Fortune Magazine Names Southwest-Related Firms Among the Best Companies For Workers
Fortune Magazine released its “100 best companies to work for in the U.S.” list and several notable construction and engineering firms with ties to the Southwest made the cut. Kimley-Horn and Associates, Burns & McDonnell, Autodesk, PCL Construction and TDIndustries all made the list alongside the likes of Google, which topped the list for the seventh time in 10 years.

 

Fortune named Kimley-Horn and Associates the top-ranked design consulting firm on the list, placing the company at No. 7. The North Carolina-based company has four offices in Arizona and one in Las Vegas. It has worked on a diverse array of projects throughout the Southwest. Fortune singled out the company’s benevolent attitude towards employees, profit sharing model, 401k match and generous retirement compensation as reasons for its high ranking.

 

Burns & McDonnell, an engineering and design firm out of Kansas City, came in at No. 16 on the Fortune list. The magazine applauds the employee-owned company’s automatic employee ownership model that automatically makes payments to every employee yearly. The company has an office in Phoenix and has a working history in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, including its current contract to build a special use building at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

 

Autodesk, which produces design software used throughout the industry achieved the No. 54 spot on Fortune’s list due to its extensive employee sabbatical program and expenses-paid trips awarded to top sales employees.

 

PCL Construction made the list for the 11th straight year and came in No. 60 on this year’s list, up seven spots from last year’s ranking. The magazine cites PCL’s employee-ownership model, dynamic culture and wellness initiatives among the top reasons why the company makes the list consistently.

 

“To be named to Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for 11 years is an accomplishment we’re extremely proud of and a true testament to the culture of PCL,” says Shaun Yancey, president and COO of US Operations.

 

Lastly, TDIndustries ranked #65 on the list. The company predominantly operates in Texas, but also serves the Phoenix market. Partnership is the name of the game at this employee-owned company where no partner owns more than 4% of the company.

 

ASU Sustainability Series Tackles “Buildings of the Future”
Nora Wang and Patrick Phelan will present “Buildings of the Future” as a part of Arizona State University’s Sustainability Series on April 1 at the institution’s Tempe campus. Phelan, an ASU faculty member since 1996, is currently on leave from the university to assist the U.S. Department of Energy. She joins Wang, a senior engineer from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with 10 years of research experience in energy-efficient buildings, to talk about the future of buildings, beyond zero energy and zero carbon.

 

The Department of Energy and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are developing metrics and trying to pinpoint what a typical U.S. building might be like in 100 years by calculating for energy, GHG emissions, water, waste, health, productivity, and interactions among buildings, the broader community, and utilities. According to the Energy Department website, the DOE’s project will help “ensure advance program planning and prepare the right strategies... for the future,” as well as “inspire the development of new, high-impact technologies for the cityscape environment.”

 

ASU will provide lunch for the talk, which begins at noon.

 

PENTA Building Group Stands Down for Safety
The PENTA Building Group temporarily shut down all of its job sites around the country on March 7 and 8 to conduct a quarterly Safety Stand Down. Over 1,000 PENTA employees gathered at job sites across three states, including the site of the T-Mobile Arena in Nevada, to focus on reducing musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) or, rather, strains and sprains.

 

"Safety is PENTA's highest priority and is at the very core of everything we do,” says Rodd Weber, safety director of The PENTA Building Group. "Our goal is for everyone involved in a project to return home safely after every work shift. The combination of our corporate culture, ongoing educational efforts, performance monitoring and enforcement of safety helps us maintain our highest safety standards.”

 

PENTA has won safety awards in the past, the latest in October 2015 from AGC for Safest Contractor of the Year.

 

PENTA’s website cites a current streak of 2,364 days without a lost-time injury. The Safety Stand Down is part of PENTA’s Safe Teams in ‘16 campaign.

 

Nevada Chapter of AGC Announces New Officers
The Nevada Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America in March announced its officers for 2016, highlighted by the appointment of Trish Bullentini-Kuzanek, the vice president of Martin Iron Works, Inc., as the organization’s president.

Additional officers include Lance Semenko of Q & D Construction, Inc., first vice president; Jim Miller of CORE Construction Services of Nevada, second vice president; and Nathan Roach of Gradex Construction Co., treasurer. Justin Ivory of A-1 Steel served as the past president and also served as national director.

The AGC is celebrating their 75th year of supporting construction companies. Additional names for officers and directors can be found on the AGC website.