Gayle Packer

During her 20-years with the company, Gayle has served in multiple leadership roles at Terracon including attorney, co-general counsel, director of corporate services, and chief administrative officer. Gayle became a member of Terracon’s executive committee in 2008 and was elected to the Board of Directors in 2012. Gayle rose to become Terracon’s President in 2018 and was appointed CEO in 2019. In January 2021. she was elected to the position of Board Chair. She has been instrumental in Terracon”s growth, coordinating the acquisition of more than fifty companies, and expanding the company to over 180 offices nationwide.

Gayle holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Laws from the University of Arkansas. In addition, she also has earned bachelor’s degrees in political science, international studies, and agricultural economics, as well as a master’s degree in agricultural economics and applied business management from The Ohio State University. Prior to joining Terracon, Gayle held roles in sales and public relations for the agricultural broadcasting network in Ohio and was as an attorney (specializing in the areas of corporate, tax and employee benefits) at regional and national law firms in their Kansas City offices.

Gayle was recognized in the Kansas City Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business class of 2010 and Ingram’s top Women Executives in 2020. In 2024, Gayle was honored as an Entrepreneur of the Year® Heartland Award winner by EY LLP. She currently serves on local, regional, and national non-profit boards of directors, including the ACE Mentor Program, the Construction  Industry Roundtable Executive Committee, the Greater Kansas Ciy Community Foundation, and the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Gayle was recently elected as Vice Chair of the Design Professionals Coalition, an industry coalition of executives of the largest architecture and engineering firms in the US. In April 2021, Gayle was elected to the board of VHB, Inc., an employee-owned transportation and energy engineering firm. Gayle is a member of both the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and Women Corporate Directors where she has served on the programming committee for the local chapter.