ST. LOUIS (Oct. 30, 2023) – Tarlton, St. Louis’ largest women-owned general contracting and construction management firm, has promoted Diane Grimsley to project director.
Grimsley has led Tarlton teams on a wide range of award-winning projects over multiple campuses for the firm’s institutional and healthcare clients, including Saint Louis Zoo, BJC HealthCare, SSM Health, Washington University School of Medicine and Washington University in St. Louis. She is managing Tarlton’s work on the $30 million, 66,000-square-foot SSM Health Outpatient Center in O’Fallon, Missouri.
As a Tarlton senior project manager, Grimsley led the 4th floor inpatient bed fit-out for BJC HealthCare at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital in Creve Coeur, Missouri. The team built out 27,000 square feet of shell space to create 32 acute care rooms, including seven intensive care units, two nurses’ stations, conference rooms, a family waiting room, supply rooms and other supporting spaces. Work also included upgrades to the mechanical, electrical and pneumatic tube systems.
Grimsley managed Tarlton’s construction team on the Michael and Quirsis Riney Primate Canopy Trails exhibit at the Saint Louis Zoo, an award-winning, 35,000-square-foot expansion that brought lemurs, Old World monkeys and New World monkeys into eight new outdoor habitats. The exhibit allows guests to experience the primates from new vantage points, including a 200-foot-long winding steel boardwalk at treetop level. She also served as a guest panelist on “Creating Successful Exhibits,” an integrated, team-based exhibit development overview course hosted by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
“Diane is multi-faceted in construction management and value engineering who brings her industry experience and people skills to every Tarlton project she works on,” said Joe Scarfino, Tarlton vice president. “She works to advance the growth of our team members who rely on her vast scope of knowledge to guide them through even the most complex project.”
An accomplished engineer with 31 years of construction industry experience, Grimsley joined Tarlton in 2012. She holds the LEED AP designation from the U.S. Green Building Council. Grimsley earned a Bachelor of Science degree in architectural engineering from the University of Kansas.
A staunch supporter of the construction industry and her local communities, Grimsley served as a board member on the St. Louis Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction and chaired its strategic planning committee. She is a volunteer for the Missouri Gateway Green Building Council of the USGBC and plays a key role on Tarlton construction projects, providing educational lectures on industry-related topics.
She has been a member of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Corporate Council since 2015 and is on the organization’s building and sustainability committee. Grimsley also serves on the Ursuline Academy Board of Trustees and is chairperson of the school’s building and grounds committee. In addition, she volunteered for and/or organized events for several local, regional and national charities and nonprofits including Ronald McDonald House Charities; Habitat for Humanity; Life Teen; and The Elizabeth Project.