WILMINGTON — Brian DiSabatino joked once that he’s like the office Border Collie: constantly on the go, herding the sheep and ensuring the crowd is always moving in one direction.
“I just run intuitively,” he said. “I have a racing mind. With some jobs I’ve had, I was bored to tears. I just can’t help but think about the next moves.”
A look into the career of DiSabatino shows a man of many pursuits, well before he became the CEO and the leader of fifth-generation Wilmington construction management firm EDiS. He also points to many stops along the way shaping his habits and how he does business.
DiSabatino grew up on a farm in Glen Mills, Pa., where his family raised and raced horses, ingraining the habit of rising early. He also worked as a teenager under Chip Hearn who owned many restaurants and shops like Hearn Markets at the Delaware beaches. There, DiSabatino said he was truly exposed to entrepreneurial spirit.
“The Hearns just love business and I was there on the front lines, doing anything from bussing tables to mopping floors,” DiSabatino said. “With Chip, he built a work ethic and an understanding of the customer and competitiveness. You need to embrace it not just to beat anybody else, but just to survive. Status quo is not nurturing the business; it’s decaying it. Chip was never a status quo kind of guy.”
DiSabatino took that lesson to heart in his professional development as he forged on in his career, even though at first, he wasn’t quite sure what path to take. EDiS was founded in 1908 by his great-grandfather as a masonry contractor but grew as a developer along the years with companies like DuPont, AstraZeneca, Amtrak, JPMorgan & Chase and others on its client list.
Despite the family legacy, DiSabatino almost rebelled against the idea of joining the business, wanting to form his own identity beyond his last name. He studied computer science at James Madison University, but over time he realized he was granted an opportunity that many would not have.
“When you think about it, the number of people that can have a running start by having several generations primed to get in the business, it’s a fraction of a fraction of people out there,” he said. “I thought, ‘how selfish of me to think I’m that special to turn down an opportunity like that.’ I believed I owed it to the people in my life to see where it took me.”
Those early years took him to start as a laborer on the corner of Fourth and King Street and testing the concrete footings on the First Chicago Bank, the first credit card company high-rise that arrived in Delaware after Gov. Pete DuPont signed the Financial Center Development Act. DiSabatino eventually leveraged his know-how in computer science and information to help bring EDiS take the first steps in the digital age.
Over time, DiSabatino and the team developed signature processes on how to build buildings, namely through consistent branding on their trucks to client paperwork.
“In the early years, I cut my teeth in a lot of smaller projects. I was really an understudy,” he said. “But I realized my skills were in relationship building which really revolutionized how we grew and marketed the company. Strategy was something my cousins were good enough to let me play around with.”
DiSabatino also points to the privilege of having a seat at some of the most influential foundations and boards starting as young as 28. By the time he was 35, he was part of the Saint Francis Hospital Foundation board that helped raise close to $100 million. He added that those opportunities provided by a “guiding hand” gave him the chance to soak in wisdom from the older generation.
Now, as the CEO of EDiS, DiSabatino is looking for ways to pay it forward. That includes his work at the head of the Delaware Business Roundtable which he sees as instrumental for lifting up the entire state’s economy, not just making it a good place for corporate heads. He’s also hoping to open up doors for those who come behind him in making a map to help others, namely people of color and women in the construction trades, move forward.
Among influential figures in his life, he points to United Way of Delaware executive Muriel Gilman who advised to “Speak last” and investment manager Foster Friess who he crossed paths with when he served as chair of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce.
“He’d have these sayings and one that stands out is ‘poor leaders concentrate their plans on propping people up. But you may never fix what you’re trying to fix. If you believe in the person, put your heart and soul into their strengths. That will unlock their potential,’” he said. “And he was right. When you have eight hours a day, why spend six on the negative?”
