Small Business Today Magazine APR 2014 MONTGOMERY ROTH | Page 9

apparent that Katrina was a much stronger storm than the New Orleans natives
were accustomed to. In 2005, John and
Lisa made the decision to find a nearby
city away from the storm’s devastation to
temporarily relocate their practice. Having
an ideal location, strong business potential,
and personal connections for the pair,
Houston immediately topped their list.
Arriving in Houston just a few days after Katrina, Lisa and John urgently rushed
to get Montgomery Roth back in operation. With half their clients rooted in
other parts of the country including New
York, Georgia, Nevada, and California, they
didn’t want to interrupt their work flow.
The Montgomery Roth Team often gets together to cook up new designs for their clients.
“Within a few days after Katrina, our cliprojects across the globe with projects streamline the design and construction ents called to make sure we were all okay
in Tunisia, North Africa, and The Bahamas process so hotel owners, general man- but also needed to understand the impact
as well as local hotels like Harrah’s Ca- agers, and hotel management companies this storm might have on their projects,”
sino in New Orleans, the first of Louisi- could go to one firm for architecture, in- recalled John. Lisa began the initial steps
ana’s land-based casinos. Working closely terior design, and procurement services. to set up a temporary office. As a longtogether for three years, John and Lisa They launched Montgomery Roth Archi- time member of the New Orleans Chapbecame keenly aware of each other’s tal- tecture & Interior Design on April 1, 1998 ter of the Entrepreneurs Organization,
ents, strengths, and career goals. Most im- and hit the ground running in a niche mar- she reached out to the Houston Chapter
portantly, they realized that their greatest ket by offering three in-demand services for aid. Lisa reflected, “The immediate redesire was to work in a firm that focused through one company. Word got out rap- sponse from the members of the organion hospitality design and provide both ar- idly and their business grew like wildfire. zation was incredible. They were able to
chitecture and interior design with equal Within the first month of starting the firm, help us find office space and tempo