Apr 19, 2022

Sequoyah

Ghassemi

Cayton

Nichols

Redmond-based electrical and technologies contractor Sequoyah promoted two key leaders into its executive team: Chris Nichols is now president and Ron Cayton is chief operations officer. Nichols has held many positions at Sequoyah, including project manager, special projects division manager and vice president of preconstruction. Cayton has extensive experience running the operations of two nationwide electrical and technologies companies.

“We see this change as a part of our commitment to continuous improvement,” said CEO and former president Mahmood Ghassemi in a news release. “As the company grows, our organizational structure, leadership and supporting teams evolve to allow for our team to continue to be successful. Sequoyah's next generation is made up of many energetic, engaged, and talented professionals. Our approach to training and development will provide great opportunities for this generation of individuals to take the next step in leading our team into the future.”

Skyline Enterprises

Bay Area-based Skyline Enterprises appointed Jessica Carps as CEO. Carps previously was COO and before that CFO. During her seven years at the company, she helped it grow from $175 million to over $700 million in revenue. She also brokered the acquisition in 2020 of Seattle-based Unimark Construction Group and its sister company Servicemark. Unimark is a commercial interiors general contractor, as is Skyline. Carps succeeds David Hayes, who served as CEO and board chair since 2005. Hayes retains the role of board chair and chief revenue officer.

AGC of America

Several Pacific Northwest firms won AGC-Willis Towers Watson Construction Safety Excellence Awards. The awards were presented to 47 companies at the recent Associated General Contractors National Convention in Texas. Local first place category winners were: BNBuilders of Seattle/San Diego, Building Division (over 550,000 hours); Taylor Northwest of Bend, Oregon, Heavy Division (under 400,000 hours); and Whitaker Ellis Builders of Tigard, Oregon, Specialty Division (under 500,000 hours). Second place winners were: Coffman Excavation of Oregon City, Oregon, Utility Infrastructure Division; and JH Kelly of Vancouver, Specialty Division (1.5 million-4 million hours). Third place honors went to: Walsh Construction Co. of Portland, Construction Management Division (under 250,000 hours); Slayden Constructors of Stayton, Oregon, Utility Infrastructure Division; and Western Partitions of Wilsonville, Oregon, Specialty Division (1.5 million-4 million hours). Choate Construction Co. of Charlotte, North Carolina, was named the nation's safest construction company.

Transblue

Redmond-based Transblue won a contract to become Albertson's official parking lot sweeper. The deal involves around-the-clock service at all Albertson's stores. Transblue says that consolidation of Albertson's sweeping services is expected to reduce the grocer's overall costs over the next five to 10 years. Transblue is a construction management and maintenance firm specializing in residential, commercial, government and multifamily properties.

Apr 12, 2022

Compass Construction

Hunter

Leahy

Shore

Loven

Doherty

Gilbert

Orban

Kirkland-based Compass Construction promoted Csaba Orban to superintendent; and Mike Gilbert, Jim Doherty, Kenis Loven, Bill Shore, Tim Leahy and Max Hunter to field superintendents. Orban started his career at Compass as an assistant superintendent in January 2021. He moved to the U.S. in 2001 from Germany. Gilbert is a WSU alumnus who has been with Compass for 2½ years, initially as an assistant superintendent. Doherty was rehired in 2021 as an assistant superintendent and has two years with the company. Loven started in 2016 with Compass as an assistant superintendent. Shore has been with Compass for seven years, first as a project engineer, then a senior project engineer and later rehired in 2020 as an assistant superintendent. He attended Seattle University and has special forces military experience. Leahy started at Compass in 2017 as a carpenter and was promoted in 2019 to assistant superintendent. Hunter is another WSU alumnus. He joined Compass in 2017 as an assistant superintendent and was rehired in 2018.

UMC

Gaines

Deac

Mukilteo-based UMC hired Stephen Deac as an account executive in the Facility Services Development group, and Willis Gaines as building automation manager in the Building Automation group. Deac is developing and managing health care client relationships, and deploying strategies to increase operational efficiency. He has experience developing projects, retrofits and energy service performance contracts within the health care market, as well as preventative HVAC/plumbing maintenance contracts. Gaines is strategically growing market presence and developing a framework to maintain the Building Automation group's position as an industry leader. He has over 33 years of experience in the building automation industry, working with commercial, high-rise, data center, health care, education and industrial projects.

BNBuilders

BNBuilders won first place at the 2022 AGC Construction Safety Excellence Awards after competing at the recent AGC National Convention in Texas. This is the third time BNBuilders has been recognized with this national award in the last decade — previously winning in 2013 and 2020. The general contractor also won regional AGC safety awards in both California and Washington. The company says it invests in its safety programs from the top down. A few of its practices include a weekly safety coordination meeting with over 100 people, and a “Safety Champions” program that allows team members to award an on-the-spot gift card to those who go above and beyond to assure safe working conditions. Leary Jones is the corporate safety director at BNBuilders.