Wilford W. Clyde's entrepreneurial dreams began as a boy when he started a nightcrawler business — catching worms on ditch banks and in neighbors' gardens at night and selling them to fishermen during the day.
In college he was raking lawns and selling boutonnieres to students for school dances.
Born in the small community of Springville, he was raised around the road construction business started by his grandfather, W.W. Clyde. His own father also worked there.
During his youth Clyde worked at the family auto parts store, lumber and hardware store and gas station. At 17, he worked at Geneva Rock, another family business, on the asphalt crew and the following summer near Flaming Gorge on a W.W. Clyde road project.
Clyde graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor's degree in accounting and started work at Geneva Rock. Five years later, at age 30, he became the general manager and soon after president.
He guided the business from 200 employees to more than 800 employees and a sixfold increase in sales.
In 1998, Clyde became the chief operating officer of Clyde Companies, the parent company of Geneva Rock, and in 2001, the president and chief executive officer.
During this time he has directed the purchase of nine construction-related businesses.
Clyde has pushed for the most up-to-date technology in the operation of all the subsidiaries. Road graders and asphalt paving machines are controlled by computer-activated lasers and technology. Concrete and asphalt plants are equipped with the latest computer controls. Ready mix and dump trucks are computer tracked and dispatched.
All of this has helped the company to be profitable and successful.