8 Questions With...

Adam Peña, President, Peña’s Mechanical Contractors, Inc.
Dec 5, 2022
Jeffrey Crane
8 Questions With...

Adam Peña serves as the president of Peña’s Mechanical Contractors, Inc., a successful, family-owned, industrial services business that opened its doors 20 years ago. Adam, along with his brother Isaac, lead the Peña’s team with a common goal in mind: Maintain a good working relationship with clients and commit to doing the job right the first time, every time. While Adam’s passion for his work and the Peña’s team runs deep, so does his love for his wife and the outdoors. We caught up with him and learned more about his role, the business, his hobbies and interests, and also how he makes sure to start his day off on the right foot.

Q1: What has been one of your proudest moments as president of Peña’s Mechanical?
There are many, and to narrow it down to one is difficult, but I would say the most current has to be successfully navigating the company through the pandemic. This took team effort, and to see the Peña team pull together and not only assist and take care of each other, but also continue to support and provide for our customers during this period was amazing.

Q2: How do you spend your free time?
My free time is spent with my wife of 27 years. We appreciate a variety of outdoor activities. Fort Wayne has great biking, walking and hiking trails and we really enjoy spending our time exploring those. We also love hanging out with friends, traveling and getting to check out other areas within and outside of the country. I enjoy playing golf, playing guitar, fishing, and being on or around the ocean or lake.

Q3: What does a normal day look like for you, both personally and professionally?
There are no two days alike in my “normal” week. Some weeks I may have what feels like multiple Mondays. Typically, my day starts off early in the morning. I like to get a good work-out in first thing — it helps get my day off to a good start physically and mentally. Next I’m either heading to the office or to a job-site. Each day is busy communicating with the office team, project managers, field managers, customers, vendors and also managing projects I personally have.

Q4: What is one personal goal you have for yourself and how do you plan to achieve it?
Balance. There is always room to improve in maintaining a balanced family and work life. For both of them to be successful, they deserve full attention. One way I’ve found to help achieve this is to cross-train team members with their peers to handle various tasks. This has been working well for us, and spreads out the workload if and when someone needs time off. Daily functions can then be covered by their coworkers. The goal is to continue down this path and look for additional methods to improve.

Q5: What would your employees be surprised to find out about you?
I enjoy and wish I had more time to spend working hands-on with them on job-sites. I spent several years working in the field at various job-sites and can relate to the challenges they face in our line of work. Field experience has been incredibly beneficial for Peña’s Mechanical in structuring the way we communicate with employees and customers, manage and review safety for the crews, and conduct training, just to name a few.

Q6: What is the most enjoyable part about your job and why?
I enjoy working with our team. We get a variety of projects that present challenges, and to see the team brainstorm solutions with the customer, watch the project go through the design phase and then move onto completion and installation is very rewarding. Several customers have expressed to me how much they appreciate our team taking ownership of a project from start to end. The joy comes from seeing the Peña’s Mechanical team collaborate with our customers to improve or repair something in their facility. 

Q7: What do you most look forward to during the holiday season and why?
Time off and a mild winter. I prefer summer months and warm temperatures, so during the cold winter months we like to escape as much as possible to warmer climates.

Q8: What is one of your fondest memories while working for Peña’s?
Reflecting back on our small, humble beginnings almost 20 years ago, we were working out of a small pole barn and our offices were in a living room. We were just trying to make it week to week. The customers, employees and community who continue to support us have created a lot of great memories and friendships that we will forever value and cherish.

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