Our People : Employee Biographies
Gerry Ryan | President & C.E.O
Growing up in Tipperary, Ireland, Gerry completed his high school studies in 1981. He interned as a Draftsman and by 1985 completed an apprenticeship in Cabinets and Carpentry. His college courses included Mechanical Drawings and Architectural Drawings. While studying, he won a scholarship for Sitting Gels; he did not take the scholarship choosing instead to come to the United States.
In 1985, Gerry began working for Quality Carpenters in New York City where he was the shop foreman for a company specializing in high-end wood fixtures mainly for lobby restoration. His projects there included the New York Design Center’s Water Fountain & Lobby wood work.
Gerry became an entrepreneur in 1987 when, in partnership, he formed A.R.A. Construction Corp. This company performed residential work in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
In 1989, Gerry along with his partners formed, Four Barons LLC and developed four, 4,000 square foot residential spec home sin Rye, New York. In 1991, the group formed Ozone Contracting Corp., a company that performed union construction work throughout the Tri-state area. In 1993 they formed Ozone refrigeration and Equipment Sales Corp., a company that was an authorized distributor of Hussmann Refrigeration in the New York Tri-state area. Hussmann Refrigeration is the largest manufacturer of commercial refrigeration displays and systems in the world.
1996 was a milestone year in which Gerry, together with his partners, formed Discover General Contracting Corp. to construct larger retail and commercial projects, and Capital Installation Corp. the core business of which is fixture, furniture installation and drywall installation on retail and commercial projects. In each of the years since their formation, revenues have approximately doubled. In 1999, the combined revenue for these two companies was just over $31 million. Discover General Contracting Corp’s customers included Giant / Edwards Super Food Stores, A&P, Pathmark Stores, Staples, Inc., The Home Depot, Forest City Ratner, Stop & Shop, Babies R Us / Toys R Us, CVS, Stew Leonard’s, and Waldbaum’s and public work in the NY state area.
In 2002 Gerry and his partners decided to sell off Ozone Refrigeration and the remaining shares in A.R.A. Construction. At the same time he and his partners decided to merge Discover GC and Capital Installations together to form DGC Capital Contracting Corp. Today, DGC Capital Contracting Corp. has once again set out to earn and re-earn the trust of its customers, past, present and future. Gerry instilled in the culture the need to stay close and listen to customers needs. The Vision and Value-ship statement speak for the organization as a whole with the number one goal to build strong and lasting relationships.
Gerry was awarded the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was inducted into the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame in 2002.
Of note is the fact that Gerry possesses a philanthropic spirit. This led him and his partners to form a charitable organization called Fulfilling a Dream Fund. This organization identifies deserving young people from the Mount Vernon area who are unable to afford a college education and provided for payment of 50% of their college tuition. The organization is also a long time supporter of the Make a Wish Foundation of the Hudson Valley. Gerry was also recognized and awarded a second Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for his work on the Fulfilling a Dream Fund.
Gerry is married, the proud father of four children, and is an avid golfer.
Brendan Ahern | Vice President/Secretary
Brendan Ahern grew up on a farm in County Kerry, Ireland. He learned of the value of a hard day’s work at a young age, spending his time, out of school, performing various chores. As he approached his high school years a genuine love for woodwork and carpentry emerged.
Brendan completed Tarbert Comprehensive High School in 1981. His major are of study was woodwork. He completed a junior building course in 1982 from Tralee Regional Technical College. In 1983, Brendan completed his Senior Carpentry and Joinery course at Limerick college of Art, Commerce and Technology. During college, Brendan completed the Sitting Gels examination.
Brendan began working with a local builder after completing his formal training working on both residential and commercial properties.
In 1985, Brendan immigrated to New York. Upon his arrival he became a member of Local 608 United Brotherhood of Carpenters. Over the next few years he worked on various building sites doing finish carpentry. The companies that he worked for included Creative Woodworking, Lord and Taylor, and Langingbacker.
Currently, Brendan is an owner and Secretary/Vice President of DGC Capital Contracting Corp. (“DGC”), in Mount Vernon, NY. DGC is a full service General Contractor and Carpentry contractor specializing in the retail sector. Brendan is a co-founder of the company and has been instrumental in its growth and success. DGC has annual revenues in excess of $30,000,000 and boasts some of the largest retailers in the world among its longtime clients.
Brendan is married, lives in Westchester County, and is the father of three children
Daniel Ahern | Vice President
Born in the Bronx, New York, Daniel Ahern returned to Ireland in 1964 and was raised with his 6 sisters and 2 brothers on the family farm. He returned to New York at age 21.
Dan completed Tarbert Comprehensive High School at age 17 with Honors in the following: Building Construction, Engineering Drawing, Engineering, Mathematics, and Geography.
In 1982, Dan graduated from Regional Technical College in Tralee, County Kerry with a degree in Construction Studies. His course studies included Construction Technology, Structural Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Cost Analysis, Architectural Drawing, Site Surveying, and Mathematics. He was then recruited to work on the Cork-Dublin gas pipeline by Daniel McCarthy Consultant Engineers Limited in Malahide, Dublin. Dan worked as a Site Surveyor for the company for three years. His responsibilities included Site Layout to the completion of As-Built Drawings.
Dan returned to New York in 1984, and joined The United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 608. He worked for various companies until in 1987 he actualized his dream and along with his partners formed companies A.R.A. Construction and Ozone Contracting Corp which performed residential carpentry in homes in the Greenwich, Connecticut and Rye, New York area, later venturing into work in the commercial sector.
In 1989, Dan along with his partners created Four Baron LLC which owned and developed an extensive residential project in Rye, New York area.
Currently, Dan is an owner and Vice President in DGC Capital Contracting Corp. (“DGC”). The company’s core business is large retail and commercial projects. The company’s customers include Stop & Shop Supermarkets, A&P Supermarkets, Pathmark Supermarkets, Wegman’s Food market, Staples, The Home Depot, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Stew Leonard’s, Waldbaum’s, Shoprite Supermarkets, Sears and Target.
Dan is one of the original founders of DGC and has been a big part in the growth and success of the company.
Dan is married and the proud father of four children, he live with his family in Westchester County, New York.
Kevin Shevlin : Chief Financial Officer
Kevin began his career as a staff accountant in 1988 with Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP, a midsize public accounting firm in New York City. Kevin worked with the firm for 13 years rising through the ranks to the position of Senior manager where he serviced dozens of clients in a variety of industries. As a Senior manager he was responsible for all the audit and corporate and individual tax aspects of his clients and led a team of 25-30 managers, supervisors and staff accountants assigned to his accounts. Kevin gained extensive knowledge of mid-size privately-held companies and specialized in the construction industry.
In 2002, Kevin left the world of public accounting and took a position at one of his clients, Discover General Contracting Corp. (“Discover”) as the Controller. He built an accounting department comprised of individuals who want to be part of a team and whose attention to detail and focus on efficiency makes for easy interaction with clients and subcontractors. Kevin was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in 2003 and was instrumental in leading the merger of Discover and its affiliate Capital Installation Corp., to form DGC Capital Contracting Corp. (“DGC”). Kevin brings to DGC strong management skills and extensive knowledge in financial reporting and taxation matters unique to the contractor.
Kevin is a member of the Construction Financial Management Association (“CFMA”) and former Treasurer of the New York City Chapter. Kevin is also involved in charitable and civic organization including holding positions on the Board of Directors of the Mount Vernon Police Foundation and the Fulfilling a Dream Fund.
Wil Reyes, Jr. | Chief Estimator
Wil has over ten years of experience in estimating commercial, retail and supermarket projects. His Civil Engineer background as well as the knowledge he has acquired from Clients and Subcontractors in many years of estimating has allowed him to translate and relate all the required aspects of Construction into one competitive cost estimate.
As one of the pioneers of the company, he is constantly looking for ways to achieve the most efficient techniques by implementing procedures and generating checklists that monitors all parts of the bids such as trade scope of work, RFI’s, exclusions and quantities.
He has also developed strong relationships with Subcontractors which in turn produce a large pool of qualified Subcontractors in every region of the tri-state area. His great work ethics and positive team approach is key in supervising a team of estimators in order to produce a competitive bid on a timely manner.
Giancarlo Lanzano | Business Development
With over 15 Years in the Construction and Real Estate business, Mr. Lanzano has a proven track record of success. He began his career and spent 10+ years at Merrill Lynch in their Mortgage and Asset Backed Finance Group and with overwhelming achievement. He quickly received a management title there, as he worked in several aspects of the group including real estate development. There he found his true passion and made the transition to DGC Capital to further continue these relationships in construction sales and real estate development. He has been a proud member of the team since 2006.
Giancarlo graduated Villanova University in 1995.