Real Estate and Construction
Building for the future
How Joel Pizzuti has navigated the downturn to keep The Pizzuti Cos. poised for success
By Mike Cottrill
Smart Business | September 2009
Page 1 of 4
Joel S. Pizzuti comes from a pretty good legacy of success, but he still worries about his company.
Sure, for more than 33 years, The Pizzuti Cos. has seen its share of downturns and recessions. But through that time, the company founded by Pizzuti’s father, Ronald, has become one of the best-known names in Columbus, opened offices across the country and has grown consistently. Still, this particular storm is a rough one.
“Certainly we’ve been through a number of recessions and come out of them stronger,” Pizzuti says. “But the major difference it seems today, as compared to economic recessions in the past, is that the access to capital is just not there. The challenge today is that we’ve been at a standstill to a certain degree, and until capital becomes more readily available, this is going to persist.”
But Pizzuti, who serves as the company’s president and COO, hasn’t let a downturn knock his company off its long-term path. Pizzuti and his father have worked to construct a master plan for the company, and while slight course corrections have been made, they’ve taken great strides to keep people on track at the $252 million real estate services firm. It’s not easy to keep a company of that size moving forward in a downturn, but Pizzuti has kept the company focused on its strengths and looked to add innovation to what it already does well. During that time, he’s addressed course redirections candidly with his people and helped them keep the context of the overall vision.
