xcitement was building. Members of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Alaska missed their annual conference in 2020, when it was cancelled because of COVID-19. The event in November 2021 was split into two, with the in-person activities postponed as well. When the conference finally took place in January at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage, AGC members were in a mood to party. The room was a little emptier than usual for the statewide conference, but the construction industry professionals who attended were eager to catch up with their colleagues and to honor this year’s awardees.

Due to skipping a year, AGC had two of its annual Hard Hat awards to hand out. As it happens, both honorees are past presidents of the trade group. For one of them, the year-plus delay makes his award posthumous.

After his term as AGC president in 2013, John sold his interest in Cornerstone. He and Lynn stayed busy, though, with further construction ventures in Alaska and in South Dakota, where his grandfather settled after emigrating from Norway. Semi-retirement also saw John spend a month in Africa and, as president of Anchorage Rotary Club, he went to India to help eradicate polio.

His legacy also includes endowing the C. John and Lynn Ann Eng Construction Management Scholarship for the University of Alaska. Capps says John was “unselfish with his time” when it came to mentoring.

“Wouldn’t he have so much fun here tonight?” Lynn said while accepting the award. “He loved you people. You were everything to him.” She says she’ll put the commemorative hard hat, emblazoned with John’s name, in a place of honor.

Meg Nordale was AGC president in 2015, shortly after she became president and majority owner of GHEMM Company (pronounced “gem”), a vertical construction company in Fairbanks. GHEMM itself was honored at this year’s conference for a 50-year affiliation with AGC (as was insurance firm Parker, Smith & Feek). The company is responsible for building Bassett Army Community Hospital at Fort Wainwright; new surgery and imaging centers at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital; and the Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center eight years ago. That facility is now undergoing a 108,000-square-foot expansion, set to finish this summer after two and a half years of work.

Nordale started working for GHEMM in 1994 as an office manager and accountant. The original owners, who founded the company in the ‘50s, were still there. “I’m particularly grateful for the opportunities they gave to me, the confidence they had in me,” she says. “They taught me what I know, and they let me make my own mistakes. They did not stop any of my ambitions.”

She worked her way up to chief financial officer and, ultimately, began leading the whole company. “I’m particularly proud of the people that work for me,” Nordale says. “It’s not just me. It takes a whole team, every facet of the person that works there.”

Nordale also takes pride in promoting careers for women in the construction industry. “The innate skills and talents that women bring to the table are very much valued in this industry,” she says. “There’s a whole vast world of opportunity, specifically for women.”

From Fairbanks originally, Nordale studied marketing and finance at the University of Denver. She was working in insurance at Willis Corroon Corporation when she transitioned to the construction sector. Now, “Through her leadership and professionalism in community and in construction, Meg Nordale exemplifies all the best traits of the construction industry,” according to the plaque she was given.

“I can think of no better career for someone to have, or specifically a single mom who started out all by myself,” says Nordale. “It’s been absolutely wonderful, and no I’m not retiring. I look forward to doing it for a really long time.”

Another CLC co-chair is the winner of the Stan Smith Volunteer of the Year award, chosen by AGC staff. Kiersten Russell slowly recognized herself as the winner was being described, and she declared herself “shocked” to be named.

Like her friend Lauwers, Russell has also been giving her spare time to AGC for three years, in addition to her day job as a commercial loan officer at Northrim Bank. “I looked for a niche that I wanted to get involved with,” she says, “and I loved the people that are associated with AGC.”

Russell is familiar with construction through her work with financing building projects, extending lines of credit, and arranging loans for equipment. Her proudest achievement for AGC is securing Northrim’s signature-level sponsorship of the CLC reception. The bank also donated door prizes for the Construction Leadership Council Grill & Chill.

“The construction industry is incredibly important to the state of Alaska,” says Russell, “and that encouraged my involvement to volunteer for different events with Associated General Contractors.”

Russell also co-chairs the Dinner Dance Committee. The soirée would have followed the night after the reception, but unfortunately it was cancelled entirely for the weekend. More time to plan for the dance at the next AGC conference.