The Spark
SRM Concrete is a second-generation, family-owned company that has grown from a backyard concrete plant in Smyrna to the nation’s largest ready-mix producer, with 8,500 team members across 24 states. Much of that expansion has been driven by founder Mike Hollingshead’s son Jeff, the company’s CEO. Founded in 1999 by Mike and Melissa Hollingshead with five used trucks and no formal business plan, the company was built on faith, work ethic, and a belief that taking care of people is how you build something that lasts. When SRM began designing a new headquarters campus, Chairman Mike Hollingshead saw a chance to extend that philosophy to the families behind his workforce. For Mike, the decision was anchored in a conviction about early childhood itself: quality early childhood care and learning is how to ensure children get the foundation they need for future success in school and the workforce. He asked his daughter-in-law Holly Hollingshead, a lifelong early childhood educator and Jeff’s wife, to build and run a child care center inside the new building. Holly was uncertain at first. But when Jodi Cooper, a former colleague from a church-based program that had closed during COVID, reached out at exactly the right time, the pieces fell into place. Jodi is now CCA’s Co-Director.
The Solution
Concrete Christian Academy (CCA) occupies the ground floor of SRM’s headquarters at 1000 Hollingshead Circle in Murfreesboro. Because the building was designed with the academy in mind, the space includes seven purpose-built classrooms, an outdoor playground, and direct access from the office floors above. The center is open 12 hours a day and currently serves approximately 100 children, with every classroom full and a waiting list. It started with 30 children three years ago and has grown steadily since.
The academy serves children from six weeks through kindergarten entry, exclusively for SRM employees and their families. Both corporate headquarters staff and field employees from across the region, including mixer truck drivers and plant workers from Mount Juliet, Woodbury, and surrounding communities, are eligible. All employees pay approximately one-third of market rate. Child care teachers are employees of SRM Concrete and receive the full SRM benefits package, including health insurance and 401K. Plus their own children attend for free.
The curriculum is faith-based and aligned to Rutherford County’s kindergarten readiness standards. From the infant rooms up, the approach is deliberately educational. Holly was insistent from the beginning: this is an academy, not a babysitting service. The guiding values are simple: love God, love people, and be kind.
The Results
With all classrooms full and a waiting list, the company is already planning to expand into an additional building. Parents walk their child downstairs, go two floors up to their office, and can come back down during the day to nurse an infant, check on a sick child, or wave from the second-floor balcony during outdoor play. That proximity eliminates the daily logistics crisis that costs employers productivity and costs families peace of mind.
SRM’s leadership sees the academy as both a retention and recruiting tool. CEO Jeff Hollingshead has noted that the program not only helps keep existing employees but attracts strong candidates. He points to the company’s notably low turnover as evidence: in Jeff’s view, that retention is a direct result of SRM’s culture and the benefits that back it up, with the child care center now among the most valued of those benefits. The company is clear-eyed that the academy does not generate revenue, but it is equally clear about the return: employees who feel invested in want to come to work and want to stay. Holly hears it every day. Parents tell her this is the best thing the company has ever done for them. For a company whose founder built a concrete plant in his backyard with five used trucks, the willingness to invest in what matters to people is not new. It is who they are.
THE BLUEPRINT
Investment: SRM designed the child care facility into its new headquarters building, eliminating the need for a separate construction project. The program is heavily subsidized by the company. All employees, both corporate and field, pay approximately one-third of market rate. Child care teachers receive the full SRM employee benefits package (health insurance, 401K) and their own children attend free. The program does not generate revenue for SRM; it is treated as a workforce investment.
Timeline: The academy opened when SRM moved into its new headquarters approximately three years ago, starting with 30 children and growing to 100 at full capacity. The licensing process through the State of Tennessee took roughly five months from start to open.
Partners: None external. SRM operates Concrete Christian Academy directly as a company program. Holly Hollingshead, a former early childhood educator, directs the center with Assistant Director Jodi Cooper. Most of the teaching staff came from a church-based child care center where Holly previously worked, which closed during COVID. All child care staff are full SRM employees.
Key Decision: Building the child care center into the new headquarters from the start rather than retrofitting later. By designing the facility with the academy in mind, SRM avoided the code, zoning, and construction challenges that stop many employers before they begin. The result is a purpose-built space with seven classrooms, a playground, and direct access from the office floors above. With the academy at capacity, SRM is already planning to expand into an additional building.
Their Advice: “I was super worried about getting started. I didn’t really know how to do it. But the State of Tennessee has made it super simple and super easy. I would tell them to go for it. Their employees would want to work. They’d want to stay.” – Holly Hollingshead, Director, Concrete Christian Academy