Lauren Ladowski Kraemer
33, Principal and Vice President
ARCO/Murray National Construction
Dallas, Texas

A natural problem solver and a standout in math and science, Kraemer explored engineering after high school as a way to do something fun as well as increase her chances to find a job.

“The problem-solving piece, that was what I found the most enjoyable,” says Kraemer. “I kind of fell into the construction world after that.”

An internship in her junior year with ARCO/Murray was the spark that ignited her industry career, providing not only experience, but also investing her a level of responsibility not matched by jobs she interviewed for during her senior year.

“I got a lot of really awesome experience right off the bat,” Kraemer says.

After the internship led to a full-time project manager role at the firm right after graduation from the University of Notre Dame, she was off and running.

“I wasn’t sure commercial construction was where I wanted to eventually end up, but I loved my internship,” Kraemer says.

She launched into her new role managing different project types across the country, from high-end office buildings to a manufacturing facility for fighter plane ejection seats before taking a director of accounts role managing design-build work for local and national clients. 

She was then asked to move to Dallas in 2018, to start a tenant solutions business in the firm’s existing office. Ever since, she’s moved it forward—growing revenue from $6 million in 2020 to on track for $64 million in 2024 and its team from two members to more than 30. Design-build now accounts for about 85% of the firm’s projects, up from roughly 20% in 2019.

“I think the mentality that we have is really just taking care of our people and making sure [they] are taking care of our clients,” Kraemer says. “Those clients keep coming back, and it’s resulted in that very steady and organic growth year after year.”

That success has not gone unnoticed by the firm, which elevated her to partner in 2022.

The change of approach has been key, with ARCO/Murray moving from a more traditional design-bid-build market in Dallas to the faster, more cost-effective design-build with a more flexible approach to suit clients.

“Ultimately, it allows us to be the easy button for our clients, where they have one single source to go to for all design and construction needs,” Kraemer says. “We started seeing more and more momentum.”

Navigating that growth has not come without challenges—shouldering ARCO/Murray with much of a project’s risk, Kraemer notes, and requiring engineers the firm hires to be project managers as well.

Kraemer’s engineering mind and business-savvy outlook make her successful in digging into technical details to problem-solve, and in building relationships and managing projects. She also grows a successful team by allowing members to make mistakes and not hiding from them. “We need to talk about it, share it with the group and learn from it,” she says.

Construction has always been tough, Kraemer says, but the dynamics of price escalations in the past five years or so have become a constant battle, one she fights by hiring the right people to tackle those escalations.

Kraemer’s impact at ARCO/Murray stretches beyond her own team as well. She was an initial member of its Women Operations Network—a group of women from across its family of companies who enhance their connectivity and share educational opportunities across the organization.

“[It’s about] recognizing there are a lot of women in a predominantly male field who are going through a lot of the same situations and conversations that you are,” she says.

Hosting things like peer-to-peer learning and outside speakers, the group began in Chicago with Kraemer and two colleagues meeting informally. It grew organically into a support group that eventually acquired an official platform and is now used as a recruiting tool. She is also involved with the Young Women’s Preparatory Network, which provides college prep to those from primarily low-income households.

“I feel very fortunate to have been afforded such a big opportunity very early in my career and I’ve grown personally so much from it,” Kraemer says. “The idea that now I get to help be that mentor and that advocate and that leadership support to the next wave of upcoming leaders in my company is really empowering and exciting and frankly, is what gets me up and into the office every day.”

What also keeps burnout at bay is going to the gym in the morning and her nine-month-old daughter at home. Kraemer makes sure to get home to spend time with her before she goes to bed, “totally dedicating my focus to her in the evening.”

While she may check her emails or do other catchup right before bed, that “dedicated time and actual quality time with her [daughter] every day is what I need, from a balance standpoint, to be able to go back into the office the next day and have motivation to keep doing what I enjoy doing,” says Kraemer.

She adds, “It’s been a whirlwind of a career, and it’s been a lot of fun.”