bridge the gap between field crews and corporate offices has made him a legend in the industry. Known for his calm demeanor and collaborative leadership, he specializes in turning around companies that have "one foot in bankruptcy".

The "Snowball Effect" of Modern Material Management

One of the most significant changes Darrell has witnessed over his 54-year career is how materials are managed. In the past, companies kept plenty of stock on hand to ensure jobs could start immediately. Today, the industry relies on "mins and maxes" driven largely by tax implications.

  • The Tax Trap: Companies keep inventory low because materials sitting on a shelf are taxable assets.
  • The Consequence: Purchase orders aren't cut until the last minute, leading to manufacturing delays and missed project start dates.

Darrell explains that this "snowball effect" plagues the entire utility business, causing lead times that kill project efficiency.

Turning Around a Failing Business: The Tesco Story

Perhaps the most compelling part of Darrell's journey was his time at Tesco. When he arrived, he realized the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. His strategy for a turnaround was bold and immediate.

He started by evaluating the workforce in the field. After observing operations for two weeks, he gathered nearly 100 employees in the yard and delivered an ultimatum: follow the new standards or leave. By the time he was done, only about 25 dedicated workers remained to rebuild the company.

The Power of Incentives

To rebuild the company, Darrell implemented a unique bonus program that aligned the workers' interests with the company's profitability.

  • Profit Sharing: Employees received bonuses based on project profit margins.
  • Accountability: Costs for damaged equipment or safety accidents were deducted directly from the bonus pool.

The result? Behavioral change was instant. Workers started off-loading unnecessary rental equipment immediately to save costs and even stopped taking long lunches to ensure the job got done. As Darrell puts it, "If you take care of your company, it's going to take care of you".

Leadership Style: Listen Before You Speak

When asked about his "secret sauce" for leadership, Darrell emphasizes humility and listening. He notes that in a room full of people trying to talk over one another, the smartest person is often the one listening.

By listening to five different guys, he could synthesize their best points into a single cohesive plan. This collaborative approach makes employees feel valued because the leader is implementing their ideas.

Furthermore, Darrell believes in genuine care for the workforce. He recognized that linemen often struggle with being away from their families, so he worked to create schedules—like 10 days on, 4 days off—that allowed them to get home.

Bridging the Gap: Engineering vs. Construction

A recurring theme in Darrell's career is the disconnect that often exists between engineers and the field crews building the projects. He admits that while engineers know how to draw plans, they sometimes lack the practical knowledge of how to build them.

  • Mutual Respect: Darrell gained the respect of engineers by catching errors in their plans, such as incorrect structure counts, before construction began.
  • Constructability: He stresses that while education makes you well-rounded, you don't need a degree to be intelligent or successful.

Ultimately, the best projects happen when engineers and field veterans respect each other’s expertise and work symbiotically.

Conclusion

Darrell Hallmark’s story is a powerful reminder that leadership is not about titles or degrees—it is about authenticity, listening, and common sense. From navigating complex supply chain tax issues to turning around near-bankrupt companies through smart incentives, Darrell’s 54 years of experience offer a blueprint for success in the trades.

His final advice to the next generation? "Find a balance in life because, you know, God and family is in your job".

Ready to hear more real-world stories from the leaders powering America?

Listen to the full episode now and subscribe to From Boots to Boardroom for more actionable industry insights.

Transcript
Hari Vasudevan (00:01.634) Darrell Hallmark, welcome to From Boots to Boardroom. I deeply, deeply appreciate having you on the show and thank you so much for taking your time to join me here. Darrell Hallmark (00:07.138) . Darrell Hallmark (00:13.951) Yes, Sir Hari Vasudevan (00:17.782) Awesome. The show is about real stories, right? From the hands that build and the minds that lead America, right? From linemen and builders to entrepreneurs and leaders, right? We want to hear their struggles, triumphs, the grit and vision that power our nation. That's truly the goal of the show. So let's let's get started here, Darrell. Tell me your origin story. How did you get started in the industry? So that, know, listeners will get to know a little bit more about you. How long have been in the industry? Darrell Hallmark (00:55.598) Well, know, wow, this year 54 years. Yeah, I started in 1972. Hari Vasudevan (01:00.748) Wow. Wow. Hari Vasudevan (01:05.473) Wow, that's a lot longer than I've been alive. Darrell Hallmark (01:09.59) Well, yeah, I started before your mama even thought about having you, hari. Hari Vasudevan (01:14.446) That is so funny to hear that man. So tell me the story. How did you get started in the industry? Give me the story. Darrell Hallmark (01:26.263) Well, I finished high school and of course I worked two or three jobs and got married. of course, like everybody young, you struggle. And I worked at payments candy company during the day and night. One of my friends, his dad had 31 convenience stores. So I worked there at nights and on weekends I helped my friend build houses, frame houses. You know, when I got a job at Texas Power and Light, I thought I was rich, $525 a month. So I quit them, I quit them other jobs. 1972, I started in the Texas Power and Light's warehouse, you know, where they store, I know you know it, so where they, they store all their transformers, substation, all their substation transmission materials. And so I learned all the materials and Hari Vasudevan (02:02.424) Wow. When was this? When was this? Hari Vasudevan (02:11.875) Got it. Absolutely, yes. Darrell Hallmark (02:25.248) basically ended up running the store room there before I left. was there seven years. Hari Vasudevan (02:33.538) Yeah, yeah. Has anything changed before you continue your story, right? Has anything changed from the time you were managing handling material in 1972 to today? Darrell Hallmark (02:47.169) Yeah, it's a different world. used to they kept the mins and maxes were, I'll put it this way, they started having mins and maxes because of taxes, right? They didn't want to keep materials, so much material on hand. Where used to, there was plenty of material. I mean, if you had to build a job, you know the material was going to be there. But, you know, the way it is now is you got mins and maxes and... They keep it at that and they try to guess what the max should be, but they miss it. so a lot of times these jobs don't get started on time because they get started and they don't have the material, a lot of material. Hari Vasudevan (03:23.234) and just. Hari Vasudevan (03:32.178) mins and maxes it has something to do with I believe it has something to do with how much can be passed on to rate payers and you know taxation and things like that on the supply chain side. I'm not too privy with that but I've read Darrell Hallmark (03:43.293) Well, if the material sits on the shelf, have to pay taxes on it. So the less they have on the shelf, the less taxes they're paying. And that's the snowball effect of what happens is they're not going to cut a PO for materials until right before they get needed, what the lead time is, right? So a lot of times it will lead to times moved because the manufacturer Hari Vasudevan (03:48.142) There you go. Hari Vasudevan (03:53.164) There you go. Darrell Hallmark (04:12.257) They're not gonna go buy the steel or whatever it takes to loom them to make these things until they get a PO with dates and stuff. So it's kind of a snowball effect is that it affects the utility business. And it's not just one company, just about every utility. Lead times kill us. Hari Vasudevan (04:29.6) Yeah yeah okay. No it's that is true I've been on so many projects where that has been an issue right so sorry you know you were kind of giving your career path there so material handler and then keep going out there. Darrell Hallmark (04:44.501) Yeah, you know, of course I didn't, never, one thing about this construction and utility business is I never even finished high school, So, you know, I've been all the way from a warehouse man to senior vice presidents, you know, and, I started, like I say, the warehouse there in 1972. And I moved into FCC work, which I know you own the company ThinkPower that does FCC work for different utilities and what that is is inspection of the contract work, whether it ⁓ substation, transmission, and distribution. And so I did that. I was a FCC, then a coordinator, and then a lead coordinator. I was over about 200-something contract FCCs at one time when Fred McCurley left. And then... They wanted me to take it over, I made more money over time, so I told them to put me back out in the field. So they did. so one of the contractors, Tesco, saw how I ran their, basically I ended up running their crews for them, because some of these contractors were not as, they didn't know how to run business a lot of times. They might have some good guys, but they didn't know how to. Hari Vasudevan (05:50.478) you you Darrell Hallmark (06:13.6) run it. I would end up running the crew. So they came and made me an offer. I didn't think I could refuse. was about double what I was making at the Oncor. Of course, whenever I got over there, I found out I had one foot in bankruptcy. I was not in a good place. I called my wife crying. said, what am going to do? She said, well, you better get to Hari Vasudevan (06:30.542) So you're not sure if you can see it or not? Darrell Hallmark (06:42.175) damn thing turned around, you know, because we got to we got to pay bills. so it's a Hari Vasudevan (06:47.502) I know you always have some big bills and big boats and you have a pretty nice lifestyle there. Darrell Hallmark (06:52.351) Hahaha! Well, you might as enjoy it. We're all going the same place, right? Hari Vasudevan (06:59.246) Exactly. If you don't say, we just don't know when, right? So you go to Tesco and... Darrell Hallmark (07:02.91) That's right. Darrell Hallmark (07:07.015) I started out as a general superintendent, worked my way up to senior vice president in that seven years. well, was the senior vice president within the second year, I guess. And so I stayed there and they sold the PLS, Power Line Services. And I stayed there for about a year as a senior vice president, T&S operations. Went to Chapman Construction, I know you know him, Calvin Hargrave. He was my best friend and he had cancer. And he called me and asked me if I'd come over and help him. They were in the biggest build out that Oncor ever had. And you were part of that, that CREZ. Hari Vasudevan (07:36.993) That's it. Hari Vasudevan (07:51.183) 100% % 100 % I was part of it. Let me actually I'm in my office home office here. Let me get something that I have still from that Crest project. Give me one second. Darrell Hallmark (08:02.737) I bet you're saying the same thing I'm good. Hari Vasudevan (08:09.198) I got this guy right I know it says Crest program 2009 to 2013 1037 miles 30 substations and it's got the Oncor logo on it right so Darrell Hallmark (08:10.716) Yeah, I got it sitting on my desk right now, Harry. Darrell Hallmark (08:28.766) And that was bundled in 1926. They hadn't been using that prior to that. Hari Vasudevan (08:31.703) Yes. Hari Vasudevan (08:35.788) Yes, yes. So you did that. I vividly remember sitting in those CREZ meetings on literally every Friday in that ESB building, all Oncor building, seventh floor, sitting through those meetings having Calvin, you and Larry White and all these guys out there, those meetings, right? So. So you ran obviously Chapman is a huge, huge part of CREZ, right? Darrell Hallmark (09:07.223) Well, you know, there was CREZ, they still had, had Chapman had all Oncor's work. So, so all the base work was, was struggling because of CREZ. So I come over and I did all the base work. You know, I took it all over plus helped them on CREZ. Hari Vasudevan (09:14.54) Yes, the base work too. Hari Vasudevan (09:27.958) Yeah, yeah, no, that's fantastic. know, one of the uniqueness of your career has been that, you know, obviously you alluded to the fact that you didn't even finish high school, you have a GED, but you've been really wildly successful, right? I mean, you're one of the smartest guys I know. You know how to run companies, you know how to run projects, you know. Darrell Hallmark (09:54.277) You must not know very many people, Hari. Hari Vasudevan (09:56.351) No, no, no, no, no. I do really mean it. You've turned companies around, right Tesco? And the recent companies you work for, you've turned companies around and put money in their pocket. What is the secret sauce? What is it? What are the lessons learned that during your really illustrious career that you can share with people? know, candidly even people with... Darrell Hallmark (10:04.07) Yes, sir. I'm just kidding. Darrell Hallmark (10:11.367) it's good. Darrell Hallmark (10:16.273) Yes. Hari Vasudevan (10:24.958) MBAs and whatnot, they really struggle, right? I mean, you give them a great company, they can kind of keep it running. But how do you turn companies around? How do you make sure that people in the field where the rubber meets the road, right? The linemen, how do you keep them happy? I if they're happy, they keep the customers happy and then the investors are happy. Give me the recipe to your success there, Darrell. Darrell Hallmark (10:27.805) No. Darrell Hallmark (10:47.207) Yes. Darrell Hallmark (10:52.085) Well, you know, you can throw money at them, you know, they can, somebody else will throw money at them, you can, I've always just cared about people. You know, I listened to them. You sometimes it's just calling them and listening to them. You know, they've got family lives, they're away from their families all the time. And, you know, find a way to get them home. You know, we'd come up with things like working 10 days on and four days off. Sometimes you couldn't do that. We was working six, seven days a week sometimes, but you gotta care about them. I mean, that's a big part of it, I think. And they really believe it. You're not just blowing smoke over them to get them to work some more, right? Hari Vasudevan (11:30.786) Be authentic. Hari Vasudevan (11:39.907) Yes, yes. So that's essentially authenticity, right? You're trying to be authentic. You're trying to form real relationships with people, right? I remember once you sat through my training program, foundation training program. I don't know if you remember. I gave you a test and you did pass, right? So you did pass. Darrell Hallmark (11:44.893) We. Darrell Hallmark (11:56.444) I do. Barely, barely I thought. Hari Vasudevan (12:04.91) So tell me the importance of training for the industry. I how important it is to put good people, good men out there so that you know everybody is safe and go back home safe and things like that. Darrell Hallmark (12:24.314) Well, you just brought it up. It's a dangerous profession, you know, if you don't do it, if you're not trained in your and you think about safety, you know, you and I were talking once before, you know, back in the Texas Power and Light days when I first started and I got into SEC work over contractors there, you know, there wasn't any safety as far as we could not say anything to a contractor about his safety. And I brought it up to our upper management and I couldn't change it, but they could and they did. They made a change at that time. And maybe the other industry started seeing it too because about that time you start seeing where utilities got involved in their safety. And it's like night and day. you running a FCC type industry, you know, know that... getting involved in their safety, help get these guys home. And that's part of the training, right? So, we had a of safety training, a lot of people would bring them in, spend time, and it cost companies money. Of course they got some of it forced on them, but I think once they kind of saw that it started being productive for them, started really. Hari Vasudevan (13:27.928) 100% Darrell Hallmark (13:50.768) putting money back in the pocket because people weren't getting injured as much and wasn't getting hurt. so, and doing their job too, you ⁓ I learned, I come up with a deal called Foreman's Academy where we would bring the Foreman's in and you think that these guys out there should already know, right? All this stuff, how to do paperwork, how to, you know, but they don't. A lot of times they get moved up by somebody that didn't really do their job. They moved them up too soon. Too soon. He's probably a hard worker, right? But they didn't train him in doing the paperwork. You know as well as I do, if you don't turn the paperwork in, you didn't do it. ⁓. Hari Vasudevan (14:29.474) They moved around too soon. It's like there was an opening and somebody had to fill the position. Hari Vasudevan (14:47.746) Yes. Yes. Darrell Hallmark (14:48.418) So these companies lose a lot of money by not just taking and training their people a little bit and teaching them. So it helps them on the accounting side. Hari Vasudevan (14:57.486) You know, initially you say that. mean, those gaps that I saw over the last two decades in the industry, that's the reason I started KYRO, right? It's to digitize the work so that people can document what they do in the field and make it easier and things like that, right? So you would have used when you were in FCC, you would have used the digital platform and things like that. So that's good. So you talk about, you know, training people and safety. Darrell Hallmark (15:18.01) this is obligation. Hari Vasudevan (15:27.44) things like that. So you're bridging the gap between the field and the office because you you bridged it throughout your career. Materials you obviously spend some time in engineering then FCC then go out be a contractor. In all these roles there is one constant theme that I can see right which is you you bridge the gap between the field and the office, right? And the uniqueness in you is you're a calm guy, you have a calming personality, so you don't get rattled into pressure, so people kind of naturally gravitate towards you, right? That's pretty natural. So you bridge the gap, that's number one. And the second piece of the puzzle is... Darrell Hallmark (15:55.354) . Darrell Hallmark (16:12.506) Thank you. Hari Vasudevan (16:17.314) super collaborative. That's again very very a constant theme that I see here. So tell me a little bit about it. How did you find your natural calling if you will? Because that's a natural calling you find your strength over a period of time. How did you find it? Darrell Hallmark (16:38.873) Well, I don't know how I found it, it kind of just come upon me, getting that job. anything I've ever done, I've always tried to be the best at it. But one thing I've learned and a lot of people don't is listen before you speak. A lot of times I'd have five guys all want to talk over each other. Well, I'd look like the smartest guy in the room because I could take a little bit from each guy and tell him what the plan is going to be, right? I didn't have to make the plan. I just had to listen. Sometimes it's just listening. You you go a long way by just listening to people. Hari Vasudevan (17:11.331) you Hari Vasudevan (17:22.104) just listening and taking the best ideas and collaborating and they don't even realize that it's their idea that you're implementing at the end of the day. Yes, yes. So let's talk a little bit about cashflow, right? Because we talked about you turning companies around without naming any names, right? I know you've turned companies around. So. Darrell Hallmark (17:28.686) Yeah. Yeah, they thought I was smart as God. Hari Vasudevan (17:46.178) How did you do it? What's the secret sauce? Obviously taking care of the employees is one aspect. So how did you identify the issue and how did you solve it? Darrell Hallmark (17:54.389) Well, the first thing you have to do is get out in the field and see what's going on. know, sometimes it's the personnel. Sometimes it's the equipment they're using. Sometimes it's the way they bid it. Right. So you have to find out what that is and how can you change that? know, going going forward, I know how to change it because I'm going be part of the bid. I'm going to be part of the hiring process, but when you come into a company, don't know, you have to do a lot of investigation. But if you don't get boots on the ground, sitting up in that office, they'll be letting you go pretty soon, because they're not gonna make any money, or they're not gonna get it turned around. Hari Vasudevan (18:39.116) Yeah, yeah. So you go out to the field, understand issues firsthand, and then try to fix those issues, right? Darrell Hallmark (18:51.403) like adjustments, you Hari Vasudevan (18:52.558) Absolutely. So, know, make adjustments. Obviously, I know knowing you for so long, one of the key aspects to you running a successful business many times over is culture, employee culture, right? How have you dealt with it? I mean, I know it's always hard to let go people, even good friends sometimes they got to let go, right? How do you deal with that? How do you make sure that you have a smaller company? Darrell Hallmark (19:04.953) you Darrell Hallmark (19:08.441) Thank you. Darrell Hallmark (19:14.605) Well, I mean, you know, everybody I've ever fired or let go, you know, it wasn't, I didn't make it personal, you know, and I would set them down and tell them, I hope that you make me feel regret this decision, you know, that because you've got all the talent in the world, but you're not using it, you know, and, you know. I hope that one day I have to eat my words and fire it and hire you back. But today, you're not doing what you need to do to be in the position you're at. you need to go think about that. And where you go, do a better job for them. And you'll move up the ladder. But you're not going to move up any ladder. You're just going to fall down the way you're operating right now. You've got a family, right? They'd always say, yeah, I said, so what did you do for your family today by getting fired? I said, it's not personal. I said, I think the world of it. know the talent you've got, but I can't get it out of you. So you're gonna have an opportunity to go see if somebody else can. So whether that's the right way to do it or not, but you know those guys still call me and a lot of them I've hired back. Hari Vasudevan (20:14.275) Yeah. Hari Vasudevan (20:24.972) Yeah, yeah. Hari Vasudevan (20:32.95) Wow. Wow. Anybody we know in common? Wow. Darrell Hallmark (20:36.661) yeah. I can give me a list though. Hari Vasudevan (20:40.191) Interesting. Interesting. Well, that's an interesting thing because you know, you know about, you know, I've always believed in a super strong culture, right? Think Power was rated as a great place to work five years in a row. Six of the 12 years I ran. It took me a little while to get my footing right. But once I got it right, we figured out a way to take care of our people, the right bonuses, signing bonuses, incentivizing people, sharing the wealth, right? Truly. mean, I know you're a big believer in that. Can you give me some Darrell Hallmark (20:59.66) Yeah. Darrell Hallmark (21:06.085) Thank you. Hari Vasudevan (21:11.12) insights into how you turned around some companies by, you know, boots on the ground where the rubber meets the road. How do you make them feel that they are part of the group that is actually getting a share of the profits, fair share of the profits? How do you do that? Darrell Hallmark (21:18.188) Yeah. Darrell Hallmark (21:30.995) Well, I keep going back to Tesco, but that was probably one of the most intriguing places I was at, you know, to get something turned around. But, you know, I went out in the field, like I said, and seeing what they were doing and I called them all the yard after two weeks of watching them and read them, you know, read them the right act there in the yard and said there's two ways to go. You can do everything I'm telling you do today, or there's the gate, you know, and there was about close to a hundred of them, I guess. And when I got through, there was 25 left, you know, and we built that company from there, and we had, you know, it was in bad shape, the equipment, everything. But when I left that company, we had state the art equipment. But one of the ways I did it was, you know, you shouldn't have to do this, but you, as a business owner know. Hari Vasudevan (22:08.59) I'm out. Darrell Hallmark (22:28.875) that sometimes just incentive makes a difference, you know? So we pay them good money to do their jobs. But so I come up with a bonus program that, you know, we wanted to make the X amount of dollars on a project. you know, any, any every percent above that 10 % say just for greens, your bonus would be this and be this, be this, you know, but I put in stipulations. If you blow, you blow a motor and a dozer. You know, everything's coming out of your bonus. So, or you have a safety accident, you get no bonus. And all of a sudden, I don't know if I can say this or not, but the shredders, the equipment that they didn't really need in the first place got off the job. Soon as they got through with the equipment, they got it off the job. All the little things. that eat into profits, they started managing their project, basically, is probably the way to say it. Hari Vasudevan (23:33.333) Interesting, interesting. It's a podcast so you can say ddwhatever you want. So listen, that's a very interesting story because I've walked the exact same path that you did at Tesco. I did that ThinkPower and one of the key things is once you share your wealth and the profits with your employees and if they feel it's fair, right, you will see a behavioral change, right? It's like instead of going to a gas station across the street, they'll probably drive one of the 20 seconds and it's one cent cheaper, know, up their trucks there, right? I've seen those changes. Darrell Hallmark (23:56.567) Thank you. Darrell Hallmark (24:05.057) Mm-hmm. Darrell Hallmark (24:10.935) Yeah. Yeah. Darrell Hallmark (24:20.864) Yeah, they started bringing their lunches instead of going to the restaurants for an hour and half, two hours. Hari Vasudevan (24:26.05) I know and you know I've seen one more thing where you know I'm all for tipping restaurant workers but sometimes you see people eating for 50 bucks and tipping 50 bucks because it's not their money right but you see a change once you incentivize them so those are all little things there so Darrell Hallmark (24:34.038) Exactly. Yes sir. But if you take care of your company, it's going to take care of you. And that for life, right? I mean, you should care about your company as much as you do about your family. Hari Vasudevan (24:56.428) Yes, yes. So man, this is good stuff, right? So, you know, obviously, you know, you're one of those people who genuinely powering America, for a long time. Super fortunate to have worked alongside you. Darrell Hallmark (25:12.138) Yes. Hari Vasudevan (25:17.216) for such a long period of time and you know it's been a pleasure knowing you Darrell and thank you so much for being on the show and you know to tell the listeners your story. Before we go right is there anything any words of wisdom for young folks right who are considering a career in trade line trade craft in general. Darrell Hallmark (25:18.259) I think. Darrell Hallmark (25:29.173) Take a look. Darrell Hallmark (25:42.293) Okay. Darrell Hallmark (25:46.101) Mm. Hari Vasudevan (25:47.18) go? I'm Guy with the College Education but I've made a living on the craft side. What's your advice to the next generation out there? Darrell Hallmark (25:56.537) Well, I'll tell you what my daddy told me on his on the deathbed. said, son, if I know you're gonna do this good, I'll send you to college, you know, but but now I've always wished I had the education because it does. It does help me. All right, you know, common sense is always. Hari Vasudevan (26:03.842) Yeah Darrell Hallmark (26:17.203) You can have all the education in world if you don't have common sense. You're not going to get too far. But you don't have to have an education to make good living. I've had people, superintendents, I was a senior vice president, they've been making more money than I am. Of course, they were working a lot of hours. So you don't have to have an education, but I think you're more well-rounded. Hari Vasudevan (26:36.834) Yeah. Yes. Darrell Hallmark (26:46.325) if you have one, but you know, I worked with engineers and I didn't have an education and a few of them would talk kind of down to me every now and then, but you know, in the end, because I was getting their jobs and projects done on time and it was something they couldn't do and then they'd have to come out to field for me to teach them. You know, they might know how to draw it up, but they didn't know how to build it. So, yes. Hari Vasudevan (27:11.008) Yeah, the constructability issue. Listen, I've always dealt with that from engineering and construction piece because that's the gap that I bridged, right? It's interesting you say about engineers looking down upon people without an engineering degree. Candidly, it's super common, Unfortunately, being an engineer, being a PE, I can tell you that one of the first things I try to strip out when people Darrell Hallmark (27:30.334) Yeah Thanks for Hari Vasudevan (27:37.807) from engineering college comes to work for me is like, hey, guys out there in the field, guys like you, actually know more about how this is gonna. Darrell Hallmark (27:42.59) Okay. Hari Vasudevan (27:52.247) eventually get built than the engineers, honestly, right? And some of them learn quickly that it's important to have that really good relationship between engineering and construction. They're all in it, they have the same goal, but, you know, for some people, they never seem to get it, right? In terms of having to have that symbiotic relationship, that respect for each side and whatnot. Those who get it, you know, become wildly successful. Right? Darrell Hallmark (28:22.523) Yeah, you know, know, they get to like me pretty good when you take their plan and profile and do a takeoff and tell them, you know, you've got X amount of structures. You can't you can't have 20, you know, shoes whenever you need 66, you know. Hari Vasudevan (28:44.475) That is... Darrell Hallmark (28:47.052) You gain respect with them and it's vice versa. And I learned a lot from, I was blessed to be in the engineering group because they brought a lot to me too. They didn't know it, but they brought a lot to me. I learned a lot from them too. Hari Vasudevan (29:04.898) Yeah, yeah, no. So that's interesting. you know, sort of the advice for young people out there is, listen, you can make a living any way you want, craft or trade or, you know, going to engineering school or any education at the end of the day. But, you know, with education, you're well-rounded, but you can make a lot of money and a great living even without a college education and... Darrell Hallmark (29:08.98) Thank Hari Vasudevan (29:32.462) You just need to work your way towards it, I guess, right? Darrell Hallmark (29:36.491) And whatever you do, find a balance in life because, you know, God and family is in your job. That's the three things that are important. Hari Vasudevan (29:50.103) Yes, 100%. I 100 % agree with you on that. So listen, Darrell Hallmark, it's been an honor knowing you. It's been an honor to have you on the show and look forward to many more years of working together on new projects. Yes. Darrell Hallmark (29:57.223) Yes, sir. Thank you. Darrell Hallmark (30:07.811) I hope so. I'm looking for a few more. ....⁓
ABOUT THE GUEST
Darrell Hallmark
Senior Construction & Operations Executive (Retired/Consultant)

Darrell Hallmark is a seasoned utility executive with a career spanning 54 years, starting in 1972 at Texas Power and Light. Rising from a warehouse role to Senior Vice President, he has led operations for major organizations including Tesco, Power Line Services, and Chapman Construction. Darrell played a key role in the massive CREZ build-out and is renowned for his ability to turn around financially struggling companies by fixing culture and operational inefficiencies. He is a strong advocate for bridging the gap between the office and the field.

Presenting Sponsor