Growing up as the son of a handyman and GC, I fell in love with construction and working with my hands at a young age. At the start of my career in GC and electrical contractor project management, I experienced the beauty and pain of project delivery. Our industry is so rich in what it provides to our communities yet there is so much waste and room for improvement. I started VEC with the goal of us being a leader in this needed change, challenging the status quo, helping the best build better, and creating enjoyable and fulfilling AEC careers. My personal 'why' has really only just begun.
One of my most memorable customer experiences stories occurred near the end of one of our early mega projects. I was in a meeting with our client, one of the large contractors on the project, and I asked for feedback on my team's performance and how the client is performing on the project (the true metric of our success.) He leaned back in his chair and said, "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but it shouldn't be this easy." I took out my journal and wrote it down immediately as this was the first major validation that we ARE improving project delivery and making work more enjoyable for our clients.
In the early moonlighting days of VEC (2010–2015) I was solo while working full-time as an Electrical PM. Those memories are a blend of vision and optimism, long nights trying to "master" Revit with minimal learning resources (my Revit O.G.'s know what I'm talking about), a few failures, and, fortunately, a few early successes delivering BIM on my electrical projects.
In 2016 I pursued VEC full-time with the support of my wife and we have incredible memories of living/traveling in a motorhome around North America while I worked on the first business plan for VEC, an online VDC training program. At the end of our trip, and after 1,000+ hours spent developing the training program, I found that I was beat to market by one of the largest companies in the world. So, I tossed it in the virtual trash and started to write five new business plans. Despite memories of defeat and uncertainty, the best memories were the 6 months spent staying with family and friends and the much needed support and encouragement we received.
2017 is when the real fun began. One of the five business plans worked out and we got our first projects delivering BIM services so I started to build a team. I have so many vivid memories: the first day I met new team members; working side-by-side in jobsite offices and storage closets (seriously); the "build-a-chair" new hire test; visiting Ukraine and Brazil; setting up our first office; celebrating milestones like 100 people and 100 projects in less than 3 years; creating our VECore Values; leaning on each other as brothers and sisters. Every day that I am with our team is an impactful memory regardless of whether we are working through challenges, envisioning the future, celebrating successes, or partying like there’s no tomorrow. I have so much love and gratitude for the global VECrüe, and I know first-hand that life and business are truly Better Together.
Growing up as the son of a handyman and GC, I fell in love with construction and working with my hands at a young age. At the start of my career in GC and electrical contractor project management, I experienced the beauty and pain of project delivery. Our industry is so rich in what it provides to our communities yet there is so much waste and room for improvement. I started VEC with the goal of us being a leader in this needed change, challenging the status quo, helping the best build better, and creating enjoyable and fulfilling AEC careers. My personal 'why' has really only just begun.
I’ve had a chance over the last decade plus to engage with owners, builders, and designers on projects all over the world. One key insight is that many of the challenges are shared by each stakeholder group, but they are approaching solutions from a different perspective. I bring a unique and broad industry perspective that will help our clients work better together as effective teams across the supply chain by bringing clarity to the challenges they face and driving innovative solutions that position VEC as a trusted partner. My background in data and AI also brings a perspective on the importance of data governance and standardization, which becomes increasingly important as more of the industry adopts cutting-edge tools. My hope is to leverage this expertise to modernize and streamline VEC’s operations internally, and to deliver value to our clients to help the best build better.
VEC was built on innovation from the start. Our proven track record of using advanced technology solutions to deliver real-world value for projects doesn’t need to be reinvented, because the strong foundation is there. But we need to evolve, and help our client evolve with us. Innovation is in our DNA, and that necessitates change and growth as technology evolves. We are in a period of unprecedented change across the industry and the world at large, and my goal is to build systems and processes that will allow us to stay ahead of the curve. The opportunity for the next phase of growth at VEC is to expand our breadth and our depth to deliver value to our clients across the entire project lifecycle.
