Best and Brightest: Alex Bedoya

Alex Bedoya

Founder/CEO

United Front Safety Solutions, LLC

Greenville

Age 32

I'm a Marine Corps veteran and the founder and CEO of United Front Safety Solutions, a veteran-owned construction safety company headquartered in Greenville. We started with just two of us, myself and one fellow veteran, and have grown into a full safety staffing, training, consulting, and PPE operation serving general contractors across the Southeast, with a team that is roughly 80 percent veterans. That team is my proudest accomplishment. My long-term goal is to build UFSS into a national construction safety partner while creating a place where veterans find brotherhood, professionalism, and financial success after service. Giving back means opening doors, not writing checks. I serve on the board of directors of SC-QRF and the Upstate Veterans Business Network, both focused on helping veterans transition, connect, and win in civilian life. Every worker who goes home safe and every veteran who builds a career with us is the mission. My service didn't end when I took off the uniform. It changed uniforms.

Your favorite quote and why? "It is not the critic who counts. ... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly." Theodore Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" resonates with me because it pushes me to take action instead of sitting on the sidelines. Whether for my family, in business, or in life, I want to be a person who is willing to step in, risk failure, and keep striving. 

What is your definition of a successful leader? A successful leader builds everyone up around them. Leadership is service: elevating your people so they can accomplish their goals for themselves and their families. When the team wins, the leader has done their job.

 What advice would you give your 18-year-old self? Surround yourself with mentors and people who have already accomplished what you want in life. You don't have to learn every lesson the hard way. The right people in your corner will help you make the best decisions far sooner than you would on your own.