Gerald Byron Alley (1952–)

Gerald Byron Alley is the founder of Con-Real, LP, which is the leading black-owned construction and real estate firm in Texas, with other offices located in Arkansas and California. He was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame in 2020.

Gerald Alley was born in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) on September 30, 1952. He was the youngest of five children of Troy Alley, a local businessman who started the Alley ESSO Service Station, and Gladys Gray Alley, an educator who had taught at Philander Smith College before marriage. After attending local public and private schools, and working in his father’s station, Alley enrolled in the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County) at the age of sixteen, majoring in finance. He graduated in 1973. He entered graduate school at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, in 1974 and graduated the following year with an MBA. He carried out additional study at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, and was recruited by Sanger-Harris, a retail corporation based in Dallas.

In 1979, Alley founded Con-Real. In the beginning, he and an assistant, who shared a desk, made up the entire staff. His brother Troy joined him as a partner soon after the founding, and Con-Real soon grew into a major force in construction and real estate. Headquartered in Arlington, Texas, it opened offices in Dallas and Houston, as well as Little Rock (Pulaski County) and San Francisco, California. Con-Real regularly provides services to Fortune 500 companies.

Alley also founded The Alley Group (TAG), a project management services company in San Francisco, and Bravado LP, a real estate and hospitality firm based in Arlington. In addition, he co-founded the Candace Alley Family Foundation, which supports organizations providing for the needs of underprivileged students, and has served on numerous boards, including at SMU and UA.

Alley and his wife, Dr. Candace P. Alley, have three children. The government leaders of Tarrant County, Texas, declared October 19, 2013, to be Gerald Byron Alley Day.

For additional information:
Con-Real. http://www.con-real.com/ (accessed September 17, 2020).

Lunsford, Scott. Interview with Gerald Alley, March 8, 2006. David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas. http://pryorcenter.uark.edu/projects/Arkansas%20Memories/ALLEY-Gerald/transcripts/TRANS-ALLEY-Gerald-Memories-20060308-FINAL.pdf (accessed September 17, 2020).

Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas