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Chuck Fenske
Vice President of Marketing and Business Development
Knoch Corporation
North Canton, Ohio
I admire several individuals who have wonderful attributes that I try to emulate personally and professionally. Bryan Williams, director of government affairs for Associated Builders and Contractors of Ohio, has the gift of being inclusive. Everyone is always welcome and his foundational quality of kindness makes him a great leader. 

Another person I admire is my wife Anjenette. She’s always thoughtful and deliberate in what she says, and never impulsive with her words. She carefully weighs the consequence of each word before she speaks. It’s a quality I admire and have tried to mimic in my own life, and it’s an important quality in any leader as others look to you for guidance. 

The mastering of a subject or deep understanding of an area is also an important attribute in a leader. I am always impressed with my father, James Fenske, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the construction industry—whether it is lien laws or how best to schedule a project.

Travis Darnell
President
CT Darnell Construction
Alpharetta, Ga.
CT Darnell’s core values center on building trust. Each one of them—integrity, accountability, cooperation and adaptability—traces back to my grandfather, Charlie Darnell, a talented and successful homebuilder.

Although he passed away before he could teach me his technical skills, I learned something equally important: his values. As a kid, I accompanied him to jobsites and meetings. I saw how he worked and how he interacted with customers and the crews he led. For him, being a gifted craftsman who produced a quality product was not enough. A sense of service and accountability, caring and honesty was as essential to his business as hard skills. Subcontractors loved working with him because they knew they would always be treated fairly.

Within CT Darnell, we strive to exemplify the values my grandfather modeled in our dealings with clients, subcontractors and with each other. They guide us in our partnerships and recruitment efforts and are part of every job description. 

Mike Anderson
Safety Director
Benfield Electric Co.
Aberdeen, Md.
Bob Hegburg has mentored me throughout my entire career. In fact, I have him to thank for telling me about this job opening at Benfield Electric Co.

I worked for Bob back in 2000 at Zurich Insurance, where he was a risk engineer. (He now works for Construction Risk Solutions as the director of safety management.) He took me under his wing. 

He not only showed me how to do the basics of my job, but he also ensured I knew how to execute everything the right way, and ultimately ensure the best outcome for a business’ safety and compliance.

I am able to incorporate Bob’s teachings about safety policies into the electrical service industry, and I can still go to him for anything, including any questions about trends in safety management and the latest information on safety policies. 

It’s important to have industry colleagues to go to for advice because not one person knows it all. People think safety is a simple process, but you have to know many facets of the industry.