Member Spotlight

Matt Fatka, President of Highway Signing, Inc.

What does a typical day at work look like for you?

• In our industry, there is never a typical day! I try to be early enough to make the coffee and spend the morning being available for our team.

What do you like most about your job?

• Growing our team. It has been great watching our team personally and professionally grow.

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

• Weather. We do our best to plan for the weather, but you still can’t paint in the rain!

How did you get into the heavy highway construction industry?

• This is probably the most asked question; how did you ever get into this?! I grew up on a family farm in Central Iowa and when my dad sold the farm to a local owner of a barricading company, he got me a job sweeping the shop, flagging, and throwing cones during the summers of high school and college.

What has been your favorite project?

• There have been many great projects across Nebraska, but the most memorable was when we put Interstate 80 into a head to head through the middle of Omaha. We cut out the center concrete median wall and pushed traffic side to side for bridge work on 84th Street. This project took the entire HSI Team to complete.

What are your hopes for our industry?

• To continue to increase safety & awareness for our team, our customers, and the traveling public. We are on roadways with traffic driving only feet away from us. Safety needs to be top of mind and always improving.

If you could provide one piece of professional advice, what would it be?

• Part of being successful is being willing to ask thoughtful questions, and listening to the entire answer before formulating a response.

Who has been the most influential person in your career?

• The most influential person in my career has been Randy Miller of Iowa Civil. Randy was a mentor, business partner, and provided opportunities in my early days.

What did you want to be when growing up?

• I always thought I would be a farmer, but when dad sold the farm I thought I would teach. Somehow I ended up throwing cones!

What was the first job you ever had?

• Since I never got paid on the farm, my first real paying job was working at Larry’s Grocery Store in Slater, Iowa.

Before working at your current company, what was the most unusual or interesting job you have ever had?

• I was a college women’s basketball coach for Des Moines Area Community College and Upper Iowa University.

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

• Life is awesome. Go and live it how you dreamt it!

What is one skill/ability you wish you had?

• Dunk a basketball. Never had the genetics to get above the rim!

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

• Spend time with my wife Tiffany, and two kids, Blakely and Brecken, doing something outdoors.

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

• I don’t know if it’s a hidden talent, but back in college, I water skied for Iowa State University and our team went to the 2004 Nationals in Louisiana.

If you could be anyone (past or present) for just a day, who would you be?

• A member of the Lewis and Clark exploration team. To see the west before civilization impacted it.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

• Don’t be late!

Favorite restaurant?
There are too many to list, but the most consistent restaurant for me and my family is Texas Roadhouse!

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