Company President and Founder James Oliver was born and raised in Lynchburg Virginia where he attended E.C. Glass High School graduating with an Honors Degree in the spring of1988. In the fall of the same year he enrolled at Radford University and started a full time job which he maintained throughout college working as a restaurant manager and bartender to help pay for the cost of school. James graduated in 1994 with a BS Degree in Political Science.

While in school James was heavily involved with the Political Science Society and with a partisan student political association. He was also politically active working both as paid staffer and a volunteer on behalf of several Local, State, and Federal candidates. After graduation, James started his own political consulting firm and continued his work with candidates seeking elective office.

In 1995 James had the opportunity to meet Mark Kinser, a local Builder in the New River Valley, who was looking for an office manager for his growing company. James took the position and started work at Unlimited Construction Inc. In 1998 he was promoted to General Manager and in 2002 he was promoted to Executive Vice President in charge of all company operations. During his 9 year tenure at Unlimited Construction and under his tutelage the company went from an annual sales volume of $500,000.00 to over 6 million often averaging over a net 10% profit.

In 1999, with the help and encouragement of his employer, James became a licensed Class A Contractor in the Commonwealth of Virginia and started Highlander Construction & Development LLC for the purposes of limited speculative and investment property construction. In 2001 James also became a licensed real estate agent in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 2005 James left the employ of Unlimited Construction to pursue the growth and expansion of Highlander Construction & Development; however he remains close with the principals of Unlimited Construction and the two companies regularly collaborate on projects. In 2007 Highlander Construction converted from a Limited Liability Company to an S Corporation.

James has twice served as President of the New River Valley Home Builder’s Association and recently completed a term as Region I Vice President of the Home Builder’s Association of Virginia. James is happily married to wife, Donna. They have one child, David Samuel, and an eccentric but endearing dog named Juda. James is an avid fan of the Virginia Tech Hokies, the Miami Dolphins, and the New York Mets. He enjoys a range of outdoor activities including golf, water and snow skiing, camping, and sailing. He also loves movies quoting from them often much to the chagrin of family members, employees, and associates.

As President of the company James’s responsibilities include implementation of the company business plan; developing organizational structure; recruiting, training, and evaluating key staff; establishing and monitoring quality standards and procedures; managing operations, and strategic planning.

Director of Design & Estimating Stephanie Hixon was born in Roanoke, Virginia. Her family moved several times during Stephanie’s formative years from Tennessee to Alabama before finally settling in Indiana. Stephanie attended and graduated from Peru High School in the spring of 1993. It was in High School where Stephanie discovered she had a passion for design work. She took drafting classes each year and under the supervision and tutelage of Fred Vollmer, a dedicated educator and designer himself, Stephanie began to learn and master the skills that would eventually help her transform a hobby into a very rewarding career.

After High School Stephanie headed off to Purdue University where she graduated and earned a BS Degree in Technical Graphics with a Specialization in Engineering Graphics in 1998. Technical Graphics, now known as Computer Graphics Technology, prepares visually oriented students for careers in creating and managing the production of computer graphics within a wide range of industries. Students can choose to generalize in applied computer graphics technology or develop more in-depth knowledge and skills in areas such as interactive multimedia; technical animation; manufacturing graphics; or construction graphics.

After graduating from Purdue University Stephanie moved back to Southwest Virginia so she could be close to her extended family. Before joining the staff at Highlander Construction & Development, Stephanie worked for three different Builder/Developers in the New River Valley over a period of 10 years. Through real work experience Stephanie was able to learn and hone her estimating skills. Stephanie joined Highlander Construction & Development in the Spring of 2008.

Stephanie is and has been active in numerous community activities. She has served as Vice President of the New River Valley Homebuilders Association and more recently Director of Youth Soccer for the Prince Edward Farmville Youth Association. Stephanie and her husband Rick have two daughters, McKenzie and Aubrie.

As Director of Design & Estimating Stephanie’s responsibilities include for drafting complete construction plans, producing renderings, establishing budgets through the accurate and detailed estimating of construction drawings, producing key material takeoffs, bidding materials, updating the estimating soft ware, and assisting with purchasing.