The Business of
Building
Shelters
President and CEO David Koonce
General Shelters of Texas, Ltd.
G
eneral Shelters President and
CEO David Koonce attributes
the company’s 47-year success
record to the philosophy of its founder and
David’s father-in-law, James Campbell. “It
was bred into all of us by James,” David
notes with a smile.
To quote James, a man known for his
mix of humor and straight-forward advice,
“If you tell someone you are going to do
something, you damn well better do it
because you’re going to have to answer
to them.” In fact, James offered that exact
same advice, word for word, in a television
interview with Rick Rowe on his “Made in
the ArkLaTex” program on KTBS channel 3
a few years ago.
David’s adaptation of that philosophy is,
“We’ve always tried to make our customers
happy even if we have to go out of our way
to do it.”
42 Business MATTERS | 2020 Spring Edition
STORY AND PHOTOS BY LEON ALDRIDGE
David began his leadership of the family-
owned company 15 years ago in February.
A Center native and 1982 graduate of
Center High School, he earned a degree
in agribusiness from Stephen F. Austin
State University. He and his wife, Angela
Campbell Koonce, will celebrate their 30th
anniversary in July of this year.
Before joining General Shelters, David
spent 18 years at Holly Farms which
was later bought by Tyson. Starting as a
management trainee, he was a supervisor
in several departments before serving as
the complex safety manager for his last five
years there.
Serving on the management team with
David is Derek Pierce, vice president of
operations; Retha Starkey, vice president
of marketing; and Jose Solis, chief financial
officer.
General Shelters has enjoyed consistent
growth since its 1973 beginning as a
company with one product to become
one of the largest portable building
manufacturers in Texas and recognized as
an industry leader.
“We can build buildings for almost
any need, from basic storage to custom
order,” said David. “We’ve built school
classrooms, churches, U.S. Army barracks,
offices, mobile offices, modular buildings,
storage facilities, cabins, living quarters,
construction buildings and more. Our
emphasis is on quality to create a building
tailored to any individual use or need.
In 1999, the company started in-
house roll forming steel for use in their
construction ultimately offering fabricated
steel building kits, carports, residential and
commercial roofing: everything from covers
to large warehouses. They also sell steel
building components.