The journey to founding the Concrete Preservation Institute Foundation was fueled by CEO Tanya Wattenburg Komas “following my passions every step of the way.”

A former professor of construction industry management at California State University, Chico, Komas developed a passion for both teaching and restoring historic concrete structures. She took her students on field trips to places like Normandy Beach in France and Alcatraz Island in California’s Bay area. Combined with pride in her family’s history of military service, these passions led to her training soon-to-be military veterans on Alcatraz beginning in 2010, in collaboration with the National Park Service.

Scott Burghardt, the foundation’s director of operations with carpenter and contractor experience, shared these passions. “We were sitting around with wine one night,” when the idea for the training program was born, he recalls. One of his students was a veteran struggling with college. He and Komas thought: “What if we started working with veterans and got them into the program?”

Since then, the effort has progressed into partnerships with the Dept. of Defense to offer members of the military preparing to re-enter civilian life training in a variety of construction careers. While on active duty, they are immersed in a three-month program during spring or fall at Alcatraz or in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to explore potential construction careers.

“Our goal is that servicemembers get jobs before they finish the program,” says Komas.

Michael Farris, CPI’s chief relationship officer, joined the foundation in 2018, bringing his varied experiences. “Tanya is friends with my wife; one day she said ‘I need somebody to do insurance.’ I had licenses: accounting—I was in merchant banking for a while. Concrete—I knew just enough to be dangerous. So I began helping on the side, then said ‘I’d like to do this full time.’”

In addition to hands-on training, Farris and Burghardt work with participants on their resumes and making connections in the industry. “Many servicemembers don’t have a realistic expectation of the value of their skills they gained,” explains Farris. “They don’t know how it can apply to the civilian world.”

Daniel Clapp, project manager with S.W. Funk Industrial Contractors, says, “CPI Foundation gave me the confidence and foundational knowledge to make the move directly from an Army Blackhawk pilot to industrial project engineer without any prior construction experience. I credit CPI with my smooth transition to a civilian career.”

Burghardt (left), Komas (second from left), Ferris (third from left) and the CPI Foundation team help future military veterans prepare for construction careers with hands-on training at NPS sites and through industry connections.
Photo courtesy of CPI Foundation

Army veteran Nicholas Kolowich finished the program in spring 2017, and began working for concrete supplier Cemex that July. “I’d been in the Army going on 20 years. I was an infantryman trained to get rid of enemies, not do construction. When I interviewed with Scott, I didn’t know the difference between concrete and cement.” He is now an operational excellence manager overseeing 14 ready-mix plants.

Randell Iwasaki, CEO of Iwasaki Consulting Services, notes the nexus between helping servicemembers find jobs, the nation’s infrastructure needs and the shortage of talent in construction: “The program this team has developed to create a career path for future veterans is just awesome, and the fact that they get to hone their skills while caring for the infrastructure in our national parks makes this a win all around.”

The non-profit aims to expand the internship program and “connect more military with industry in a way that’s faster,” says Burghardt.

Komas adds: “Nearly a quarter million people are coming out of the military every year. It’s a huge opportunity.”