In the 1980s, Jeff Perala and Gayland Looney were classmates in the Construction Engineering Management Program at Oregon State University. After school, they started their careers in the construction industry. Jeff joined a company called McCormack Sivers that had been in the Northwest since the 1970s. Five years later, Gayland joined him. At that point, the company was called McCormack Pacific. From the get-go, Jeff’s and Gayland’s expertise were a perfect complement: Jeff enjoyed the pre-construction process and Gayland gravitated to the construction management. In 1995, Jeff and Gayland were promoted to vice president positions. The company grew to $25M and Jeff and Gayland were invited into the leadership as partners. To mark the transition, Jeff and Gayland combined the first parts of their last names to create the company’s namesake: Perlo (“Per” from “Perala” and “lo” from “Looney”), which was added to the front of the company name. In 2010, after surpassing the $100M milestone, the company dropped “McCormack” in the name and became simply “Perlo” as it continues to operate under today.