“Instead of staying siloed, successful companies will find ways to work more closely with customers, manufacturers and even competitors to create more integrated solutions. Collaboration across, and even with, competition can be incredibly powerful and inspiring.” Jamie Arguello, Principal and CEO

Growing With Purpose

Grady’s Foodservice & Equipment

Pueblo, Colo.

The 80-plus year history of Grady’s Foodservice & Equipment is one marked by savvy transition. After long success as a traditional equipment and supplies dealer, the company began to add more services, notably design, installation, and project management. “We saw a need — an opportunity — to offer more comprehensive solutions in a desire to make things easier and more seamless for our clients,” explains Jamie Arguello, principal and CEO. 

The character of the leadership across those years has also undergone transitions. “Watching my grandmother lead with quiet strength, my father with discipline and drive, and now stepping into my own leadership style, I’ve seen how each generation builds on the last,” Arguello continues. 

These different categories of transition reflect a core value to ensure the company remains aligned with the changing needs of the day, from exceeding client expectations to staying ahead of industry complexities to embracing new technologies to responding to workforce requests. It’s about moving forward. “As CEO, I focus on vision, strategy and culture — ensuring we’re not just growing, but growing with purpose,” says Arguello. 

You could say that Arguello herself has also grown with purpose. “I didn’t just step into leadership overnight,” she notes. “It was a process of learning every aspect of the company from the ground up and developing a deep understanding of the people who make it successful.” And when the time for transition arrived in 2018, her father, Paul Gradishar, handed her 100% ownership of the business.

“Some think it’s weird that my older brother didn’t take over,” Arguello says, candidly. “I think my dad was a genius at identifying our respective strengths and weaknesses, and he chose to set my brother free from operations so that he could continue to shine with what he’s great at.”

Arguello makes no apology for being a self-described “bossy leader” and having confidence in her vision. “I was the one who went to my father to initiate a conversation about succession. I told him, ‘I’m not trying to push you out, but if this waits until after you’re gone, the cost of inheritance taxes would mean I’d have to sell the company.’” 

As a female CEO in an industry where the C-suite is dominated by men, Arguello must continually prove that leadership can look different and still be effective. The numbers back her up: Grady’s has seen $40 million in growth and the addition of 30 new staff positions under Arguello’s leadership since 2018. 

And she is grateful to pay forward the role modeling set by her grandmother, who ran the company before her father. “I have opportunities to mentor and uplift others, especially women, who may not have seen someone like them at the table before,” says Arguello. “I take that responsibility seriously. I’m incredibly proud of the legacy my grandmother helped shape and try to honor it by building one that makes space for compassion, collaboration, and innovation.”

Arguello is clearly aware of the example she is setting for her young daughters, although it’s far too early to include them in any impending succession plans. “More than anything, I want to give them the opportunity to explore their own passions and paths, just as I was given the space to grow into mine. If one day they feel called to be a part of Grady’s, I’d be incredibly proud, but it has to be their choice and not an expectation.”