In this episode, reporter Brian Johnson speaks with the 2021 Finance & Commerce Top Women in Construction winner Joelynne Hanson.
After decades of working in the construction industry, Hanson left her daytime job to launch her own custom crushing company in 2008 — right at the start of the Great Recession.
It wasn’t the best timing, perhaps, but the gamble paid off. HanSon Custom Crushing, based in Forest Lake, has done well in the crushing business with a cross-section of both public- and private-sector clients.
The company specializes in asphalt and concrete recycling, but it also provides quarry and pit crushing, and screening of rock, limestone, sand, gravel and other aggregates.
A past president of the Association of Women Contractors, Hanson has more than 30 years of procurement, administrative and management experience in construction. Prior to launching HanSon Custom Crushing, she was the crushing/office manager at Fra-Dor Inc. in Little Canada.
In the following interview, Hanson talks about starting her business during the recession, the company’s experience on projects such as the St. Croix Crossing and the recently completed 35W@94: Downtown to Crosstown job, and more.
