Amy Jones: Leading with Courage Through Crisis and Growth 

Amy Jones wins Zweig Group’s 2025 Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award

by Liisa Andreassen 

When Amy Jones became CEO of O’Connell Robertson in late 2019, she could not have anticipated the crucible that awaited her. Just months in, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, forcing leaders across the industry to make impossible decisions with incomplete information. What set Jones apart was not just surviving that moment, it was how she leaned into it, transforming challenge into opportunity and emerging with a firm that has doubled in both staff and revenue over the past five years. 

For her remarkable leadership during this period of unprecedented volatility, Jones has been named the 2025 recipient of the Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award by Zweig Group. 

“I was stunned to be recognized,” Jones admits, reflecting on joining the ranks of past recipients like Tim Schroeder and Nathelyne Kennedy. “It was overwhelming and humbling to be nominated by the partners and team that have been alongside me for many years on my leadership journey.” 

The Pandemic Test 

The true measure of leadership often reveals itself not in calm waters, but in storms. For Jones, that test came on a Saturday during Spring Break 2020, when she found herself in the office with her partners, urgently assessing whether they even had the remote technology capabilities to send everyone home. 

“Our first order of business was to take stock of the technology we had available and identify how we would prioritize access, then determine the added technology, supplies and resources needed to get everyone up and running,” she says.  

What happened next defined Jones’s leadership approach. Rather than retreating into crisis management mode, she developed a comprehensive multi-point communication plan with daily and weekly touchpoints designed to maintain relationships and mark progress across offices, departments and with clients. It would have been easy, she notes, to let people work in silos from their homes. Instead, she forced conversations, virtual meet-ups and regular check-ins that kept the firm connected. 

“I relied on my instinct to lean into communications and relationships,” Jones explains. “Our senior leadership team immediately stepped up, rallied to fill gaps and continuously checked in and supported one another personally and professionally. And we took it one day at a time.” 

Defining Courage 

For Jones, courage in leadership means something specific: relying on experience and instinct while forging ahead during challenging times when you aren’t sure how decisions and direction will play out. It’s a reliance on the strength of your commitment to an idea, a purpose and a team during challenging times. 

The pandemic forced Jones to accept a leadership role she might have “eased into a little more tentatively over a longer period of time.” She was surprised by how clear some of the necessary, but tough decisions, were to make. More importantly, she recognized that leading during a crisis that personally affected every employee required a leadership style that was caring and empathetic, yet professional and attentive to the company’s health.  

Remarkable Growth Through Volatility 

The results speak for themselves. Under Jones’s leadership, O’Connell Robertson has doubled its staff and revenue over five years – a remarkable achievement even in favorable conditions, let alone during a global pandemic and its aftermath. 

Jones attributes this success to focused attention on marketing and business development, combined with the reputation the firm built over seven decades.  

“The diversity of our services in architecture, engineering and interior design combined to support a variety of project types while the knowledge and expertise we’ve intentionally built within our team over the past 10 years helped us win some of the largest projects in the history of the firm since 2020,” she says. “And, we’ve worked very hard.” 

But rapid growth comes with challenges. Maintaining the firm’s culture, brand philosophy and project processes with so many new team members proved difficult. Project managers and mid-level leaders found themselves continuously training newer staff, requiring more of their time and attention. 

“On numerous occasions we questioned whether we were moving too fast,” Jones acknowledges, “but the work was at hand and we made the decision to continue to scale and try to build infrastructure along the way to support the team.” 

People Over Profits 

Jones’s leadership philosophy centers on putting people first and she’s willing to back that up with hard decisions. Years ago, when faced with a client whose board members were openly disrespectful to her team in public meetings, Jones led the decision to walk away, leaving significant fees on the table. 

“The reputation of our firm and demonstrating the value we place on our team members is non-negotiable,” she says.  

What seemed like a loss at the time actually freed her team to focus on clients aligned with the firm’s culture of long-term partnerships, ultimately leading to substantial project opportunities and revenue while demonstrating core values of professionalism, courage and teamwork. 

Legacy and Looking Forward 

As O’Connell Robertson celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, Jones reflects on what she hopes her legacy will be. Beyond the impressive numbers and awards, she wants the firm to be known as one that invests in its people, processes and communities – a mission-driven organization committed to helping clients achieve their goals. 

“I hope my legacy will include being known as a leader that truly created pathways for communication, nurtured a company that has deep roots and strengthened our foundation so that O’Connell Robertson could be poised to continue growing for many years to come,” she says. 

Her advice to her younger self, and perhaps to emerging leaders in the AEC industry, is simple: “Don’t set limits on yourself. Trust your instincts and lean into the strengths that you bring to the table in establishing your leadership style.” 

In an industry that demands technical excellence, Jones reminds us that the most important leadership quality may be the courage to lead with humanity, especially when the path forward is uncertain.