Ray is a native born New Mexican with roots in Northern New Mexico. When his father, and founder of Wooten construction Company, moved the family to Las Cruces 57 years ago, Ray became a permanent Las Cruces resident. Most of that time, 43 years to be exact, he has worked in the commercial construction business. At 20, he became officially employed, and under the tutelage of his father, Clay Wooten, as well as the master builders who made up Clay’s team of experts, he learned the scope of commercial construction from the ground up.

Prior to that “official” start, Ray spent many summers doing the odd construction jobs a kid could manage….especially sweeping and cleaning job sites. So, he was well prepared when, in 1985, he took charge of Wooten Construction Company and became the 2nd generation to carry the company forward.

While Ray’s trademark has become his consistent, knowledgeable, and successful leadership of an ever-growing commercial construction company, he still saves room for the good life away from the world of business.

Along with his wife, he is the proud parent to three grown and busy children. And they, in turn, have opened up the world of grand-parenting to five, and
great-grand-parenting to one, so far.

Having volunteered and served on many community organizations over the years, his active interest in the welfare of Las Cruces is now formalized in his membership in both the Mesilla Valley Business Trends, and the NMSU Aggie Athletic Fund.
    

As the 3rd generation to step into the leadership of Wooten Construction Company, Ken relies on all his 35 years of being trained and groomed for this responsibility by his father, Ray, and grandfather, Clay. A native born Las Crucen, he recalls summers of working for Wooten since he was “old enough to hold a broom”.

Ken moved into high gear in 1986 when he attended the carpenters apprenticeship program. This is currently reflected in his service on the Board of the Joint Carpenter’s Apprenticeship Program. At present, Ken is the Vice President of Wooten Construction Company, as well as its Safety Officer. His experience in Project Management, in addition to Superintending projects, serves him well in effectively running the operations of a growing construction firm. His experience as a Project Manager resulted in the construction of the building he describes as his favorite - Wooton Hall on the NMSU campus, which serves as the Jornada Experimental Range Headquarters.

Raised in the construction business, and a native born Las Crucen, Karen has broadened her construction and building know-how both within Wooten Construction Company as well as outside the family business. From her start as a youngster cleaning up jobsites, through her outstanding experience in home and commercial interior design and sales with Paul Graham Company in Lubbock, Texas, she brings plenty of know-how to her responsibilities as a Wooten Project Manager. She was raised with the Wooten standard of excellence as her model, and she is executing that same standard in her work for the company now.

Being part of the third generation at Wooten means a lot; however, Karen has an equally full life outside the company. She and husband, Jimmy, are parents to four daughters as well as three grandchildren.

On a perfect day, Karen would fit in gardening, a NASCAR race, and some shopping. All while being surrounded by family and friends, including her dogs, German Shepard, Hanna, and Chihuahua, Piddle. That evening she would take in an Aggie basketball game. And then, to top the evening off she would enjoy her favorite food - desert made by someone other than herself!

If you are ever in Las Cruces at Christmas time, you should put Jimmy and Karen’s home on your tour list. Their home is a wonderland of lights, scenes, and sounds both inside and out.
  

Kerry’s 35 years in the construction business have uniquely prepared him to excel in the multi-tasking required of a Project Manager. When he joined Wooten Construction in 1994, he quickly demonstrated his expertise as a Journeyman carpenter, as well as knowledge of steel erection, and tilt wall concrete. With Kerry’s broad, hands-on knowledge of what is required to successfully take a project from bare ground to full completion, he was the perfect fit to step into Project Management in 2003. Kerry knows the Wooten standards of excellence, and brings all his skills to bear in making them his personal standards as well.

A native New Mexican, Kerry grew up as the oldest of three brothers. Perhaps it was this that put Kerry on a good footing to continue to make family his primary interest. He and his wife, Anne, have raised their own “soccer team” of five children.

Kerry’s life-long athletic experience led to coaching various sports starting as early as his own high school years. So, when his own family was ready for the sporting life, Kerry added coaching youth soccer to his sports and community service resume. This resulted in many youngsters being encouraged and positively influenced. Among them, Kerry’s own five children, who all became very active and productive in the sport.

So, it’s not surprising that Kerry says there is nothing he likes more than being with family. On a perfect day, he would also include some fishing, or perhaps a good college football game in the mix. It wouldn’t be hard to plan this perfect day around food since Kerry describes his favorite as “eatable”.
 

Kevin’s home state is Texas; he has lived in Las Cruces and El Paso and has conducted business in Las Cruces for 19 years. His involvement in the construction industry began 30 years ago. Kevin has experience in both General Construction and wholesale building material distribution. Kevin brings focus, and a serious sense of responsibility to his project management duties. This makes him a good match for the goals of professional, quality results that mark a Wooten Construction project.

Kevin brings a fresh attitude to each job, maintaining that his “favorite Las Cruces building” is each one that he works on.

Kevin is married with family and pets, and is also involved in the youth activities at his church…, which means he’s always busy away from work also.
        

Travis is a native New Mexican and another “construction kid”, having been raised in a family construction business in Alamogordo, New Mexico. With this experience of learning the “how to” from the ground up, Travis offers 15 years of experience to the Wooten mix.

Travis is highly focused on providing the Wooten standard of professional service to our clients. We are very pleased to have his knowledge, constant work ethic, and enthusiasm contributed to our Wooten team.

Travis’ life outside the office is active and varied. He may be found golfing, or mountain biking, or golfing, or reading, or golfing, or enjoying his music collection, or…golfing!
 
  

Ben very recently re-located to Las Cruces from San Antonio, Texas. However, Ben’s history with Las Cruces and Wooten Construction Company began many years ago.

Ben’s family made Las Cruces their home for several years when Ben was in Junior High and High school. During that time, Ben was always looking for some extra summer money, and the jobs that would produce it. That led him to Clay Wooten’s office and, after verifying that he could dig a good ditch, he was put to work laboring on one of Wooten’s projects at New Mexico State University.

Thus began Ben’s on-the-ground education in construction, which he enhanced with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from New Mexico State University in 1970. Ben’s 37 years in the construction industry have involved a broad range of responsibilities from Estimator and Field Engineer to Superintending to extensive Project Management. Ben once again contributes his meaningful experience in all these areas, as well as his skill in working with clients and sub-contractors, to Wooten Construction Company projects. You might say he learned the Wooten standards of quality from an early age, and knows exactly how to apply them now.
     

Luke, the youngest of the third generation at Wooten Construction, has recently joined the crew, and brings with him the accounting knowledge he gained while living and working in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Graduating from UNLV in 2002, Luke began his employment with Boyd Gaming Corporation in the Internal Audit Department. During his one year of employment with Boyd Gaming, Luke worked primarily with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accounting firm on various projects. This experience eventually led to an opportunity to join PwC in their Assurance and Business Advisory practice, where he was promoted to Senior Associate. Luke was well traveled during his time at Boyd Gaming and PwC, having clients based along the West coast, Midwest and the South. His largest clients served were Aztar Corporation (parent of Tropicana Hotel and Casino), Boyd Gaming Corporation, Aristocrat Technologies (an Australian slot machine manufacturer), Tulalip Casino and California Commerce Club. Combining his experiences with Boyd Gaming and PwC, Luke gained approximately four and a half years of experience in the fast paced environment of public accounting.

Having earned his CPA designation, Luke began considering plans for the future that he and his older brother Ken had been discussing for several years. Those plans brought him back to his hometown of Las Cruces, and his current position with the family business.