Some leaders inherit stability. Daren Johnson chose the opposite, stepping into a company on the edge of collapse because he believed he could turn it around. As Chief Executive Officer of Larson Tower, he built his conviction on 17 years spent in telecommunications and land development, partnering directly with Fortune 500 clients and leading teams that ranged from a handful of people to several dozen.

The company he joined in mid-2022 was struggling to survive. Larson Tower had cycled through roughly 50 employees in 18 months, morale had eroded and the business was deep in the red. When the owners offered equity as a final effort to avoid closure, Johnson accepted, and he took ownership of the hard decisions from his first day.

He conducted a thorough personnel review that included parting ways with an underperforming owner and others perpetuating dysfunction. He then drove the rebuild personally, bringing in a Controller who became Chief Financial Officer, elevating a Project Manager to Operations Manager and restructuring the field teams. Performance-based bonuses and incentives were introduced to reward accountability and effort, while non-essential expenses were stripped to the core.

Those changes were tested almost immediately by an industry-wide reduction in available work of roughly 40%. Larson Tower not only weathered that downturn, it reversed years of losses into consistent profit, distributing its first profit bonuses in 2025. This work earned Johnson recognition as a Titan 100 Honoree, a distinction reserved for the region’s most accomplished leaders.

A single phrase captures his approach: ridiculously consistent. People once teased him for repeating it so often. Now it is the company slogan, and it grounds a team operating in an industry defined by regulatory hurdles, supply shortages and fast-moving technology. Consistency is not flashy, but it works, and it flows from three commitments Johnson holds without exception: clear vision, full accountability and complete transparency.

That combination reshaped the company’s reputation. Larson Tower moved from being relegated to lower-tier work to becoming the preferred partner for major carriers who now rely on it for complex tower builds, maintenance and turnkey projects on the country’s wireless infrastructure. Employee retention followed the same trajectory, stabilized through internal promotions, profit sharing and honest communication.

Johnson follows an employee-first philosophy drawn from the Marriott playbook and Richard Branson, the belief that taking care of your people first allows everything else to follow. In telecommunications tower work, where the best possible team experience is often overlooked, that principle has become a competitive advantage.

Looking toward 2030, Johnson has mapped a deliberate growth model of steady year-over-year expansion, new markets across the Intermountain West, dedicated office and warehouse hubs and heavy investment in automation. It is stable, disciplined progress built on a foundation he rebuilt from nothing, and it reflects a leader who stays in the trenches every single day.

Editorial Note: This profile reflects information submitted by the honoree at the time of their Titan 100 recognition in August 2026. Professional roles and affiliations may have changed since publication.