West Virginia Executive Spring 2018 | Page 96

Berniece Collis Vice President Minghini’s General Contractors, Inc. KEVIN DUVALL Photo by Josh Triggs/3MI Photography. WHEN ASKED WHAT CHARACTERISTICS have most influenced her success, Berniece Collis’ answer is simple: “A genuine desire to see others succeed. When others succeed, we all succeed.” It is this focus on community that drives Collis, vice presi- dent and co-owner of Minghini’s General Contractors, to make her family business a key part of the Martinsburg community. Collis and her husband, Craig, bought the company from its original owner in 1988. Today, the couple operates the business with their two sons, Jacob and Morgan. In 1990, 94 WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE she began working for Minghini’s full time, taking charge of the office operations while her husband worked directly with crews on job sites. “Looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made,” she says of the career change. “Working with Craig to build our company into a multimillion-dollar-a-year business has given me much joy, and I do not work a day in my life.” Collis graduated magna cum laude from Shepherd Univer- sity in 1977 as a McMurran Scholar and began working as a