In 2008, Chris Tauscheck graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato with a bachelor’s degree in construction management. He had enjoyed a summer internship with PCL, but the financial crisis was wreaking havoc on the economy and the company wasn’t hiring.

So Tauscheck took a job with a heavy highway contractor in Texas, getting field experience in preconstruction and project management. But he kept up his contacts at PCL. “I knew I wanted to come back,” he says. “I knew this was a company I could build my career with.”

He has done just that. Tauscheck returned to PCL as a field engineer in 2011 and is now the manager of special projects for the company's Minneapolis district. PCL’s Special Projects Division leverages innovation and lean technologies to offer clients the strength of PCL’s brand and resources, scaled for efficient and cost-effective delivery of projects typically ranging from $10,000 to $15 million. “Now I oversee a growing team who are executing dozens of projects across the Midwest,” he says.

Tauscheck takes pride in developing strong, long-term relationships with owners and clients, including with many of the Native American communities in the Midwest. “PCL understands the importance of a partnership mentality throughout a project, from start to finish,” he says. “We put such an emphasis on making sure our client is happy because we want to be the builder on their next project.”

One of Tauscheck’s first projects with PCL remains a favorite to this day. It was 2012, and the University of Minnesota was building a new stadium for its men’s baseball team. Tauscheck is a huge baseball fan (he coaches and all his kids play) and he loved working with all the stakeholders, including the team’s coaches, who would come by most days to talk about what was important to them.

But Tauscheck also enjoyed his exposure to the design-build model of project delivery, which encourages early collaboration between all project partners. “It made for a good project,” he says. “It was one of those projects where nothing went wrong. All the subcontractors did well, the architect did well, the owner was great. It was one of the smoothest projects I’ve ever worked on.”

Tauscheck was PCL’s first recruit from Minnesota State University, but he certainly hasn’t been the last. He has maintained a strong relationship with his alma mater, returning for recruiting drives and sitting on the university’s construction management advisory board. “A few of us in the industry meet with professors and others in the department to talk about trends in the industry, what they should take into the classroom, what we’re looking for from students and interns,” he says.

And he’s always happy to encourage students who show an interest in PCL. “The culture at this company is incredible, supported by our 100% employee-ownership model,” he says. “It creates a great culture where we all want each other to succeed. We all want each other’s projects to do well, and we help each other out, and that translates to client success.”