Ascent Builders

Patty McElwain

Planning and Finance
"Mombabe"

Personal:

I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, the daughter of a former heavyweight boxer turned longshoreman.  Needless to say, bringing boys home could be an adventure.  My Mom was Wonder Woman...  she raised the kids, baked, fixed things around the house and generally made sure everything was just so.

I can't remember when I didn't play basketball.  I was a real gym rat !!!  I was the center on my high school team and I played forward in college (that was way before Title 9).  My senior year I landed a job with a property management company and packed my bags for San Francisco.  Over the next few years I bounced up and down the peninsula until I met my husband Larry and we relocated to beautiful Granite Bay.

Single life in the city has given way to living with 5 guys...  One big one and 4 smaller ones.  Now our days are filled with skateboards, broken bikes, baseball, football, downhill biking, comic books, snowboarding and more than our share of trips to the emergency room.  Thank heavens this job has benefits!!!

Hobbies:

I love to golf (I'm good for a great shot or two each round !!!) and I play co-ed "arena softball" with a great group of neighbors and friends. 

Experience:

Not surprisingly I started my career as a bookkeeper.  It was a good job with a bad commute so I took a position with a general contractor as the assistant to the Controller.  I may not be that good at my job since this was the first of a series of companies that I watched go under.  On the other hand, I got to see both successes and failures and I learned what works and what doesn't.

After relocating to the Sacramento area I interviewed for five positions and received four job offers. The only place that didn't get back to me was Ascent Builders... so I accepted an offer from a landscaper only to get a call and an offer from Ascent the next day.  That ended my landscaping career and the rest is history.

Since joining Ascent I've migrated our accounting system from QuickBooks and outsourcing our payroll to a fully integrated accounting and project controls system.  Our technology and our approach allow us to maintain a near real-time understanding of both our commitments and our costs.  More importantly, we have established a culture that takes pride in treating people fairly and getting them paid.  That commitment has become a cornerstone of our success.

Education:

• Portland State University
• Parkrose High School (Portland, OR)

Professional Associations:

• Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW)
• ReCON

Community Organizations:

• Diane Dawson Foundation

References:

• Cathy Skeen, Excell Bonds and Insurance
• Jack Bosley, Gallina