About Us
Native Resource Development Company is a local success story built from the ground up on the Navajo Nation. Founded in 1990 by Navajo woman Ms. “Penny” Emerson, the company began with a deep understanding of community needs and a commitment to serving others with compassion, professionalism, and purpose.
Penny grew up on the Navajo Reservation, where her mother and father encouraged her to pursue a college education. Her parents both worked for the Indian Health Service—her mother as a nurse and her father as a facilities engineer—helping shape Penny’s lifelong dedication to health, human services, and community support.
About Native Resource Development
In 1990, Penny recognized a major unmet need within the Navajo Nation: transportation for elderly and disabled patients traveling to medical appointments. To address this challenge, she brought together her education, experience, and entrepreneurial spirit to incorporate Native Resource Development.
She opened an office in the Navajo Nation Capital in Window Rock, Arizona, and began providing non-emergency medical transport services to her first patients. This work laid the foundation for a company focused on reliable service, dignity, and care.
Meeting a Critical Need in the Navajo Nation
After graduating with a degree in Hospital Administration, Penny spent 15 years administering health and human service-oriented programs for the Navajo Nation and other Native American Tribes throughout the western United States.
This experience gave her firsthand insight into the challenges facing Native communities, especially elderly and disabled individuals who needed dependable support to access essential medical care.
Leadership Rooted in Health and Human Services
In 1997, Penny moved the company headquarters to Gallup, New Mexico. Soon after, she was approached by a local businessperson interested in selling a small housekeeping business serving a dozen homes in Gallup.
Penny acquired the company, added commercial accounts, and renamed it Reliable Janitorial Services. Today, RUS has evolved into Integrated Facilities Services and operates a robust portfolio of custodial and food service contracts from coast to coast.
Growth into Custodial and Food Service Contracts
Native Resource Development now supports a wide range of facilities, including hospitals and medical clinics, professional office buildings, commercial and industrial sites, and military and government facilities.
From its beginnings on the Navajo Nation to its continued growth nationwide, Native Resource Development remains guided by the same values that inspired its founding: quality service, community care, and dependable support.