Vice President, Development - Copaken Brooks - Kansas City, MO
(2026-01)
- Co-lead business development and the project pipeline by evaluating opportunities and guiding project pursuits.
- Serve as the Development Department representative on the company's Leadership Committee.
- Lead and mentor project managers who oversee small projects and manage construction activities.
Development Manager - Copaken Brooks - Kansas City, MO
(2023-03 - 2025-12)
- Manage multiple real estate development projects from initial concept through final close-out and turnover.
- Lead predevelopment tasks including site identification, due diligence, financial analysis, and entitlement process.
- Negotiate land purchase agreements, financial incentives, design agreements, and construction contracts.
- Lead the project design consultants to develop pragmatic project designs that balance quality and budget.
- Create and manage master budgets and schedules for development projects with monthly updates to ownership.
- Utilize construction and engineering background to facilitate high quality, timely developments.
Field Operations Project Manager Team Lead - HAAS METAL ENGINEERING INC. - Kansas City, MO & Topeka, KS
(2021-12 - 2023-02)
Promoted to manage the project management of the steel erection division based on previous experience and success. Impact: Implemented profit-based decision making, risk management, and organization to an underperforming division.
- Led project managers and superintendents in decision making based on profitability and risk management.
- Created and implemented processes and organizational procedures to increase efficiency and reliability.
- Monitored budgets and project financials. Identify opportunities to improve ongoing and future projects.
- Controlled project schedules based on available labor and equipment capacities to maintain project timelines.
- Worked with the Preconstruction Division on project proposals, scope reviews, and preliminary project planning.
- Review and negotiate project scopes and contract terms with contractors to minimize risk and exposure.
Project Manager - HAAS METAL ENGINEERING INC. - Kansas City, MO & Topeka, KS
(2018-09 - 2021-12)
Promoted based on ability for anticipation and management of on-site and contractual issues. Expanded scopes and complexity of projects to achieve the highest billings at this tier of management. Impact: Maximized profits on 15+ projects with over $25M TCV (total contract value).
- Awarded and drove complicated, high-exposure projects across the country to smooth and highly profitable completion.
- Led multidisciplinary team including modelers, design engineers, procurement, and field operations.
- Achieved higher than estimated profits by successfully negotiating scope and cost with contractors and customers.
- Streamlined bureaucratic government contract processes by creating submittal packages for reuse on future projects.
- Cultivated strong relationships with customers based on project performance and quality, leading to repeat business.
Project Engineer - HAAS METAL ENGINEERING INC. - Kansas City, MO & Topeka, KS
(2016-12 - 2018-10)
Hired to assist manager of newly created steel erection division. Quickly assigned to large projects and learned fundamentals of job safety, production scheduling, human and equipment resources, and job site document management. Impact: Improved organizational structure and profit margins by enhancing job cost monitoring and documentation.
- Brought stability to an inexperienced department that lacked organization, structure, and project management expertise.
- Helped improve profitability in underperforming division by improving financial decision making and budget tracking.
- Increased efficiency by creating processes for estimating, construction planning, and accreditation audits.
- Eliminated unpredictable swings in labor requirements by anticipating needs and setting schedules for steady workflow.
- Reduced costs by curtailing increases in labor/resources via creation of detailed construction plans with milestones.
- Improved quality by organizing and leading the annual AISC audit for field erection department.
- Strengthened the overall safety culture by conducting jobsite and quality inspections as well as weekly safety meetings.
Plant Support Engineering Intern - Westar Energy - Topeka, KS
(2015-12 - 2016-10)
Selected, based on communication and leadership skills, to provide engineering support for five regional plants. Collaborated with plant management to identify high-risk failure areas. Prioritized and oversaw plant outage projects onsite.
- Led Power Plant Chimney project, which replaced failing liners with higher quality product that increased life expectancy.
- Saved costs for inspections by creating a system that ranked steam piping parts and identified the highest failure risks.
- Developed systematic structure for providing plants with technical updates via web database software.
- Handled projects from inception to completion. Pinpointed issues, proposed solutions, and created/executed plans.
Power Plant Engineer Intern - Westar Energy - Topeka, KS
(2015-05 - 2015-12)
Supported development of plant's capital project programs by identifying liability issues, safety concerns, and site improvements. Developed projects' scope, schedule, and budget estimates. Managed contractors to complete work on time.
- Played a key role in railway replacement project and drove aspects to on-time and under-budget completion.
- Excelled at partnering with contract engineers and clearly communicating design guidelines.
- Chosen by leadership as spokesperson for 'Electrify Your Future' and to board of judges, rating students' STEM projects.
