Jerome Stephens tackled a big challenge nearly 20 years ago when he steered his company, called at the time A&A Plumbing in Baltimore, away from plumbing and into a new market: replacing failing water and sewer lines by using pipe bursting and directional drilling technology.
It wasn’t an easy transition. The equipment, made by Pow-R Mole Trenchless Solutions, represented a significant investment for a young entrepreneur with few resources, and the learning curve was steep. Furthermore, Stephens also had to contend with officials in local municipalities who weren’t convinced the technologies, which were relatively new at the time, would work well
