When LaVerda O. Allen launched The Allen Group, LLC in 1989, her vision for building a successful project and construction management firm was founded upon a history of entrepreneurship combined with the determination to prove that small local, disadvantaged, and minority-owned firms could provide the same quality and value as larger firms.

In the two decades leading up to establishing The Allen Group, LaVerda got her start in the industry as a consultant to disadvantaged, minority, and woman-owned business enterprises, providing training to help them participate successfully in design, engineering, and construction projects. She was also an articulate voice for change in industry practices: co-authoring the first U.S. Affirmative Action program that called for minority participation by craft; serving as a major advocate for the passage of the San Francisco Woman- and Minority-Owned Business Ordinance, and co-founding the National Association of Minority Contractors.

Current company president and second-generation leader Schatzie Allen Jefferson has kept her mother’s philosophy and tenacity alive, significantly growing the business. Today the legacy of strong leadership continues with Bianca Mallory joining her mother and grandmother at the helm.