The Signs of Success : Owner of American Barricade in Orange Honored for Beating Odds
The pivotal moment in Judith Digon’s life occurred at midnight, Feb. 6, 1971 in Grand Rapids, Mich.
She and her husband John were driving through an icy storm when their car swerved on an overpass, pitching over a guardrail and plunging 40 feet. The car landed upside-down on another highway.
“I knew my back was broken,” she said. “I knew my husband was dead.”
Over time, Digon gravitated to the field of traffic safety, and today owns a company that sets up lighted signs and safety barriers at road construction projects.
“It was as if I didn’t seek a vocation, it sought me,” said Digon, one of the few women at the top of this male-dominated industry.
Despite verbal jabs from male colleagues, Digon, who runs American Barricade Inc. in Orange, said she somehow felt she belonged in the business.
In 1984, Digon also became the first female officer of American Traffic Safety Services Assn., a national industry trade group in Virginia, and in 1986 she became the first woman president of the state counterpart, Flasher Barricade Assn. in Sacramento.
And next month, the Villa Park resident will be one of six women nationwide to receive the 1996 Women of Enterprise Award for “beat[ing] the odds to become successful business owners,” an honor bestowed by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Avon Products Inc. It is the 10th year the award has been given to women entrepreneurs.
“I’d say she was probably one of the pioneers as far as being an owner-operator,” said Ken Williams, president of Sacramento-based Flash Safety Co. Inc., adding that Digon has been a key player at state association meetings.
“I think she probably helped not only the industry but also her gender with her professionalism,” Williams said.
In the early 1980s, when Digon bought American Barricade, fewer than 1% of the state’s traffic control businesses were owned or operated by women, said Debbie Hunsaker-Kemmerer, 41, the state association’s current president. The balance has shifted slightly, but more than 90% of the companies are still owned by men, she said.
In fact, Hunsaker-Kemmerer said, she would not have pursued a leadership role in the industry were it not for the example set by Digon, whom she met in the early 1980s.
“Our industry is pretty tough for women,” said Hunsaker-Kemmerer, CEO of Alert-O-Lite, a traffic control and construction supply company in Fresno. “Judy has been a mentor to me. She gives me the drive or the confidence it takes.”
If Digon, 48, helped shove open the door for women in her field, it was not easy.
After her husband died, she underwent months of rehabilitation for her injuries before she and her sister decided to move to California to escape the cold and seek new careers.
Having worked earlier as an executive secretary, Digon broke into the traffic safety industry in 1977 as saleswoman for the former Rhodes & Maine in Fullerton.
Digon said she later invested in another traffic safety company and in 1981 bought American Barricade.
Her company, which has 15 employees, rents and sells traffic safety devices such as lighted message boards, arrow boards for merging traffic and cones used to divert traffic. The company also supplies workers to install the equipment, creates traffic plans and handles road closures for the movie industry.
Digon will not discuss financial information about her company, but said she has managed to expand without bank loans or other outside financing. The company now has a branch in Burbank.
Moving into a leadership role nationally was difficult, she said.
“I walked into my first board meeting, a man said, ‘A cute little number like you should be in the bedroom, not the boardroom,’ ” she said. “Many times, I was going to quit.”
But she decided to stick with it. “I needed to be in this industry, I needed to serve a purpose,” she said.
“I learned one thing in the accident. An accident happens in 30 seconds. Your life goes on, but it’s not ever the same again.”
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American Barricade Inc.
* Headquarters: Orange
* Business: Rents and sells traffic safety devices to the highway construction industry, provides equipment and crews for road closures, and creates traffic plans.
* Employees: 15
* History: Founded in 1964 by Hal Hirshon. Purchased in 1981 by Digon.
Source: Judith Digon, owner; researched by LESLIE EARNEST / For The Times
