WOW! What a great week at our 2025 Annual Convention.

Tuesday started off with speed interviews for the 17 Central Community College - Hastings Heavy Equipment Operator Technician Program students and nine of our member companies. Students enjoyed learning more about the work that our members do and are looking forward to locking in their summer jobs / careers.

Jake Thompson led day 2 of his Competitive Leadership Training course with 13 of our members.

At the Board Meeting, our 2025 Board of Directors was approved. You can see that list here.

The evening ended with our Past Presidents' Dinner, sponsored by Paulsen, Inc.. It is always a wonderful meal shared with faces, current and past, of the AGC Nebraska Board of Directors. 

Wednesday truly kicked off the 2025 Annual Convention. The weather didn't stop many members from making their way to Lincoln. Alex Etchen, Vice President of Government Relations at AGC of America, joined our Member Meeting and Lunch to give a run down of what we can expect from the new administration in D.C.. We recognized Tyler Chicoine, Garcia-Chicoine Enterprises, Inc., with the V.C.S. Award for his vision, commitment and service to our industry. Our Honorary Members list grew by three, with the additions of Peggy Shalla (All Road Barricades, Inc.), Terry Rogers (Martin Marietta), and Jay Johnson (Martin Marietta). The 2025 Most Likes Social Media Award was given to Aaron Hansen (Dustrol, Inc.) for a video on our Tik Tok that received 38,000 views. We also recognized two of the three CCC-Hastings students who received our scholarship, and one UNL student who received our scholarship.

As the evening crept towards the PAC Auction, our record crowd continued to grow. This year, we added a silent auction and loaded cooler raffle to our Live PAC Auction schedule. All three went over very well. The 2025 PAC Auction was a huge success, raising over $108,000 and cursing the previous record by $30,000. We are blown away by the support from the PAC Committee, Gene Lilly Surety Bonds, Inc., the item donors, the bidders, the auctioneers (Purple Wave Auction), and all who attended. 

Thursday started with a delicious breakfast and informative address from Director Kramer. As breakout sessions and committee meetings started, the anticipation for our Keynote Speaker, Manley Feinberg, grew. Kirk Barnes Construction, Inc. was the sponsor who made securing this speaker possible. His message about trust, leadership and fearlessness was well-received by all. The day concluded with a Happy Hour surrounding our Associate Expo booths.

Gold Sponsors:

• Gene Lilly Surety Bonds, Inc.
• Kirk Barnes Construction, Inc.
• Paulsen, Inc.

Silver Sponsors: 

• Ash Grove Cement Co.
• Contractor Services, Inc.
• Ellerbrock-Norris
• Ergon, Inc.
• FNIC Group
• Gallagher Insurance
• Garcia-Chicoine Enterprises Inc.
• Jebro Inc.
• Martin Marietta

Bronze Sponsors:

• Bobcat of Lincoln
• Lutz
• Marsh McLennan Agency
• Murphy Tractor & Equipment Co., Inc.
• NMC Cat
• Road Machinery & Supplies Co.
• Spencer Quarries, Inc.
• The Johnson Company/Coordinated Planning
• Woods Aitken LLP

General Sponsors:

• Copple Insurance Agency, Inc.
• Flint Hills Resources, LP
• Lyman-Richey Corporation
• Koss Construction Company
• Milwaukee Tool
• Nebraska-Iowa Supply Co., Inc.
• Pomp's Tire Service, Inc.
• RoadBuilders Machinery & Supply Co., Inc.​

Woods Aitken - Medical Marijuana & Paid Sick Leave Slides
HaulHub Technologies - e-Ticketing & The Connected Job Site Slides
Lutz - Construction Industry Tax Slides

Our 2024 Fall Golf Outing at Beatrice Country Club was held on Friday, September 6th. A full field of 36 teams took to the course on a beautiful overcast day. We appreciate the members who took the time to play and/or sponsor a hole.

RESULTS
1st Flight
1st Place: Jeff Webert / Zach Hoffman / Joe Rogge / Garrett Giesler (-14)
2nd Place: Keith Petersen / JJ Petersen / Dan Pedersen / Quinton Otto (-14)
3rd Place: Dustin Powell / Logan Crockett / Robby Baker / Kraig Kuhnel (-12)

2nd Flight
1st Place: Travis Boyll / Russ Slater / Justin Williams / Paton Heusinkvelt (-7)
2nd Place: Bryan Fox / Chris Berroth / Steve Wobken / Connor Stanton (-7)
3rd Place: Russell Flaconer / Gregg Nisotis / Connor Shields / Trevor Martinosky (-7)

3rd Flight
1st Place: Matt Potthoff / Ryan Pluta / Dillon Fledhecker / Trevor Bryan (-3)
2nd Place: Terry Wilhelms / Lane Frerichs / Taylor Ostransky / Cody Cure (-3)
3rd Place: Cory Whitemore / Eric Anderson / Zech Ihde / Tim Vogt (-3)

FLAG PRIZES
Hole #1 - Longest Putt Made - Sam Snyder
Hole #2 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Kent Shirley
​Sponsor Prize (Hole #2) - Nick Kohler
Hole #3 - Shortest Drive in Fairway (USED) - Jake Kugler
Hole #4 - Longest Drive in the Fairway - JJ Peterson
Hole #5 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Russ Slater
Hole #6 - Longest Putt Made - Travis Boyll
Hole #7 - Longest Drive in Fairway - Sara Blair
Hole #8 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Travis Smith
Hole #9 - Closest to Pin in 3 - Terry Wilhelms 
Hole #10 - Longest Putt Made - Joe Lovitt
Hole #11 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Josh Crane 
Hole #12 - Longest Putt Made - Matt Dieckhoff
Hole #13 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Matt Lippincott
Hole #14 - Longest Drive in Fairway - Logan Crockett
Hole #15 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Logan Crockett
Hole #16 - Longest Drive in Fairway - Joel Schommer 
Hole #17 - Shortest Drive in Fairway (USED) - Mike Plewa
Yeti Cooler - Hole #17 - Jon Miller
Hole #18 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Jordan Damkroger

Thank you to the teams and sponsors who spent the day with us at Lochland Country Club in Hastings this week! It was another perfect day for our golf outing.

RESULTS
First Flight
1st Place: Clyde Wilberger / Cody Green / Ty Kidlow / Mark Frantz (-13)
2nd Place: Dustin Powell / Logan Crockett / Kelly Naslund / Scott Frauen (-12)
3rd Place: Nick Martin / Graham Fischer / Zach Hoffman / Charles Busch (-12)
Second Flight
1st Place: Katie Wilson / Matt Schaefer / Bill Mueller / Tim Hruza (-7)
2nd Place: Kraig Kuhnel / Paul Hallett / Curt Oerter / Eric Anderson (-7)
3rd Place: Tyler McNitt / Travis Boyll / Brad Beck / Taylor Ostransky (-7)
Third Flight
1st Place: Doug Carroll / Mark Deetz / John Reed / Stephen Garza (-3)
2nd Place: Terry Wilhelms / Jim Craig / Cody Cure / Preston Johnston (-3)
3rd Place: John Webster / Jake Paulsen / Jed Paulsen / Kelly McCoy (-3)

FLAG PRIZES
Hole #1 - Longest Putt Made - Nick Martin
Hole #2 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Eric Freeman
Hole #3 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Andrew Van Kirk
Hole #4 - Closest to Pin from off Green - Ezra Schlecht
Hole #5 - Longest Putt Made - Julio Franco
Hole #6 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Doug Carroll
Hole #7 - Closest to Pin from Off Green - Jordan Mrkvicka
Hole #8 - Closest to the Pin in 1 - Rob Roudybush
Hole #9 - Longest Drive in the Fairway - Austin Murray
Hole #10 - Longest Putt Made - Travis Smith
Hole #11 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Curt Bremer
Hole #12 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Beau Rutt
Hole #13 - Closest to Pin from off Green - Dustin Cooper
Hole #14 - Longest Putt Made - Jake Kugler
Hole #15 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Kevin Stenger
Hole #16 - Longest Putt Made - Dustin Cooper
Hole #17 - Longest Drive in Fairway - Logan Crockett
​Hole #18 - Closest to Pin from off Green - Tyler Chicoine

The second Guns & Greens Tournament was hosted last Friday, May 17th, at Heartland Public Shooting Park and Indianhead Golf Course in Grand Island, NE. We had 19 teams test their skills at sporting clays and golf.

1st Place: Dustin Powell, Logan Crockett, Scott Frauen, Kelly Naslund
2nd Place: Travis Smith, Dale Burkhead, Kent Shirley, Jake Kugler
3rd Place: Mark Deetz, Doug Carroll, KR Buck, Casey Buck
4th Place: Jordan Mrkvicka, Jake Ryba, Colt Schafer, Creighton Niemeyer
Last Place: Jack Jindra, Dylan Jindra, Tyler Rosenow, Cody Price

Best Shooting Scores:

• 48/50 - Jake Kugler
• 48/50 - Jake Ryba

Thank you to our sponsors and members who supported this event! It was a huge success. To join the FLC, click here.

Our 2024 was at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln this year. We saw another record amount of attendees totaling over 400.

The week starts on Tuesday with a Board Meeting and our Past President's Dinner. This is a great way to get current and past Board Members together.

Wednesday included an FLC-focused breakout from our keynote speaker, Jake Thompson, and a succession planning breakout in the morning. At lunch, Bill Busch kicked off the event with the inspiring story of his career. This year's off-site activities were a Memorial Stadium Tour, Tomahawks Axe Throwing and Texas Hold 'Em. These activities led into our PAC Auction that raised over $63,000 for our political advocacy efforts.

On Thursday, we were joined by the NDOT for Joint Committee Meetings and more breakout sessions. Our keynote speaker spoke at the Industry Lunch about collaboration and leadership. The Alternative Delivery Workshop offered valuable information for our Contractors before we ended with the Closing Reception.

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

Gold:
Gene Lilly Surety Bonds
Kirk Barnes Construction
Paulsen, Inc.

Platinum:
Ash Grove Cement Company
Constructors, Inc. / NEBCO, Inc.
Contractor Services, Inc.
Ellerbrock-Norris 
FNIC Group
Garcia-Chicoine Enterprises
Jebro, Inc.
M.E. Collins Contracting Co.
Martin Marietta
The Johnson Company / Coordinated Planning 

Diamond: 
General Excavating
INSPRO, MMA
Lutz
Lyman-Richey Corporation
Murphy Tractor & Equipment Co., Inc.
NMC Cat / NMC The Cat Rental Store
Pomp's Tire Service
Road Machinery & Supplies Co., Inc.
Spencer Quarries
WW Clyde

General:
​Copple Insurance Agency
Flint Hills Resources LP
Iowa Civil Contracting
Jim Hawk Truck Trailers
Koss Construction Company
Logan Contractors Supply
RoadBuilders Machinery & Supplies Co

For the second year in a row, two of our Future Leaders Council's Executive Committee members have attended the AGC of America Leadership Development Conference for members involved in their chapter's emerging leader groups. This year, Jon Gierhan (Midlands Contracting, Inc.), Jed Paulsen (Paulsen, Inc.) and Carly Smith (AGC Nebraska) spent time in Vancouver, WA. 

Session topics included personal growth in leadership, advances in headwear technology, mental health awareness and workforce development. Beyond the sessions, the opportunity to chat with leadership from other FLCs across the country is extremely valuable. We hear about what does and doesn't work as far as type of event, time of year and frequency. Our Guns & Greens event piqued the interest of other chapters.

A big thank you to AGC of America and the Oregon-Columbia Chapter for hosting yet another wonderful event.

Join our FLC Chapter by clicking here.

Friday, September 22, 2023

First Flight
1st Place: Keith Petersen / JJ Petersen / Quinton Otto / Dan Pedersen (-14)
2nd Place: Joe Patent / Clarke Beller / Sean Krueger / Tom Docter (-13)
3rd Place: Ezra Schelcht / Connor Lemon / Zach David / Tyler Crandon (-13)

Second Flight
1st Place: Dave Rexin / Christian Dostal / Shon Davis  (-8)
2nd Place: Tyler Chicoine / Kirk Vondra / Troy Eberspacher / Colby Yeakley  (-8)
3rd Place: Justin Tomlin / Gary MacDonald / Hunter Dodson / Dustin Cooper (-8)

Third Flight
1st Place: Tyson Vogt / Terry Rogers / Nate Kollars / Jay Twomey (-5)
2nd Place: Zach Yelkin / Brett Broman / Andrew Jensen / Brent Davis (-5)
3rd Place: Sean Christensen / Trey Dodson / Christian Hilgenberg / Travis Hilgenberg (-4)

Flag Prizes: 
Hole #1 - Longest Putt Made - Greg Asche
Hole #2 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Quinton Otto
Hole #3 - Closest to Pin from off Green - Ramon Diaz
Hole #4 - Longest Drive in Fairway - Travis Smith
Hole #5 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Jeff Bremer
Hole #6 - Longest Putt Made - Todd Krieger
Hole #7 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Dale Burkhead
Hole #8 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Christian Dostal
Hole #9 - Closest to Pin from off Green - Josh Dolbow
Hole #10 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Julio Franco
Hole #11 - Closest to Pin in 1 - Monte Kratzenstein
Hole #12 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Travis Sondgeroth
Hole #13 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Zach Yelkin
Hole #14 - Longest Drive in Fairway - Jesse Reeves
Hole #15 - Longest Putt Made - Tyler Crandon
Hole #16 - Longest Drive in Fairway - Zach David
Hole #17 - Closest to Pin in 2 - Heath Stewart
Hole #18 - Closest to Pin from off Green - Matt Morrow

• What does a typical day at work look like for you?
• Tom: Jobsite visits, answering emails, making sure people have equipment
• Travis: Estimates, helping with HR & accounting, meetings with outside partners such as bonding, insurance and bankers

What do you like most about your job?

• Tom: Winning a bid and seeing the job progress as it should
• Travis: Performing well (safe, timely, profitable) on jobs and hearing good things about our work

What aspect of your job do you find the most challenging?

• Tom: Finding qualified help
• Travis: Helping to manage the projects from a personnel perspective.  This includes our own work force, clients, engineers and the public at large.

How did you get into the heavy highway construction industry?

• Tom: Went to UNL and started working for his uncle (Rogge Engineering) before starting K2 Construction with Travis in 2001
• Travis: Went to Penn State University for Civil Engineering and was branched engineer in the Army

​What is your favorite moment of your career so far? Favorite project?

• Tom: Favorite moment was restructuring of the company in 2008 that made Travis and I sole partners. Favorite project was the parking lot on the east side of Memorial Stadium.
• Travis: Favorite part of the job is giving longevity bonuses to our long-term employees. Favorite project was dismantling cell towers when Verizon & Alltel merged in 2009.

What are your hopes for our industry?

• Both: Hope that future generations begin to see the value of a career in the trades.

Who has been the most influential person in your career?

• Tom: My father because of his work ethic and my father-in-law because of his business knowledge.
• Travis:  My family because they provide the motivation and inspiration to continue to try and do better.

What did you want to be when growing up?

• Tom: Veterinarian
• Travis: Business Owner

What was the first job you ever had?

• Tom: Working on the farm
• Travis: A landscaping program for the kids of the families stationed at the Air Force Base in Turkey.

If you could go back and tell your 18-year-old self one thing, what would it be?

• Tom: Take more risks.
• Travis: Figure out what is important and spend more time on those things.  Don’t waste time on non-productive areas of your life.

What is one skill/ability you wish you had?

• Tom: Be a better golfer
• Travis: Singing

What is your favorite thing to do on a day off?

• Tom: Relax at the lake
• Travis: Golf

Do you have any hidden talents? If so, what are they?

• Tom: Locating underground pipe with witching sticks
• Travis: They must be so hidden no one has found them yet.

If you could meet anyone (past or present), who would you be?

• Tom: Warren Buffet
• Travis: Jesus

What is your biggest pet peeve?

• Tom: Greased equipment
• Travis: Hypocrisy

What is your greatest strength as business partners?

• We have a very balanced relationship and complement each other well. What one of us might not be so good at, the other is. When we met, we were buddies but also had a lot of respect for each other and knew it could work out well if we started our own company.

What do you admire about the other?

• Tom: I admire how much time Travis spent with his mother before she passed from cancer last winter.
• Travis: I admire his work ethics and how he is always willing to share his knowledge.

Who’s the better golfer?

• Tom: Travis.
• Travis: Me.

Monday, June 5, 2023

The first-ever Guns & Greens Tournament was hosted last Friday, May 5th, at Heartland Public Shooting Park and Indianhead Golf Course in Grand Island, NE. A full flight of 20 teams tested their skills at sporting clays and golf.

1st Place: Matt Soucie, Eric Hunsley, Keegan Nelson, Tyson Vogt
2nd Place: Jarod Hendricks, Doug Carroll, KR Buck, Casey Buck
3rd Place: Paul Hallett, Kraig Kuhnel, Paul Kostal, Cory Whitemore
4th Place: Jon Gierhan, Brett Delehant, Troy Cumpston, Chase Bassett
5th Place: Drew Hoffman, Jerad Knott, Tyler Hohenstein, Rick Washburn

Best Shooting Scores:

• 48/50 - Paul Hallett
• 47/50 - KR Buck
• 46/50 - Steve Peck

The 'move-up' hole at the golf course raised $700 for Construction Angels, supporting families who have lost a loved one in a work zone accident. 

Thank you to our sponsors and members who supported this event! It was a huge success. To join the FLC, click here.