From Young Professional to Lifetime Achievement: Tri-North Team Members Voted Industry Newsmakers!

What an honor! Tri-North was just awarded two 2016 Newsmakers of the Year Awards by Daily Reporter.  President & CEO, Tom Thayer and Senior Project Manager, Jared McDaniel will both be recognized at the Daily Reporter Newsmakers of the Year awards ceremony on Wednesday, October 19^th at The Garage at Harley Davidson in Milwaukee, WI. We wholeheartedly agree with these selections. Congratulations to Tom and Jared on these well-deserved awards.

Jared McDaniel – Rising Young Professional

Jared graduated Magna Cum Laude with a near perfect GPA from Bradley University with a B.S. in Construction. Before and throughout college, he worked in the industry wherever he could – in his family’s hardware store and summer internships at Valley Construction Company and Walsh Construction Company. At Walsh, Jared progressed from intern, to project engineer, to assistant project manager quickly. Always assigned to incredibly complex, large projects since his early days as an intern, in his eight short years since graduation, he has impressively worked on a total of well over half a billion dollars in contracts.

Jared joined the Tri-North team in 2015 and immediately began working on one of Tri-North’s highly complex projects – The Corners of Brookfield. Tri-North began pre-construction efforts on the projects a full five years before Jared was brought into the mix, but he jumped in like he was made for the job and has been instrumental in keeping it moving in the right direction despite challenges from day one.

In addition to his challenging work, Jared is incredibly dedicated to Tri-North’s community-building and charitable efforts. He is also a devoted husband and soon-to-be father who somehow found time to train for and complete the Ironman Wisconsin in September.

Jared’s short term goal is laser-focused: to finish The Corners of Brookfield on time and under budget. Beyond that, he hopes to help Tri-North grow and continue taking on larger projects. Ultimately, he sees himself being in a position of negotiating deals, running numbers to see how to best make the use of owners’ budgets, and strengthening partnerships with repeat clients who are serial builders.

Tom Thayer – Lifetime Achievement

In 1981, Tom Thayer and two of his friends, Joe Donnino, and Donald Jones founded Tri-North Builders, Inc. They had five employees, a humble 700 square foot building, and a lot of vision. One year in, their total sales reached $1 million and the rest, as they say, is history. Tom became president of Tri-North in 1995. Under his leadership, the 1990’s were an intensely prosperous decade for the company, with sales growing from $25 million to $100 million. Tri-North quickly grew a national presence and began expanding staff and eventually opened offices in Milwaukee, Texas, California, and New Hampshire.  In 1996, Tri-North became employee-owned, an effort Tom spearheaded. Ten years later, Tri-North moved to a state-of-the art, LEED® Gold-certified headquarters in 2006 (only the second building in the state of Wisconsin to have achieved such a high rating at the time), something that Tom often notes as the highlight of his career.

Throughout his tireless efforts to bring Tri-North to success, Tom has maintained an unwavering commitment not only to his clients and objectives, but also to his community. Tom is a longtime supporter of United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Dane County, Urban League of Greater Madison, and Variety-The Children’s Charity of Wisconsin, to name a few organizations.

To Tom, extending compassion to his employees is central to his dedication to giving back to his community. In addition to offering a generous benefits package and competitive wages, Tom has spent his career ensuring that the company’s culture is focused on family. Efforts have included an onsite daycare for employees’ children, substantial PTO, and a concerted and consistent respect and understanding that members of the Tri-North team are not just employees, but human beings with families and other commitments and concerns.

In spite of the challenges in his 40 years in the industry, Tom loves his work and plans to continue leading Tri-North for years. He’s proud to have his son and daughter working alongside him and his four beloved grandchildren nearby (two are currently in the onsite daycare and two are in local elementary schools). As he begins to look forward to retirement, he plans to slowly reduce his workload to spend time traveling with his wife (Tri-North’s CFO), water-skiing, and enjoying his collection of antique vehicles.

Throughout Tri-North’s entire history, through times of major growth and deeply challenging times, one thing has remained constant—Tom’s leadership. His vision and thoughtfulness is apparent. He deliberates over tough decisions earnestly. When quick decisions are necessary, he has impeccable instincts. He leaves his door open. He’s available. For someone with his level of experience and success, you’d expect him to be intimidating. Much to the contrary, Tom is one of the most approachable people in the company. He listens. He’s generous. With or without his pile of richly-deserved accolades, he’s the best in the business. His employees know it, his clients know it, and most importantly to him, his family knows it.