Leonard Cherry joins the World Demolition Awards

Leonard Cherry, Managing Director. (PHOTO: Cerise Family)

Leonard, who has over 42 years of experience, was the owner and president of Cherry Companies.

The contractor specialised in demolition services in the commercial, residential, and industrial sector, and also provided recycling services alongside roll-off and transportation services.

Leonard’s hands-on-approach to leadership resulted in the company’s turnover rising from US$500,000 in 1985 to over $175 million in 2020.

By that time the company was believed to be one of the 10 largest demolition companies in the United States and the largest construction and demolition waste recycler in the state of Texas.

Over the years, Leonard has been an active member of multiple industry bodies - including the Association of General Contractors (AGC), the Construction Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA) and the National Demolition Association, for which he served as its President. 

Today, Leonard heads up Cerise Family LLP, which was formed in 2020 after the sale of Cherry Companies. Cerise provides consulting services utilising the knowledge and expertise that Leonard and his team cultivated through the growth of the original Cherry family business.

Leila Steed, Programme Organiser for the World Demolition Summit and Awards, said: “I am consistantly blown away by how incredible the people in our industry really are, and by how willingly they volunteer their time and expertise to help us raise the profile of the industry in a positive and honest way.

“This year, one of our judges had to step back from the panel (for personal reasons) at a late stage in the judging process. Within just a few hours of that happening, Leonard had generously volunteered to take on the responbility.

“I also had three of my existing judges - whom already had around 25 project entries each to assess - offer to help, and a number of other industry leaders also volunteer to assist.

She added: “I want to sincerely and publicly thank Leonard - who brings yet more invaluable expertise to our team, as well as Bill Moore, Francisco Cobo and Henrik Bonnesen for their added assistance over the past several days.”