Bob Clark Beyond: Adventure

latest adventure posts

Juneteenth

As Founder and Chair of Clayco, I stand by our company’s commitment to advancing inclusion and opportunity for the Black-owned businesses and organizations in the communities in which we build. Juneteenth is an important time to reflect on what this means in the present moment as well as on the historic struggle of so many people who fought to secure freedom and equality. Now designated as a federal holiday, The Clayco Foundation and our Juneteenth Fund will celebrate Juneteenth this evening to honor this milestone in Black history and renew our commitment to spread its powerful message of hope. Tune in at 6 pm to watch the live stream of our event here.

The Importance of Finding Your Core Values

When I was in junior high school, my principal, Mr. Graham, made a big push for all of us students to identify and develop our own set of values. Of course he gave some great examples to follow. The assignment stuck with me, and years later after getting married and starting a family, I made it a point to write down and remember some of the values that would become a guiding light for me through some tough challenges. They’re still the ones that hold true for me to this day, and I can’t stress enough how important it is for each of us to find what we value in life and do everything we can to remember and stick to those ideals. My values have shaped me into the person I am today, and I think it’s also important to constantly share your values with others.

LGC’s Building an Inclusive Chicago Event

On Friday, I had the opportunity to join with Chicago’s Deputy Mayor for Economic and Neighborhood Development Samir Mayekar in an important conversation organized by Leadership Greater Chicago for its 2021 Daniel Burnham Fellows cohort. “Building an Inclusive Chicago Part 1: Race, Equity and Economic Development” focused on how we can all pitch in to make our city a more level playing field for every Chicagoan, and I was happy to be a part of it. During our conversation moderated by Maria Wynne, the CEO of LGC, we spoke in-depth about the ways that we can work together to help ensure an equitable reopening of Chicago and its core business district. As more and more people return to downtown offices after working remotely during most of the pandemic, it’s more important than ever that we help build our city back stronger and more inclusive than before.

Come Back to the Office Now!

There’s been a lot of talk in the news lately about how to best bring employees back to the office after over a year of working remotely. It’s a conversation that has changed a lot in recent months, with the vaccine becoming more widely available, proven methods of a safe workplace, and cities and towns lifting restrictions on everything from indoor dining and exercise classes to mask mandates and social distancing. While most of our competitors in the industry, especially on the design side, are working from home and have been for over a year, Clayco and our subsidiaries, Lamar Johnson Collaborative and Ventana, are fully back in the office, and we never left the field. In fact, we were busier than ever on job sites across the country, and we have been leaders in proving that you can work together in-person safely, even during the uncertainty of the pandemic.

ENR Midwest’s 2021 Contractor of the Year

Clayco has just been recognized by Engineering News-Record Midwest as the 2021 Contractor of the Year, and it means a lot to me that we’re being honored after a year that was full of countless challenges and setbacks. One of the things we always stay true to at Clayco is our commitment to safety and putting our people before everything we do. In the wake of the pandemic, we extended that commitment even further than before, and we assumed a leadership role by showing other companies how to do things right to keep their team members safe and engaged.

Supporting Alderman Burnett at Fulton East

As the first next-generation office building in the nation, Fulton East is built for the future. In addition to 85,000 square feet of floor-to-ceiling glass skyspace, this groundbreaking project includes health protection measures, like a hands-free elevator system, plasma disinfection technology, and touch-free secure access systems. My favorite feature of Fulton East is its amenity deck that includes 2,925 square feet of vegetated space and reflective roofing that earned the building LEED certification for reducing the project’s urban heat island effect. There was no better place to host a fundraising event for Alderman Walter Burnett, Jr. who currently represents Chicago’s 27th ward. For 26 years, Alderman Burnett, Jr. has been a great advocate for the communities he serves, and he’s a leader who has shaped Chicago in many ways.

ADVENTURE

Building Buttercup

a fence in a field with trees in the background

I can’t describe the powerful emotion I felt at this moment, for everything lost and gained in my whole life. It was a spiritual experience, from my heart.

ADVENTURE

Climbing Capitol Peak

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Adventure

Adventure is in my DNA

Ever since I read the stories of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, I’ve looked at all of my life as an adventure. Listening and learning from my father was amazing story in history over the course of 40 years taught me that adventure was in my DNA at conception.

I’ve always been able to keep calm and have a level head and every situation I can remember. The only exception of this rule is that I don’t believe a person should not panic if they’re drowning. I would definitely drown panicking.

Beyond that all of life’s twists and turns good and bad ecstatic or heartbroken all add up to the different color crayons in your crayon box. That was a quote from my dad upon hearing some shocking news about my own colorful life.