
Dennis F. Gilbert, P.E.
President
Dennis is the founder of Tesoro Corporation. In 1997, he resigned from his federal government job to start the company. By combining all of his government retirement savings with a loan from Sun Trust Bank, he amassed enough money to capitalize the business for a year. And so Tesoro Corporation was born.
The name Tesoro means “treasure” in Spanish in honor of Dennis’ Hispanic heritage and in recognition that it took all his “earthly treasure” to start the business. Since its founding in June of 1997, Tesoro has grown from a small, five-person company doing a half a million dollars in business a year, to a company of over 150 people with an annual revenue exceeding $50 million.
Prior Experience
Dennis began his professional career in the oil industry
where he was responsible for bidding, negotiation, contract award, engineering
design, purchas
After a successful first career in the private sector, he transitioned to the public sector where he joined the Navy civil service. During the ten years prior to establishing Tesoro, Dennis served in the Construction Division of the Atlantic Division (LANTDIV), Naval Facilities Engineering Command. He held positions as: Assistant Resident Officer in Charge of Construction, Naval Station, Norfolk; Supervisory General Engineer, Naval Station, Rota, Spain; Senior Construction Manager and Assistant Operations Branch Head at LANTDIV headquarters in Norfolk; and Supervisory General Engineer, Naval Air Station, Oceana. In June of 1997, Dennis resigned from the Navy's Facilities and Engineering command and invested all of his retirement funds to start up Tesoro Corporation.
Dennis is currently responsible for the day-to-day management of Tesoro Corporation. Tesoro Corporation has grown from $500,000 of revenues in 1998 to over $60 million annually, providing quality new facilities and renovations throughout the United States, concentrated in the mid-Atlantic, but also constructing facilities in most of the states East of the Rockies. The company performs approximately sixty to eighty simultaneous projects every year.
At one time, Tesoro was recognized as the fastest growing company (of any kind) in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the 24th fastest growing company in the United States. As a General Contractor, projects range from out-of-the-ground new buildings to waterfront work and classroom renovations, with the emphasis in fast-tract Design-Build high quality responsive construction services.
Now in our tenth year, Tesoro's growth continues. Dennis has put together a team of great people that continue to meet our goal of making Tesoro the "Contractor of Choice" for our clients.
In all, Dennis has 34 years of experience in the construction industry.
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Louisiana State University
Master of Public Administration, Troy State University
Graduate Studies Diploma, Naval War College
Registered Professional Engineer, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, and Washington
Hampton Roads Post, Society of American Military Engineers
Associated General Contractors of Virginia
Associated Builders and Contractors
Fluent in Spanish