TULSA – Francis Rooney grew up in quiet, rustic Muskogee, a town that once strived, and failed, to head its own state.
After
he was raised to pursue his own dreams of glory, Rooney used his skill
and tenacity to carry him through Georgetown, to win the heart of his
beloved wife, and to earn him a place in a top Houston law firm.
With
a growing appreciation for the Hispanic world, the Rooneys contemplated
a life of travel and service. Then his father passed away unexpectedly,
requiring the faithful son to return to Tulsa and take the mantle of
responsibility for their 88-year-old family firm, one floundering in
the troubled post-Penn Square Bank maelstrom.
In less romantic
tales, that might end the dream, especially since Oklahoma’s economy
worsened during that 1984 changeover. But revealing his skill at
gathering and leading a team, Rooney used conservative business
strategies to revive and grow Manhattan Construction, evolving it into
a national power.
Those efforts introduced him to rising stars
who recognized his talents, opening public service doors into the White
House and Vatican.
“Becoming the ambassador to the Holy See, for
a Catholic raised in Muskogee, that’s about as good as it gets,” said
Tulsa real estate developer Paul Coury, who worshipped and worked with
Rooney across two decades. “But I find him to be a very humble, still a
very approachable person. All that pomp and circumstance that goes with
the position didn’t seem to phase him. He’s still Francis.”
Part of that reflects the calm reserve and protective privacy that Rooney shrouds his family in.
“I
think a lot of very successful business people need to be low-key,”
said former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, who has known Rooney since
their Georgetown days. “Wealthy, successful people would rather not be
on someone’s radar.”
But his success also marks Rooney’s ability to recognize and seize opportunities.
“He’s
quick to respond when an opportunity presents itself,” said John
Jamison, a vice president with Manhattan Construction who has known
Rooney since 1970. “And he’s very open-minded. He encourages a win-win
environment for everyone.”
It demonstrates Rooney’s ability to absorb, analyze and act on new information.
“I’ve
served on a lot of boards,” said Walt Helmerich, chairman of the board
of the Tulsa drilling contractor Helmerich and Payne. “They’re not
really very many good directors. Most directors just follow the CEO and
whatever he wants, they support. But Francis asks good questions. He
has very good logic, a very sound thinker and a good contributor.”
At its foundation, Rooney’s success may simply reflect his giving spirit, and willingness to serve.
“You don’t have to save the world,” said the 55-year-old attorney. “You just have to try and help it along the way.”
Resurrection
Rooney
tapped several of those skill sets when he stepped into the shoes of
his father, Larry. With his mother still nurturing Rooney’s younger
siblings, he thought management of the struggling company presented too
great an additional burden. So with his 24-year-old brother, Tim,
26-year-old Francis bought out the family interest in Manhattan in 1984
and streamlined the company.
With its revenue fallen to $80
million, Rooney tightened the purse strings and cut expenses. Dividing
oversight, with his brother managing the Tulsa office and Francis
working from Houston, the company focused its efforts on Oklahoma and
Texas, the Lone Star State economy showing more resilience in that
difficult time.
“Francis had to make some tough decisions in that
lean year, taking over a company that was perhaps losing some money on
some major projects,” said Jamison, who had left Manhattan in 1977 for
a 10-year span. “Cash flow was tight, investments were tough.”
Focusing
on projects along what Manhattan calls the “Southwest Airlines
corridor” helped the construction company achieve stability as oil
prices recovered from mid-’80s lows and the economy righted itself.
The
turnaround came as Manhattan landed a key contract during the late ’80s
expansion of San Antonio’s famed Riverwalk. Rooney said the company’s
solid performance led to several additional projects, from the downtown
mall to the Marriott Hotel.
“If it hadn’t been there, the company
would not be here now,” he said. “We ended up doing a whole lot of
work. A lot of the present management of the company came out of those
jobs.”
Major League Baseball’s love affair with retro ballparks
not only gave Manhattan its next star effort with the Texas Rangers and
its beloved Arlington ballpark, but introduced Rooney to George W.
Bush, destined to advance from Rangers management to the Texas
governorship and the White House.
Manhattan’s expanding Dallas
office also brought Rooney in touch with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry
Jones – and gave Manhattan a classic opportunity to demonstrate its
customer service.
Hearing of a Texas Stadium skybox fire during
an evening meal, Rooney stepped out, gathered his crew, and worked them
around the clock for almost three days to restore the luxury suite in
time for Sunday’s game.
“The guy who had the box didn’t know the difference,” Rooney said. “That meant a lot to Mr. Jones.”
Efforts
like that led to Manhattan building the new Cowboys Stadium, which will
debut its new turf when the University of Oklahoma meets Brigham Young
this fall. That proved just the most recent entry in a series of
increasingly large, elegant structures as Manhattan expanded into
Georgia, Florida and the Washington, D.C., area.
Manhattan
ended 2008 with $1.6 billion of revenue generated by a staff topping
1,700. Its arms stretch not only into construction, but insurance,
electronics and other sectors.
While he could take credit for
that growth, and his staff often does credit Rooney, Manhattan’s owner
attributed the firm’s success to its employees.
“We have people who love building buildings,” Rooney said.
Jamison points to Manhattan’s team-focused environment, starting at the top.
“That’s
what he’s instilled, leadership throughout the companies,” Jamison
said. “He hired from within, multitasked. That’s his philosophy,
keeping people in his key management positions and employing upward
mobility throughout the company.”
Not only does Rooney give management autonomy, he gives them full voice in expansions and acquisitions.
“You
always have to kick something up to Francis once in a while,” Jamison
said. “But if you do, he’s always going to want to know why you did.”
Service
That autonomy reflects not only Rooney’s confidence in his staff, but a decade of experience.
With
his strong interest in public service, even as he managed Manhattan
Rooney made time to work with diverse organizations, including the
Texas Business Hall of Fame and the Young Presidents’ Organization, and
as director of the Oklahoma Capital Investment Board under Oklahoma
Gov. Henry Bellmon. He also served on the boards of BOK Financial,
Helmerich and Payne and the University of Tulsa.
“Francis’
analytical skills and critical judgment allow him to differ
intelligently from conventional wisdom,” said BOKF Chairman George
Kaiser. “With such an enlightened contrarian approach, he recognizes
risks and opportunities that others do not see. He maintains
perspective by not permanently falling in love with his own ideas or
anyone else’s. His observations are always incisive and I learn from
each of our visits.
“He also is a fine judge of talent in his
business activities and his civic and personal relationships,” said
Kaiser via e-mail. “That allows him to delegate when appropriate and
dig deeply into the details of a problem or opportunity when required.”
For
three years, Rooney served on the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority as it
secured the largest single bond issue in its history, funding expensive
metropolitan expansion projects in north Oklahoma City and south Tulsa.
“Clearly
his business acumen was a tremendous value,” said Neil McCaleb, former
Oklahoma transportation secretary and director of the OTA under
Keating. “It was an important time for us because we were completing
the largest single bond issue for any one time in the history of the
turnpike authority.
“He was a discerning thinker, he asked the
hard questions and he was very no-nonsense,” McCaleb said. “He was
devoid of political conditions at this time. He just wanted to run the
turnpike authority like a business. He used his personal influence to
influence the other members of the authority.”
As the new
millennium approached and his company held a solid footing, Rooney
stepped away from Manhattan’s daily grind to devote himself to other
projects, starting with a two-year stint as the YPO’s international
president. Its extensive travel requirements gave Rooney a taste of the
ambassadorial life, which loomed increasingly large as Bush won
election to the White House.
While governor, Keating tapped Rooney to help secure two historic projects – the state Capitol dome and right to work.
“I
wanted to have Oklahoma artists, craftsmen, tradesmen to do it,” said
Keating, who now serves as president of the American Council of Life
Insurers in Washington, D.C. “So I went to Francis Rooney first.”
Rooney
arranged the partnership with Flintco to raise the dome – representing
a historic return of sorts, since Manhattan had built the state Capitol
in the first place.
“At the same time, I felt as governor we needed to pass right to work,” Keating said.
But
while the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber gathered around the cause,
Keating said, the Metro Tulsa Chamber demonstrated more division.
“They
really needed someone to drive them,” said Keating. “Out of
frustration, I turned to Francis Rooney again. I said, ‘Francis, I
really need your leadership role in bringing these people together
because I can’t seem to find anybody to get anyone together.’ And he
did it.”
With both tasks accomplished in political environments, Keating said they reflected Rooney’s strengths.
“He’s
very diplomatic and he turned into a diplomat,” he said. “The word on
him that I get is that he was a very effective ambassador because he
was very focused on the church.”
Rome
Although
Rooney admired and supported Bush, as governor of Texas and as
president, with his children still in high school Rooney resisted such
service in the president’s first term. But after the youngest of his
three children graduated, Rooney accepted the U.S. ambassador posting
to the Holy See in 2005.
“For a guy from Muskogee, Okla., I can
tell you it was a very unique, a very humbling experience,” Rooney said
of his first private meeting with the pope.
His eyes blossomed
as he told of Vatican encounters, or of White House visits with his
friend and president. Rooney demonstrated pride in the opportunity his
ambassador role presented to share and defend U.S. ideals he holds
dear. And he shared his joys of touring a city and country with
thousands of years of history to explore, where people still love
Americans for their liberating efforts in World War II.
His
three-year job also brought some new perspectives on life. As a
contractor, Rooney strived to meet precise engineering standards. He’d
found the electronics business stimulating because it demonstrated the
human ability to achieve zero mistakes. But his service to the Vatican
broadened that.
“You can’t serve in a position like this without
becoming dramatically more sensitive to the world around you,” he said.
“You also come to realize that issues can be far more complicated than
you expected. Every issue has another side.”
His work there impressed former U.S. Sen. David Boren.
“I
think he did an outstanding job, from everything I have heard from
others in Italy, from friends I have there and from people in the State
Department,” said Boren, now president of the University of Oklahoma.
“Not
only did he do a good job there with our relationship with the Holy
See, but with the entire country,” said Boren, a friend of the Rooney
family since his time in the governor’s chair. “He worked very closely
with our ambassador to Italy. He traveled throughout Italy as a
goodwill ambassador for the United States, spoke to groups around the
country, always in cooperation with and never duplicating the work of
our ambassador to Italy.”
‘I missed the guys’
Even during his public service years, Rooney saw opportunities for Manhattan’s growth.
“I
think he developed an interest in the roadway business while he served
on the turnpike authority that led him to organize Manhattan Road and
Bridge,” said McCaleb.
As he returned to the private sector,
Rooney approved the acquisition of two bridging companies to create
that Manhattan division, highlighting an expected growth area for the
Tulsa construction giant.
Seeing in Florida’s crumbling real
estate market the same potential for revival that he saw in Oklahoma 25
years ago, last year Rooney bought Naples, Fla.-based Kraft
Construction to bolster resources in that state.
“I have been
continually impressed with his ability to maneuver through the mine
fields of these cyclical, high-risk businesses with amazing dexterity,”
said Kaiser, who charts his relationship with Rooney back two decades.
“Francis
understands relationships and identifies trends better than almost
anyone I know,” Kaiser said. “Who else entered and exited the wholesale
lumber business at precisely the correct times during the residential
building boom and subsequent collapse? And how many other large-project
construction companies have been able to steer clear of fixed-price
disasters?”
Having bought a Florida home in 2003, Rooney now
splits his time between the Sooner and Sunshine states. His goal
remains focused on charitable work while continuing to hone his
political skills, serving Washington think tank the Center for the
Study of the Presidency and Congress.
“If we can re-engage their
creativity here, Tulsa will benefit enormously from their civic and
charitable leadership,” said Kaiser.
Boren expressed hope Rooney
would return to diplomatic service – perhaps to Latin America, an area
that’s always intrigued the ambassador.
“He would make a splendid
representative for the United States,” said the OU president, who has
watched Manhattan win several competitive bids for university projects
during his tenure. “He’s the kind of business leader who makes a
contribution by coming in and out of public service, as he did while he
was an ambassador.
“The infusion of ideas from people like
Francis Rooney, who are very thoughtful business leaders, into the
diplomatic community is really, really helpful because it brings some
private-sector points of view into the process,” said Boren. “I just
think it adds great value to the diplomatic service, and the experience
they bring is different than most of our career diplomats.”
Rooney
said he intends to remain active with Manhattan and his other
companies, but will leave daily control to his experienced staff.
“I missed the guys, the people in the company,” he said. “I was glad to get back, a little closer to that.”