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CMiC Team Member Spotlight: Seth Knight

nkreeger • October 17, 2024

As we put together our CMiC Core Team, we recognized the importance of selecting members with a wide range of skills and experiences, knowing that CMiC will impact team members in every department and business unit across the company. Seth Knight, Director of Project Controls, is a key member of the team, responsible for helping guide our operational groups through the implementation process and leading decision-making on new processes, standards, and workflows.

 

Seth graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering in 2010 and began his construction career full-time at the Illinois Department of Transportation as an Engineer Tech. He then transitioned to White Construction where he served as a Project Engineer, assisting in project management for the construction of wind farms, providing support to superintendents and subcontractors with scheduling & production. He also helped with maintaining cost control, document control, change orders, earned value, production, forecast, and billings for assigned projects. In 2015, Seth joined the Keeley family as a Project Manager, working on projects across Missouri and Illinois. He was quickly promoted to Project Controls Manager where he developed a project controls program for the Civil Group. He revamped & managed the job cost review to bring enhanced information to leadership, instituted the MFR process to create visibility into the risk in major projects, and developed & managed a procurement process to reduce risk in subcontracted work and purchasing. He also implemented a new cost code format for better cost control & production tracking, and managed the forecast, business unit scorecard, and opportunities to drive accountability. After serving in this role for four years, Seth was promoted to his current position as Director of Project Controls. Seth and the Project Controls team within each business unit are focused on standardizing processes across the company, maintaining accountability in operational financial reporting & forecasting, leading analytics around KPI development & reporting, driving risk awareness in operations, and providing expertise in applying our business processes to software tool selection and implementation.

 

In his role on the CMiC Core Team, Seth serves as a trusted liaison between the Core Team and Operations. His experience from both the operational and financial sides of the business will allow him to ensure all processes are fully implemented, standardized, and streamlined as they are built out within CMiC.

 

“CMiC will provide a whole new level of visibility and standardization in our organization.  With everyone providing the same information in the same place, we will be able to provide metrics at every level of the organization to make business decisions at a faster pace than we can today.  The increased efficiency will show in our bottom line as we become more proactive and accountable around the risk in our business.”

 

Seth’s construction operations experience and project controls expertise will pave the way for a successful implementation and rollout of CMiC that all Keeley’ns can be proud of. If you have any questions or want to learn more about the process and what it means for you and your team, you can reach out to Seth directly at sknight@keeleyconstruction.com

By Claire Sauer February 24, 2025
At Keeley, we are driven by our mission and core values and these core values guide every decision. Each value has its own meaning for everyone, but this common ground allows us to come together and foster a culture of support, safety, well-being, and family. We sat down with Ron Roellig, Executive Vice President of Civil, to discuss our core values and how he sees them lived out every day amongst his team. PEOPLE – Don Recar exemplifies People in the way he goes above and beyond for his team members. When he saw a team member personally struggling, he put business aside and showed empathy by reaching out and connecting him with those that could help and provide the proper resources. This team member even expressed gratitude about how Keeley (and Don) goes above and beyond for Keeley’ns. RESPECT – At August’s Civil STP, the entire Civil Day Two team had open and honest dialogue while still showing respect to each other when asking tough questions and challenging each other. This was the first STP with new leadership in place and it was collaborative, open-minded day. Everyone provided strategic, constructive criticism which only allows for growth. If we fail to give constructive criticism, we are failing our team members and ourselves. Throughout the day, everyone listened intently and respected opinions and differing perspectives. Everyone left with clear APs, excitement for what’s to come, and a renewed energy. After the STP, we had a record-breaking month of August and I truly believe this STP set the tone for this new chapter of Keeley Civil. INTEGRITY – Jason Forney and the team at the Coffeen Solar Farm were facing adversity with a team member who experienced an injury on the project. Jason followed Keeley’s protocol and immediately got the team member the care he needed. However, our client indicated that we had not followed their protocol for notification. Jason, as the Keeley onsite Supervisor, owned the failure and committed to improvement moving forward doing Whatever It Takes for Safety. DISCIPLINE – The Estimating Team had been feeling extreme pressure in the first and second quarters of 2024 to find and secure new projects after experiencing a slow third and fourth quarter for bidding in 2023. They dealt with this pressure phenomenally and didn’t let bid declines get them down. The team stayed disciplined and continued to put forth their best effort. By remaining steadfast and avoiding panic buying, they have set up a successful path for the end of 2024 into 2025. Because of their hard work, we have a record-breaking year of backlog going into 2025! EMPOWERMENT – Our first example of Empowerment is Tim Eagan. Tim and his entire solar farm project teams developed solid work plans outlining personnel, equipment, and strategy for exemplary execution of work on multiple solar farm projects, including additional opportunities with a new client. They have achieved tremendous success in this market and we now have more resources on these jobs than any other project. This focus on growth in the solar farm market allows us to gain more experience and bid more work across the nation. Our second example of Empowerment is John Stackpole. With very little guidance or oversight, John continues to execute and deliver impactful results, thus opening up doors for emerging markets and new clients. What he has done for Civil Infrastructure by kicking down doors, fostering meaningful conversations, and attacking opportunities with an open mind is invaluable. He always goes above and beyond for our team, is quick to get in front of clients, and quick to resolve issues. PRIDE – Earlier this year, Devon Swan was asked to take over a difficult project in Emporia, KS that had fallen behind schedule and budget. Without hesitation, Devon accepted the challenges and went on the road. Facing a monumental task, Devon took over the project and implemented important changes regarding the direction of the project and the mindset of the client. Devon led his team and ultimately recovered almost three weeks of schedule delays while still keeping the team safe during extended days and weeks – working seven days a week and sometimes 14-16 hour days. Grueling schedules such as this can cause fatigue and stress, but Devon prioritize safety and kept every single team member safe. We are proud of every single member of the Keeley Civil Infrastructure team for living out our core values and exceeding expectations!
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