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Richard Aguirre -Superintendent
Los Alamos WWTP -Los Alamos New Mexico
Richard Aguirre’s career at Western Summit Constructors, Inc. (WSCI) defines loyalty and commitment to one company.
Richard was hired through INROADS, which was a non-profit organization that places talented minority youth into established internship programs in Colorado businesses. He has served in many roles including field and project engineering, estimating, field supervision and project management. This experience has afforded him a well-rounded skill set of abilities and a vast understanding of the water industry.
His commitment began for Western Summit in 1994 as a laborer at the Blackhawk, Colorado Wastewater Treatment Plant and he has quickly progressed through the ranks.
From 1995 through 1998, his internship role supported field engineer and project engineer responsibilities, and in December of 1998, WSCI hired Richard full time as a field engineer. He started out at the Erie Water Treatment Plant working there for a year and a half. He then crossed over to project engineering and moved on assignment to Summit County, Colorado working on the Dillon Wastewater Treatment Plant for another year and a half. WSCI brought Richard down to the Denver corporate office and placed him in an estimating role for a year to provide him an opportunity to further understand project procurement. After this assignment, he was promoted to a chief field engineer in 2003 at the award-winning Nelson-Flanders WTP in Longmont, Colorado.
Richard was promoted again in 2004 to Superintendent and moved his family south to El Paso, Texas, where his first assignment was at the Hueco Bolson Aquifer Project. After success at the Hueco Bolson job, he stayed in El Paso and transferred to a project manager role for the last 30% of construction at the award-winning Upper Valley WTP, valued at $27.7 million. After a few years in Texas, Richard is currently serving as a General Superintendent for the remote Los Alamos, New Mexico Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Richard approaches his projects in a way to fully support those that work for and with him in order to get the job done right. Long time Superintendent and field leader Doug Langfeldt says, “Richard portrays the Western Summit Core Values classically. When it comes to People, he has always been very approachable by all levels of the field regarding questions and concerns and he is very patient and willing to help anyone in need. In fact, he has regularly been the project champion for our Spanish speaking personnel by looking out for their best interests. When considering his Integrity, you can count on Richard’s word as gold.”
Project Procurement Vice President Doug Arnold supervised Richard during his stint in estimating. He states, “Doing things well always appears to be more important to Richard than just simply doing them as a matter of course as he’s built his career.” Doug describes Richard as personable and well-balanced with a great sense of priority.
Richard spends most of his spare time with his family outside of work. With an eight year old son, a five year old daughter, and another two year old daughter, he certainly has his hands full. Even though he maintains a busy lifestyle, he truly loves his job and considers himself very fortunate.
Western Summit believes they are the fortunate ones to have him as such a committed and loyal employee.
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 Kelly Wilson - Project Manager
F. Wayne Hill Water Reclamation Center- Phase 2 Contract 4- AWT Facilities
She graduated in 1995 from Georgia Tech with a BS in Building Construction and a Certificate in City Planning. Out of school, she began her career working for a structural steel fabricator. After spending 4 years with them, she moved on to work as a Project Engineer and Assistant Project Manager for a general contractor in the Atlanta area. She managed a number of commercial projects such as building additions, construction of a 265,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant, and a renovation/addition to the Clemson Littlejohn Basketball Coliseum.
Kelly joined Western Summit in April of 2003 and has been making strides since. She accepted her first role as Lead Civil Project Engineer in Buford, Georgia on the F. Wayne Hill Water Reclamation Center Phase 2, Contract 4 project, where Western Summit’s portion of the work was an $85M membrane treatment facility. Just a month into her work, she was promoted to Senior Project Engineer and after spending an additional two years on the project, she was again promoted to Project Manager. She chose WSCI because, "they extended me something different--a huge opportunity to work on a large project with a great team of people and it worked out great for me. Not only did this work environment fit my personality, but the friendships that I have gained along the way make my daily activities all the more interesting and rewarding."
We asked Kelly what made Western Summit different that other contractors she’d worked with in the past, and she replied, "WSCI offers a more challenging work day coupled with a fun atmosphere. They have unending opportunities to improve oneself and their career." Her combination of a down to earth mentality and passion for her job make it easy to work with her as a coworker, engineering partner or owner. Former project colleague and long time WSCI superintendent, Mike Raybourn, described Kelly in these three words: Dedicated, Tenacious, and Fair. He further explains, "Kelly is very intelligent and really understands the construction industry. Her innovation and ability to figure things out is quite impressive. She is a very hard worker and does whatever is required to stay on top of of the project needs and she is never afraid to take on new challenges or assignments."
Kelly’s motto is, "set your goals first, challenge yourself every day, work hard and have fun!" Keep up the great work and attitude Kelly-- those are valuable words for anyone to follow. Western Summit is lucky to have such an excellent and committed project manager. Thank you.
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| Boyd Dunham |
Division Manager - Southwest Division |
Dedicated, Honest, and Passionate – Three impressive words that describe Boyd Dunham, Division Manager of Western Summit's newly formed Southwest Division. After 18 years of dedicated service, Boyd has had a positive impact on every project he's touched at Western Summit Constructors (WSCI).
Boyd graduated from Montana State University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Engineering Technology. His construction career started as a laborer during the summers through college. Right out of school in 1983, he began working on a project that included laying high-rise foundations in the Denver area. After that, his work entailed slurry cutting at a coal strip mine in Montana, and installing power lines from Montrose to Rifle, Colorado. His next job took him to Fort Collins, CO where he worked on a wastewater treatment plant. After a year on the project, the bonding company took over the project from his employer at the time, and awarded Western Summit the remainder of the contract. And thus, the story began for Boyd and WSCI.
Boyd Dunham has worked on 14 different projects since joining the WSCI team. The path that he has taken over the years has been quite impressive. Starting as a Field Engineer on his first two projects from 1987 to1988, he was promoted in 1989 to Chief Field Engineer and Assistant Superintendent on a project for Metro Wastewater Reclamation District's large treatment plant in Denver, CO. In 1990, he was promoted to General Superintendent for his next six projects over a 10 year span, including two year-long tours through WSCI's estimating department in 1992 and 1996.
In 2000, Boyd was instrumental in procuring the Camp Creek Improvements Project, an $85 million design-build-operate project in Fulton County, GA. After that role, he was assigned as Project Manager status on the Scott Candler Reservoirs Project from 2001-2004. Because of his continued success, Boyd was promoted to Site Manager to run the Chattahoochee/Hemphill design-build water treatment plant project, a $33 million upgrade and improvement project for the City of Atlanta. Simultaneously, Boyd was Site Manger on an $85 million new membrane facility project in Gwinnett County, GA.
In 2005, Boyd was promoted to the Southwest Division Manager. Boyd's approach to his work is simple and consistent. He states, “No matter what the size of the project is, you always start at the bottom and work up. Pre-planning is absolutely critical on any project. You have to be able to hit the job running at full speed or the job will run you and you'll never catch up.”
Boyd's persistence and career path is a testament to WSCI's desire to move their employees up through the ranks as their skills and achievements develop. Dan Coder, Vice President of Operations says, “Boyd has never turned down an assignment. He has always approached each assignment in a way that focuses on the best interests of the company while improving himself from the experience. With an attitude like this, the sky is the limit for Boyd and others' career growth in this company.” Mr. Dunham has truly been a role model for the up and coming field and project engineers that are striving to advance their career. His mentality and work ethic walks hand in hand with WSCI's core values. Dan Coder continues, “His Integrity, Intensity, and Can-Do Attitude have not gone unnoticed throughout his career, as his reputation and experience makes him an integral staple in Western Summit's success.”
When talking of Boyd's success and commitment to the company, WSCI's Rocky Mountain Division Manger, Tom Paul states, “…he gives 110% at everything he tackles. He is relentless in his pursuit of excellence.” Tom Paul started with Boyd in 1987 and has developed his career along side him and says, “Boyd and I grew up together at WSCI, so I see him as family, not just a colleague.”
When Boyd was asked what makes Western Summit different from other contractors out there, he explains, “Our core values make us different. Everyone we hire is very intense and innovative. You can look across the company and see that new ideas are flowing and the midnight oil is always burning. WSCI is a growing company and this creates opportunity for people to move up and reach their career goals. Employees have the chance to move to other parts of the company and see other places increasing the circle of influence on opportunity for advancement. I guess I might as well have a WSCI tattoo. I can't imagine life with out Western Summit.”
Well Boyd…no need to get a tattoo - but we are certainly proud to have you and consider you one of our most valuable assets.
Western Summit Constructors, Inc. is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer.
Minorities, women, disabled and veterans are encouraged to apply.
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| Pablo Orona |
Cement Finisher - Denver |
Western Summit People
About five years ago, Pablo Orona began his career at Western Summit Constructors (WSCI) as a laborer on the concrete placing crew, at the Breckenridge Water Treatment Plant in Breckenridge, Colorado. After successfully completing his assignment in Breckenridge, Pablo was transferred to the Kuiper Water Treatment Plant in Aurora, Colorado. He had always demonstrated a strong work ethic and eagerness to learn, however his ability to speak English was limited. This in turn made it difficult for him to further advance in his craft.
After being transferred to the Denver Water Recycling project, Pablo was provided the opportunity to enroll in our English as a Second Language (ESL) Program. This program was created to offer our Spanish-speaking workers an opportunity to further their career goals in our company and diminish the language limitations and barriers between workforces. WSCI recognized that as the number of non-English speaking employees increases in the construction industry, many frustrations are experienced on the jobsite due to poor communication and language barriers. Some of these include safety risks, co-worker relations, the inability to express concerns, and missed educational and advancement opportunities.
After having been through the program Pablo said, "I have the opportunity for additional advancement and increased wages which will help me to provide a better life for my family." He has successfully completed each step of the ESL program and continues to improve his English everyday. Because of his success, he has improved his skills as a construction worker and has been able to accelerate his career. Pablo now holds the position of Lead Man on the concrete crew as a Cement Finisher.
Greg Bedin, a Civil Superintendent at the Denver Water Recycling Project, is confident in Pablo's abilities and says, "In the past two and a half years, Pablo has been very versatile and able to accomplish most any task assigned including civil, carpentry and some mechanical. I believe his construction abilities have increased due to his motivations to complete the ESL training."
In fact, Pablo continues to impress everyday. Frank Trujillo, the General Superintendent on the Denver Water Recycling Project comments, "Pablo has done very well in his new position and with just a little more construction and ESL training, he will make an excellent Concrete Foreman."
The ESL program at Western Summit has not only been successful for Pablo. Over 90 workers have successfully completed the program and 8 more are currently in the program.
Pablo has been with WSCI for over five years now and says that he wants to continue to grow his construction career. "Day by day, I get more experience about the requirements of my job and I am able to communicate with the supervisors and to other Spanish speaking workers. The ESL classes have helped me pursue opportunities with the company I may have not been able to explore."
Western Summit Constructors, Inc. is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer.
Minorities, women, disabled and veterans are encouraged to apply.
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