Each chapter of Mary Andrews Carlisle's 18-year tenure at Vulcan Materials Company helped her rise to the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer.

“Every role I've had in the past, and every manager I've had in the past, has given me the role I have today. I was always willing to take on a new role if I believed I would learn something new and have fun working with the people I work with. Thankfully, that was the case during every transition,” she says.

Vulcan Materials Company had attracted the attention of people from Birmingham. “I knew it was one of the respected companies in town,” she recalls. So she sought out and found a summer internship in internal audit while attending business school at the University of Alabama.

“I enjoyed visiting various parts of our campus over the summer and learning what the aggregates business was really like. I ended up never leaving.” Carlisle says.

Her start at Vulcan is an important part of her strong leadership foundation.

“Understanding our business at a regional level and what the many men and women working in the field do every day, in my role as our senior leadership team today, drives our strategy and helps us “We believe we can be more effective at creating value for our shareholders,” she says.

Carlyle's leadership principles are simple but powerful: lead by example. She began honing this important skill long before enrolling at Vulcan University in 2006. She attended the University of Virginia and earned her bachelor's degree in economics and Spanish.

“When I was considering college opportunities, I chose UVA for its reputation for academic excellence, rich history and tradition, the many offerings of a semi-large in-state school, and an out-of-state option to experience something new. “I was drawn to it,” she says.

After graduating, I moved to Nicaragua and taught at a local school. “Later, my first full-time role at Vulcan relied heavily on speaking Spanish, so that choice paid off,” Carlisle says. Carlisle also learned important skills for understanding and working with others.

“I still believe that not everyone learns and processes information the same way or in the same way that you do, and secondly, that not everyone is motivated by the same things. I think back to my teaching days to remind myself of that,” she says.

“As a leader, if you understand and respect how different individuals learn and think and what motivates them, you can help them and your team be more successful.”

Carlyle has applied those important interpersonal lessons through several vice president positions at Vulcan, as well as roles in accounting and finance. But regardless of her position, she focuses on supporting and motivating those around her.

“The primary goal for the entire Vulcan management team is to protect the safety of our employees first and foremost. During my tenure, my focus will be to advance our company's next horizon of growth and become a publicly traded company. As we have grown over the past 65 years, it positions us well for decades of success in the future,” she says.

Her leadership extends beyond the Balkans. Ms. Carlisle is also a board member of two organizations in Birmingham. One is Libby's Friends, which supports children with disabilities and their families, and the other is She's HICA, which serves Latino and immigrant families in Alabama.

But Carlisle's most important job is being a mother to two elementary school-aged sons.

“I spend most of my free time on the soccer field and watching them do what they love,” she says. When she's not cheering from the sidelines, she enjoys traveling with her husband and sons and spending her family time at the lake.

Carlisle is a champion of Vulcans and beyond.