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.
