a snowy mountain tops with a meteor in the sky

Rising into the Unknown

Life is a journey, let’s chase the summits and relish the adventure all along the way.

latest adventure posts

Recent Feature: ENR’s Critical Path Podcast

I recently had the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with Jeff Yoders and Aileen Cho for ENR’s Critical Path Podcast. It has always been one of my favorites to listen to, and it’s a great platform for industry experts to share their knowledge and views on everything that’s happening in construction. During the Exec Talk, we spoke about a wide range of topics, including the terrific response I’ve received from the Ride the Wave tour, the many ways Clayco has adapted during the pandemic to keep our team members safe, and how important I think it is to get everyone back in the office. I also shared some of my thoughts on OSHA’s vaccine guidelines, current trends in the economy, and how far we still have to go to improve employee diversity in the construction industry.

In Memory of Art Gensler

Art Gensler was a true leader and a constant changemaker in the field of architecture, and his impact will never be forgotten. Over the years, our firms worked together on over 30 projects, and each one of them is a testament to Art’s unyielding commitment to create buildings that changed our lives for the better.

In Memory of Helmut Jahn

I am so saddened to hear of the passing of my good friend, Helmut Jahn, who passed away in a tragic bicycle accident. He was truly one of the great architects of the world, and also one of my greatest inspirations. By designing iconic buildings like Terminal 1 at O’Hare International Airport and the James R. Thompson Center, Helmut played an important role in shaping Chicago’s architectural landscape, as well as its continued growth and future. Helmut also designed one of my all-time favorite projects, The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library at The University of Chicago. He had a personality as big as the scope of his buildings, and he was definitely a “star-chitect” who brought so much joy and light into the lives of all those who had the pleasure of knowing him.

My Conversation with Bisnow

In this series, Bisnow highlights people and companies pushing the commercial real estate industry forward in myriad ways. Clayco is one of the nation's design-build giants, undertaking commercial and residential building projects nationwide for the likes of Amazon, Illinois' Cook County, Kohl's, Pfizer, Penn State University, Zurich and the University of Chicago Medical Center. Even during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the company took in $4.8B in revenue and had about 2,000 employees.

Let’s Get Back to Work, Safely and Vaccinated

Shots of the COVID-19 vaccine in arms are picking up quickly across the country, and a few companies are starting to call people back to work, including Clayco. One of the most important things about Clayco is our company culture, and we can’t sustain it if everyone continues to work remotely. We’ve asked our office employees to return on May 10th, not only because I believe our employees do their best work when they’re together in the office, but also because we want to set an example for other companies to show that workplaces can be safe if you implement the right training and precautions. Because safety is always our highest priority at Clayco, we’ve done a lot of work recently to ensure we have an even safer workplace than ever before. In addition to social distancing, desk spacing, masking, rotating employees in and out of remote work, and other creative ideas, Clayco has developed an extensive vaccination policy, encouraging all of our employees to get vaccinated once shots are readily available with exceptions for medical or religious reasons. By doing this, we can better protect the people we work with and the communities we interact with.

Speaking Up

Clayco and the Clark family are heartbroken and angry about the high number of outspoken, and seemingly welcomed, racist acts and comments in the USA. Asian, Black, Indigenous, people of color, and anyone who doesn’t fit the racists’ vision are subject to their hate and violence. We condemn ALL acts of racism.

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.