Lorraine Bergman

Guiding conversations with Community leaders.

In this podcast we'll explore the human journey of leaders, their stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks and lessons learned. Come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce. Providing resources, connections and belonging for business.

Professionals and modern an event and meeting venue in the heart of Gilbert and Gilbert independent YourValley.net dedicated to serving readers with good community journalism. The Gilbert Independent is a non partisan newspaper an online site that covers our towns institutions, development and events. Subscribe and follow YourValley.net daily to stay up to date with latest local news. Today we've got an amazing guest with us.

Amazing guest.

Tell me all about her, please.

This guest grew up in Phoenix and married her high school sweetheart. She started her career at 13 years old as a telephone solicitor and at the age of 19 joined the corporate world as an APS employee where she worked her way up to executive management. In 2000, she joined her husband's company with the intention of setting up organizational infrastructure. However, after losing her husband to cancer in 2005, she assumed the role as president of the company. Today, Caliente Construction is Arizona's 28th largest commercial building contractor and its 5th largest woman owned company. She celebrates many accomplishments including past president of the Arizona Builders alliance, state Director for the association of General Contractors, President of the Arizona center for Job Order Contracting Excellence, two time Athena Award nominee, and co founder of Gilbert Leadership. She is very proud to be mom to her two adult children and five grandchildren, all of whom live in the Valley. We have a legendary leader with us today. Please welcome the one and only Lorraine Bergman.

Woo hoo.

Welcome.

Thank you.

She made that sound awesome, didn't she?

No, she did. She's very good.

Well, it's not hard when you have somebody awesome right here in front of you.

I would agree with. We'll agree on that one. Okay, let's get started. What we call rapid fire.

Here we go. Would you rather sing in public or dance in public?

Dance, of course.

Phone call or text message?

Phone call.

Favorite snack food?

Ooh, probably something bad.

Yes, that's the way to go.

Oh, Dream Pops. Nice.

Saturday or Sunday?

Sunday.

What makes you hopeful?

Me. Time's up.

I like that one. And on we go. The best room in your house.

My kitchen.

Okay.

Would you ever, maybe in your case.

Have you ever done skydiving?

I would never do skydiving.

Seriously?

Seriously.

I'm shocked.

Seriously, in your teen years, what was your favorite hangout oh, teen years.

Favorite. Probably the desert when we did boondockers.

Okay.

Would you rather travel to the past or to the future?

To the past.

Last question. Glass half full or half empty?

It's half full.

That is the trend here. I like it.

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Oh, I've been waiting for this one for a long time, too. I am so excited to have you here today.

All right. I know you come from a large family and, and you grew up in.

Phoenix and I know there's some stories around school and all of this, but.

Let'S just start there. What did childhood look like for you?

Childhood? It was very, in comparison today, I think, very, very simple. We had eight kids in a three bedroom, one and a half bath house and also included my grandfather. So we had five girls in one bedroom and three boys and my grandfather in the other one and then my parents. And we had one bathroom that we could use because nobody was allowed in. My parents so went to parochial school, so never had to worry about what I was going to wear. It was a uniform and a white shirt and I had, I think, I think I had two pairs of shoes, you know, one tennis shoes and one brown shoe. And then eventually I got a pair of black shoes. So our closets were very, very small. You didn't have to worry about what you're going to wear. It really was simple. And we, you know, active in sports, active in swimming and, you know, we all had our chores. It was very crowded, you know, your parents, you know, go out and play. Make sure you're home before dark. And if you aren't home before dark, you know, dinner is going to be served and if you're not here, you're not going to get dinner. And coming from such a large family, if you weren't there when dinner went around the table and you didn't have, you know, get to pick your food out, you didn't.

It was gone.

Yeah, it was gone. It was gone. It was, you know, we had an eggman, we had a milk lady, you know, just different things. And I loved it. I loved it, you know, the being around with so many kids. I was the second to the youngest, so you Know, I was always the one that could be picked on very easily, which I think probably helped a lot with my independence.

Toughened you up a little bit, huh?

Oh, yeah, toughened up very easy. But it was nice. Hated to, you know, when my older sisters would move out. I think when my mother had eight kids, she assigned the older sisters to take care of the younger ones.

Oh, absolutely.

And so, yeah, I almost remember my. She's my second oldest sister, as being like my mother, probably for my first five years before she left. And, you know, so as people transitioned out of the house, you know, the dynamics changed, but it was always enjoyable. And I wouldn't do it over. I mean, there's just. Large families are fun.

Yeah, It's a party everywhere you go.

Yeah, it is.

What did your parents do for a living?

My mother didn't work, and my father was a barber, so I would be his guinea pig at times. I mean, literally, if there was a new way of barbering, he'd have you out on the chair on the back patio. And I'll never forget the one time they had wicks that they would light. And supposedly the wax from the wick would seal your ends. And so he would light my hair on fire and pull a comb through real quick to put the fire out. And, you know, that was the. You know that you're the experiment and.

You were in style.

Yeah, I was in style. Thank you, dad.

That sounds very interesting.

Actually.

I'm gonna have to try that one of my kids, see what they do.

That's where my courage came from. You never knew what you were in for when you went and sat in that chair.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right, so parochial school. Any good stories from that time in your life?

Well, I mean, the stories I remember. It's so funny. I remember Sister Mary at Theota in kindergarten. I always thought that veins on the back of your hands was pretty. And, you know, she told me, you know, I said, you know, how do I get veins? And she goes, you clean toilets. And so the convent was three doors down from where I lived. And so on Saturdays, I would go over and clean all the toilets of the content. Parochial school is when in third grade when I had real long bangs and they would hang down over my eyes. And Mrs. Lynch was a teacher, and she took scissors and she chopped them all the way off to the top of my forehead. And I go home and my mom goes, well, your bangs were too long. So teachers could do things to you that they would not care to imagine.

But.

That, too, was interesting. You know, you had the difference between lay teachers, and then, you know, you would have nuns who would be teaching as well. I remember, you know, being very fond of the nuns and, you know, the lay teachers, and it depends on who you have. But it was, you know, it was very regimented, very structured. You know, you'd have the same classes, you know, different year. The education was good. The education was real good. But we had fun. They didn't really have women's sports.

Well, I heard you say swimming in there, so that was.

Yeah, we would do swimming. More like summer activity. And, you know, SAPA would summer activity, but for school. The only sports that we had for women's sports was volleyball in seventh and eighth grade. That was all that they offered. So, you know, you've found other ways to spend your time. You know, a lot of homework. I love to read. You know, I would read a lot. And of course, we always had our house chores. And my mother did go to work later on in life, so she taught me how to cook. And, you know, so I'd have to make meals for the rest of the family because, you know, people were working. Or then I had my younger brother, so that's how I learned how to cook, too. Okay.

Mass meal production is always a great way to get thrown into that fire. I know.

Yeah, yeah. He'd always buy. My dad always would get, like, a quarter cow. And so the meat and potato family, they were from Montana, so, you know, they grew up on the farms. And so everything was meat and potatoes every meal.

Meat and potatoes casseroles are always big, too.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, the tuna casserole. Yes. I can never have another tuna casserole either. Or fish sticks, because, you know, being Catholic, you know, you had fish sticks on Friday. I don't think I could have another fish stick the rest of my life.

Okay, so let's talk about. You shared that when you were 13, you became a telephone solicitor. How does that come about?

I can even remember the address. 2929 East Thomas. So we had to go to work. I mean, so telephone solicitor. And so you go into the office and they'd give you a phone book, and you would go through and you would start through, you know, the names, and you call up and, you know, Mrs. So and so I'm, you know, so and so. And, you know, would you like to donate to cerebral palsy or, you know, multiple sclerosis, whatever it may be half the time to hang up the phone on you. And, you know, sometimes you'd be so lucky and then you'd be able to ring your bell if you got a donation. But it was definitely a experience. My mom would take me and pick me up. I think it was like four to eight or something. It was a nighttime thing. You wouldn't want to call at dinner time or you wanted to call after. They were after work, and hopefully not during dinner.

Not during dinner.

Was not a very exciting job at all. But it was my first experience at working.

I honestly can't imagine a world where that would work, where someone just calls.

You up and, oh, I know. It worked. It worked. I mean, how else would you do it? Nonprofits. It has evolved, definitely.

So, Ben, I'm going to call you on Monday and you should pick up.

It's evolved, Sarah.

Oh, okay.

Pretty sure AI would tell you. Just send me your link, please.

Okay, deal. Oh, my gosh.

All right.

What do teen years look like for you?

Teen years looked pretty challenging. I. My father got blood clots and could no longer be a barber, and so he had to choose another profession. And one of his clients was a developer and someone, you know, pretty famous in the Valley. And so they were building the first senior living community, and it was at Rossmore Leisure World. And so my parents decided to move, and it was not a good position for me to move at that point in time in life. And so I actually moved out very young in my life, and it was good for me because moving there was not my. My vision, my goal, and it allowed me to continue with the independence. And so I was actually emancipated when I was very young. And so I went from a straight CD student to a straight A student. I graduated high school early. It changed my whole life, and it really was the best thing for me, but it was not easy. I was definitely that starving student, and it gave me a lot of ambition to be a higher achiever because I didn't want to settle for anything less. And I had big aspirations, and the only way I was going to get there was by really working hard for it. So it was good for me.

I honestly enjoy learning more about leaders that we talk to, because there's always this example of grit and tenacity early on in their lives. And I find it fascinating that you can see that in you even today and what you've accomplished. But something so early on that was just so ingrained in you, many could have used that as an excuse and you flipped it.

Yeah. I often think that one of the goals when I have more time in my life is to work with at risk students to help them, to let them know that this is a good path and you are in control of your destiny. You just gotta make the right decisions. And I definitely learned. And it's like whatever obstacle you come across, you figure out a way around it and you change it and, you know, you make it work so you can get better and better and better.

Yeah.

Where do you think that you get that from? Is it a parental thing that's kind of been instilled into you, or is there someone that you can think of that maybe helped you think that way?

You know, I, you know, I look at that and I think, you know, I talked about my sister who kind of raised me for my first five years. She was very instrumental in my very early years and was always someone that I admired and inspired me and I would say probably anyone. And even now, July 3rd, she turns 80 years old and her husband in August turns 90. And, and they live in Wisconsin and they come here every January and they're up at 6 o' clock in the morning and they go to the gym and they go work out and they come home and they have their breakfast. They're vegetarians, they read their New York Times and then they go hiking and then, I mean, and you're looking at these people that are so healthy. They've got their book club, they got their movie club, they, you know, are members of the art museum. She's now a volunteer at the library. They exhaust me. And I, I can remember probably about 10 years ago I went there and we went to their gym and John, who's the older one, is doing burpees with a boso ball. So, yeah, I mean, I'm sitting there looking at it. Okay, if they can do that, I can do that. So, I mean, they just inspired me. And Janice, my sister, she accomplished so many great things in her life and you know, I always watched her and I think she was just a great inspiration for me and continues to be in, not only career wise, but, you know, personal, my wellness, reading this book outlive and all the things. I heard something. If you walk every day, you add another three hours to your life. So my goal, I told my life insurance guys I'm going to live until I'm 102 of sound mind.

Well, I think it's an example of living life fully and completely. And I feel the same way about you. I think that that's a legacy that you have lived as well, that you live fully and completely and in full color.

So thank you.

Thank you.

All right, so somehow you end up at APS and then you have a full 20 year career there before ever even thinking about the career you're in today. So talk about the time you spent at APS and what that looked like.

APS was another journey. I loved it. APS was a great company for me. I mean it really was. I was. Well, another thing too. When I grew up, my father, women weren't supposed to go to college. The boys could go to college, so my three brothers could go to college, but the girls couldn't go to college. Unless of course, we took it upon ourselves. So one of the things that APS did it was they had a very wonderful leadership development training. So they offered so many leadership opportunities for me, but they also had tuition reimbursement. So I started going to school, raising my family, working and actually right after I retired, I finally got my degree, my Bachelor of Arts and my Bachelor of Science. I got a dual degree and my children got to watch me walk. So I wasn't going to let that one pass me by. But it was something that was a goal of mine. But APS was very helpful in my leadership development and I think what I was able to do, and I remember one thing that APS always said is that you really don't need to know. You just need to be a good leader and be able to lead people. And what I learned from APS helped me as I transitioned from my career into construction because I knew enough about construction to be dangerous. I had 13 different jobs at APS and for a few years I was in design and construction for the overhead underground distribution system. So would actually design the construction infrastructure that was needed for any new construction upgrades, etc. And so went through a one year training program and out the survey crews did basic electricities, learned load calcs, learned all the things on the electrical side. So that was my strength. But another job I had there was. And this is where my volunteerism came. As Sarah knows, I was heavily involved with the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce. I was president of the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, one of the original founders of the Gilbert leadership. But I was a loaned executive for three years, assigned for three months, assigned to United Way. So and I had the financial industry. So I had to go to all the different banks and then solicit once again, here I'm soliciting again for people to donate into United Way. So you know, the little things that I was exposed to, I became a, you know, someone I could do public speaking. I had the biggest fear of Public speaking. And they broke me into that. And, you know, now I can get up and speak, you know, to a group of a thousand and it doesn't bother me, me at all. And, you know, so that just the different positions that I had and I, you know, progressively could advance, advance, they provided those opportunities for me. I do remember when I wanted to come to Gilbert, they wouldn't consider me because the different organizations wouldn't allow women in their organizations. This is not that long ago, but it was. And the Gilbert Rotary Club was an all men's organization. And so when I finally. When they started accepting women, I finally got the job. So I was community relations manager for Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert. And I was one of the first women in the Gilbert Rotary Club. And it was. I can remember it well. It was dead silence. Walk in. It was like, you know, you just felt. But when I got transferred into another position and I had to leave, all the men said, you need to find another woman to come in here and replace you. Because they were so grateful to have that perspective added to their organization. So when they started finding that women could add value to their different organizations. So I learned great things at aps. I had wonderful jobs. I could think of. I sit here and I think of all the funny things that happened. But it was very educational, great company, great supporters of the community, great developers of leaders. So I was very happy that I had that opportunity. Didn't have any idea I was going to retire so soon, but I had. The requirement was 20 years of service. A combination of 20. Combination of. So you'd have 60 years. Well, I was 40 years old. I had 20 years of service so I could retire. And it was the toughest decision I ever made. And because I loved my job, I mean, there's no reason. I had five weeks vacation. I had all these great benefits, you know, in comparison to what I do now. It was low stress. And you never forget, we started a new organization and one of the fundraisers we had at Judy Egan's house, who was the president of the Wells Fargo there in Tempe, and there was a tarot card reader. And the tarot card reader goes, you know, well, you know, do you have any questions? Yeah, Should I retire? And so she read her cards and she said, yeah, you know, like, my cards read that I should retire. And that's what made my decision for me. I mean, it was like, so this.

Is how we're spirit sisters. Because that's how I determined my major in college. Yeah, worked for me.

It Was. It was a great decision. It was a great decision.

I'm more of a coin flipper, I think. Heads or tails, but everybody's got their thing.

But fascinating. All those. That journey and how it. All those little details prepared you for what you've accomplished today. And the seat that you sit in today is fascinating.

Yeah. I've had, I mean, so many wonderful opportunities that. But, you know, I'm like a sponge, too. I just soak up. I just want to learn. I figured I want to learn every day, but, you know, I don't feel like I've accomplished if I'm not learning.

Sure.

So I do. Even now in my career, because I'm not a construction expert, I've gotten a ton better. But, you know, when I ask my employees, I tell them, you know, if I'm asking you something, I'm not asking, you know, questioning what you're doing. I want to learn. I want to learn more. So it's. It's been a good journey for me.

So I have to ask about Gilbert leadership.

Okay.

And what it looked like to found that program. I'm just curious. Paint a picture of what that experience looked like for you.

I think we did a great job.

I don't disagree.

I think you guys are awesome. Yeah, we did a great job. What we did, because, you know, Gilbert was, you know, we were out in the country and, you know, so we went and visited different ones, and then we created our own, and it was based on, you know, what does the community need? You know, the goal was definitely to build leaders, you know, so they would get into leadership positions to help help the community. And, you know, we were actively involved in the. In the very first class. So not only did we develop it, but we were also the first participants. And, you know, with a community project, the orientation, I mean, all of it, you know, you just put the program together. It went really smooth, really smooth. And, you know, just took what was best. I think we did best practice research, and we took what was working really well in others, and we kind of tailored our own. You know, there was actually myself and Kathy Langdon and Debbie Mae Himes and Linda Abbott. It was the four of us. So we'd get together and Linda Abbott would bring her daughters into the conference room, and they'd do their artwork after school, and we would do all our planning. But I think it turned out wonderful. And we recruited and we got sponsorships. So I'm so glad. What are we the class number? 33.

33.

I was like, my God, we're Showing our age. It couldn't been 33 years ago.

It's an incredible legacy though. I mean truly, it just continues to grow and.

And you know, I look at the pictures and I hear the stories and it's good.

Yeah.

So let's go back to now aps. You're moving from there to the next journey.

Well, then I started actually. I went to Caliente for like two weeks and I was bored, bored to death. I was, I was. You go from the corporate world into a small family run business and you're talking day and night. I always said the book Thriving on Chaos was written about me. And when you walk in that it's like, oh no, this is not me. And so I just could not see where I was value added. So I started my own business and I started Strategic Change Management in the commercial real estate world. And it was a natural for me because I had had established relationships with different people in that industry. And I got my first contract, I remember with Paul Gilbert, who was a zoning attorney to build a Walmart at Lindsay and Elliot. It was an empty lot at that point in time. Of course it didn't get approved. There's no Walmart there today. And then eventually I was hired by the town of Gilbert to help in the integration for the planning, building and engineering department. And what started the initiative was Kent Cooper was the town manager at the point, at that point in time. And then Cynthia Dunham was the mayor. So Gilbert was getting all this bad press. They had the worst turnaround time on permit reviews. They just were non responsive. And then you know, something would be approved by the, you know, building and then engineering would, you know, turn it away or you know, fire safety. So it was just, they weren't a unison. And so worked with the three teams. We brought in focus groups, we did focus groups with zoning attorneys, with developers, et cetera. Listen to their comments. We interviewed employees and when we say it was a one man show and then we would have weekly team meetings and talk about their obstacles and their challenges. And it just, this is what your stakeholders want and how are we going to get there? And so we developed. Each one of the directors had to develop KPIs and build it into their performance reviews. And so eventually it did. And I don't know if it's still called community development or not. I haven't been over there in a while. But definitely the results turned around 100%.

Yeah, that's great.

Yeah, it was good. And you know that training I learned at APS because it was Called something totally different at aps, but it was the same thing. And so at one point in time, one of my jobs was I worked with 13 different teams, including up at 4/4 power plant down in Yuma with area servicemen and, you know, customer service. I was all over the state traveling and working with teams on process improvements. How can we do better? What do our stakeholders want? But I learned that all from aps, which is another thing that carries on to where I am today. Because you got a constant look. Do your strategic planning, Figure out what your goals are, objectives are, survey your clients, survey your employees. Where do you want to be? How are you going to get there and build those goals in JAP day? It was a natural.

Awesome. Okay, well, so then you apparently went back to the construction, but there's a story there.

Yeah, I went back. So my deceased testimony's name was Tom. So if you heard me say Tom, that's. That's the fine man that recruited me back into the industry. And so we had no computers. We had. I mean, it was a joke. And, you know, we started as. We actually started the business out of our home and worked out of our home, and then we moved into this small office complex, actually industrial park. And we kept on growing and growing and growing. And then we bought a building on Price Road was before the 101 was there. And so we had to get just the processes set up and the infrastructure, the computers, the phones, everything. And so I thought the best way for me to do it was I started at the very beginning. I was the receptionist at the front desk, answered the phones. Then I moved over into county. And these are short stints, but it was enough to give me an idea.

Of how it's going.

Right? Exactly. Exactly. I need to know if I'm going to be working and putting these together, then I need to know. And then sat down project engineers, project coordinators, and just started putting all of the infrastructure together because our business was growing and if we didn't get it to where we were operating efficiently and being able to produce billings quicker, everything that needed that wouldn't have happened. And so Tom took operations, so he took the field, and I took all the finance, admin, everything else, hr, everything. So. But we, you know, most people say if you work with your spouse, you're going to end up getting divorced. But we didn't. We just kind of had a rule. 6 o' clock at night, you don't talk anymore about work. And, you know, it worked really well. And the real surprise came was he was Sick. And he had been sick for a while. And I can remember we went to the Christmas party at Norwood's, and I think it was Jim Lyken walks up to me and goes, tom doesn't look well. And of course, Tom was, I say, a macho man, because even though he was sick, he wouldn't go to the doctor. And eventually he did go to the doctor, and they treated him for six months for acid reflux and GERDs, and then kept on getting sick and finally said, okay, we need to do something else. And so they said, okay, we'll do a colonoscopy. And that was in February of 2004. And he went in for the colonoscopy, and the doctor goes, you need to go wait in my room. And it's like, okay, what does that mean? And so I go wait in his room. And he says, tom's a very sick man and he needs to go into the hospital. And he goes, why don't you just take him home? When a room is available, we'll go ahead and admit him. And there was no cancer in his family. No cancer in my family. All of our parents and siblings were alive. And he was diagnosed with stage four terminal cancer, colon cancer. And they actually gave him two weeks to live. And they said, you can go home and get your stuff in order or you can try chemo. And very, very surreal. I mean, it's like, it's just a feeling I would never want anyone to have, because, you know, when you have someone who's so very healthy and falls ill like that, and you have no idea or any expectation something like that would ever happen. So he did chemo, and he rebounded, and they did surgery in May, and they removed seven inches of his cecum. And path lab report said, cancer free. And so I was like, oh, my God, it's a miracle. And I call it the cancer roller coaster ride, because 30 days later, he's back in the hospital, exact same symptoms. The oncologist and the colon doctor go back and forth, and the colon doctor saying, cancer. Oncologist saying, no, cancer. As a matter of fact, the colon doctor sits on the bed and he goes, tom, I never say never, but you don't have cancer. And sure as could be, he had cancer. And so he did live a late year. He passed away in February of 2005. And during his year of illness, he sat down with me and went through contracts, why things are the way they are. And, you know, he started trying to educate me on certain things. He, you know, sometimes if he spent, I think, a total of 83 days in the hospital. If he wasn't in the hospital, you know, he'd have some sick time, but he'd come back into the office and he was a funny, funny man. The very first day he comes back into the office, nobody knew he was coming in. And he comes in with a big wig and all curly hair because, oh, he's going to lose his hair, all that kind of stuff. But he kind of joked and we turned his office. We made a bed in his office so after his chemo, he could come in and rest. But then he wanted to keep on working, so he kind of trained me a little bit. And then he was put into hospice. And when he was put into hospice, he passed away after two weeks in hospice. And during that two weeks, he wanted to go fishing, because we'd go fishing at Roosevelt Lake. And it's like, how about if we go fishing at ASU Research Park? And then he wanted a Super bowl party, and we had a Super bowl party. Super bowl party was on Sunday, and he passed away on Tuesday. So everything he wanted, he got. And he lived life to the fullest. So it just was tragic. He was 50 years old when he passed away young.

Do you, as you reflect back on that time, was there ever a moment after where you thought, maybe I don't want to continue this company? Or were you from that point on fully dedicated?

No. No. Because the day he went home into hospice, I spent the night with him at the hospital, and office was like a mile and a half away. And I always. I wanted to be very transparent with the employees and tell them and keep them updated. Lost more employees than I'd care to ever mention. Lost clients. I mean, that year he was sick because nobody knew what was going to happen to the company. And so they don't want to give you new projects, employees. It's like they come in and they say, I'm sorry, it's nothing against you, but I'm the primary breadwinner. I don't know what's going to happen with the company. So the day Tom went home into hospice care, I. Before the ambulance was coming to pick him up, I went to the office, and I have a project manager that comes in my office and he shuts the door and I go, no, please, not now. And he goes, yeah. So when you're the most vulnerable, he goes, I'm putting in my two weeks notice. I was like, please, just give me three months. Give me three months. And he goes, I'll give you, three months. He goes, but I want some ownership in the company. And so it's like, okay, so to answer your question, did I ever have a thought? So I missed the ambulance ride. So I'm driving home and I call up my cpa and I'd say, phil said, can I sell the business? Can I add another owner? He goes, lorraine, because we're a general contractor, so I don't have equipment. I don't have. We're construction management professionals. And he goes, you don't have anything to sell. You don't have anything. You have no assets. You know, what sort of ownership are you going to be transferring over? And it's like, okay, well, this isn't going to work. And actually, my VP at APS called me up and he goes, I've got a job here. If you want a job, you know, you can come to work here. So there, you know, there was. I was learning. And then I had a general superintendent who was really, really good on the superintendent side. And then I had a man who entered my life. I said, God dropped him off at my doorstep. He came out of retirement. He worked for my bookkeeper. And he came in and he sat down, and I go, well, do you have a resume? And he goes. And he'd had. Retired twice. He'd been his own. Had his own business. He'd been. I mean, raising cattle. In Texas? No, in Arkansas. I mean, he. And so she reached him out to him, she said, lorraine needs your help. We need your help. And so he came in and he goes, I haven't had a resume my entire life, okay? And we talked a little bit, and then he came back on Monday, and I was at work because I had to run the business. And he'd put my purse on my desk, and he goes, you go home, you take care of your husband, you sign three checks, and I won't spend any of your money unless I reach out to you. And so I left, and I was able to spend the last few weeks with my husband, which was the first I did, because when you're running a business and trying to attend, it just wasn't doing a little bit of both. I was exhausted. And so Tom passed away, and Russ, the older gentleman, stayed and ran the office. And he was extremely knowledgeable. And when I came back, he goes, I don't know what I'm going to do for you, but I'll stay here for three months and help you. And that three months turned into 13 years. Wow. And. And I'm so ever grateful for that. And he taught me things that, you know, I couldn't imagine. You know, it just. I remember going in and saying, okay, this is the way I want to approach it. Is it too much of a grow away or is it okay? Oh, it's okay. I remember going to meetings and we'd walk in and we were meeting with some developers and, you know, they were really trying to do something that was unethical. And I called him out on it. And we walk out of the meeting, he goes, I won't say what he said, but he said it would be construction terms. But he goes, lady, you have more than most men. So, you know, he just really taught me things that just added to my repertoire. And he stayed with me and then Larry stayed. So I said I had my right hand man and my left hand man and they really helped me grow the business. And, you know, then the employees that stayed on board, they were so committed. And they still are. I mean, still. I just had one retire, had 26 years of service. I have another one that's, you know, has like. But when Tom was sick, I met with employees and I just said, you know, please stick it out. You know, we're going to make it, we're going to be okay. And some of them stuck it out and, you know, are still there. And I'm ever so grateful. Both Larry and Russ have retired, but they helped form who we are and, and taught me so much. And, you know, plus, I think, you know, everything I learned from aps, I just think all of it, you know, you know, my family, you know, my siblings, you know, my mother and father, I think all of us, I think in my family were all kind of pretty strong personalities. And, you know, then, you know, the people at APS who worked with me, you know, the people, you know, my husband who, I mean, he was always like, you know, one of the things that he taught me is that, you know, what's the worst that could happen is that, you know, they're going to say no. So I have no fear. I remember talking to, at one panel at the Gilbert Chamber. It's like, I have no fear and. Because the worst that can happen, you know, is that they say no. And so, you know, it's okay, you know, take those challenges, those, you know, those opportunities and make something out of it, you know, because you can take nothing and you can make something out of it. You just, you got to have the drive and the initiative to do it well.

And I think even looking back on the story with Russ sticking around for well, first committing to three months. If he didn't see something in you, why would he have stayed? Right. Like he knew you could do this.

It's so funny because we are, you know, we're up to 100 employees now and we're still a family run business. And it's, it's funny because even though he's retired and you know, a lot of the employees, it's like, you know, you're with him so much and you bond so much and it's like, you know, you still say I love you. You know, it's okay to tell someone you love them when they impact your life so greatly.

For sure.

Yeah.

Okay. Interesting story. You just have to share. Well, I mean, I should give you the option of sharing, but how Caliente got its name.

Ah, okay. So my husband was. We had another business venture that went bad, real bad. And so we dissolved it. And we're laying in bed one night and he goes, I want to start a new business. And I said, you do? Yeah. So remember now, you know, I'm working aps. I'm Steady Eddie. And he's been in construction all his life. When he first started, he was a union plumber. So sometimes he was working, sometimes he.

Wasn'T, but he wasn't afraid of anything at that point.

Exactly, exactly. And so, you know, I said, you know, and I always had faith in him. I said, do you think we'll be okay? And he goes, we'll be fine. And I said, okay. So at that time, I was customer service manager at aps, and we were, we would train like the reps on the phone, we would train meter readers, we would train, you know, credit collections, just all, anything that was, had customer interface. And so we had trainers. And so I would sometimes go in and audit the classes and see how the classes were doing. And all of a sudden the receptionist comes and she goes, lorraine, Lorraine. She comes out, she goes, tom's on the phone, he says it's urgent. He talks to you. And I said, okay. And so the company before that we had was called Chaparral Construction. And he goes, I need a name for the company. I go, okay, well when do you need that? He goes, right now, I'm at the Secretary of state's office and I need a name. And it can't be something that's already given. I was like, oh, okay. And we both knew we wanted a southwest name and so something Southwest. And you know, I sit there thinking, okay, what do you call it? And so we were angry and we were Hot about the other company. And so we called it Caliente Construction. And it's funny now because then you get the inu Dados go, oh, hot construction. But that's not the reason why it was named Caliente Construction. It was strictly. Oh, and there was no. Remember, we had phone books, so we wanted to be before them in the phone book. So we wanted that southwest. We had to be listed in the directory before them a triple A Caliente. So, yeah, we got the Caliente name. And I sometimes think, should I change it? It's like, no, it's who we are. It's who we are.

Well, you have built a beautiful business.

And a beautiful family.

I'm curious, as you look at the.

Next five or so years ahead, what do you see for yourself and for your family moving forward?

Man, my family is getting so old. I call them my kids, my grandkids. So, you know, I'm really hoping that all of my grandkids go to college. I don't know if they will. I think that, you know, now there's. It's just a totally different generation. I had my one that just. Is a senior who just graduated said, can I come to work at Caliente? I said, sure. Let me check with one of my project managers. We're just groundbreaking now and project and maybe you could be a laborer. And all of a sudden, he stopped inquiring.

Wasn't quite the job he had in mind.

It was not the type of job he had in mind. But he does want to be president of Caliente someday. But we'll see which path he chooses. I said, you definitely need to go to college. But he wants to take some shortcuts. And right now he's studying for his realtor's test during the summer. So we'll see what happens there. But, you know, for me, I'm slowly preparing my leadership team. I have three really good leaders at the company. We have done our strategic planning. We continue to work on our strategic planning, and a lot of that is on secession. And we're finding that we weren't well prepared. And so, you know, we're putting a very strong emphasis on that, putting together career development plans and successor plans and then, you know, mentorship to help employees and all the leaderships to who's going to be your successor? Who's going to be following your shoes? My son Eric is definitely one of my key leaders. And at this point in time, we're working. I got Jeff Schaefer, who's my director of operations, and then I've got Justin Dupree, who's my director of field operations, so all the superintendents, and then Eric who's over pre construction estimating business development and marketing. And so right now we're just working with them on leadership development because, you know, you find people are very, very good in their jobs and then you move them into leadership departments or leadership. Yeah, it's a new game. So we're working on that. And I am, you know, at first it was kind of like, you know, I need to let this happen. I need to, you know, let the transition happen. And you feel like all of a sudden you're not needed. And you know, you almost go through this morning, but now I'm just so happy and I love it and I love to see them blossom. I love to see them grow. I love to see the challenges. I love to be able to offer them advice and see them pick up on it, you know, that they can adopt it because they're all going to learn by mistakes. I mean, I've learned so much by making mistakes and so, you know, they need to learn by making their mistakes too. I'm just trying to give them some wisdom so they don't make the same mistakes that I do.

And I'm sure you're just a phone call away.

I'm just a phone call away.

Walk them through that.

Yeah, I'm planning to do a lot of travel, but you know, I met with my marketing director today and I said, you know, no matter where I am, I'm attached. You know, I'm attached to wherever I am, so I'm there. But so slowly, you know, it's, it's an evolution and, but they're doing such a good job, you know, they are holding them more accountable so that, you know, the company is growing, the projects are becoming more substantial, bottom line's improving. You know, our benefits for our employees continues to improve. So, you know, all the way around the company I see is flourishing and it is with a stronger leadership. Now the next thing is to build because we're a very flat hierarchy. Yeah, we're, we're working on that next level of management and that's going extremely well too. So we're doing a lot of internal development and promotions as well. So that, that's, it's, it's neat to see the evolution of going from a small family run business into something much greater. And I'm not, I'm not one of those contractor that's, you know, I want to be, you know, 500 million by this and Then a billion dollar company. That's not our goal. Our goal is to continue a very steady growth. As a matter of fact, we just had our annual meeting with our sureties company and our bank. I mean, literally right before I came here. And I mean, we are extremely good position and very, very healthy company and you know, I want to keep it that way. You know, you can grow too fast and, or you can become stale. So, you know, we're, we're growing, but it's, it's a smart growth.

Well, I think it's a testament to your intention and following that purpose and being thoughtful in how you lead and how you grow. And that really is you. You've been incredible. I've loved watching from afar, from, from a distance. I've loved watching and I love even more to better understand your impact and involvement in Gilbert and in those early days and how those shaped you.

Yeah, it did, it definitely did. Every single job I had, it was just like, I just kept on learning and, you know, how to deal with people and, you know, just fun, fun stuff, you know, when you get those challenges and you know, getting feedback from other people, you know, how can I do this different, you know, or, you know, just how can I do it better and just continue and then, you know, love it the whole time I look back and it's like with construction, I said I wasn't an expert, but had I known what I know today about construction, I would have gone in construction when I was a kid. I mean, I was the only woman in the auto mechanics class in high school. You know, it's always like, I always had a tomboy in me. So it was like. And when I became president of Caliente in the United States, there was only three women presidents who were in general construction women weren't in construction. And you know, the industry average is about 10% for women in construction and our company is like at about 24% right now. And you know, there, there is a place, it's a great, great living and you know, women do, like I said with the Rotary Club, offers a different perspective and accomplishes goals differently. And so it's a good blend and I'm glad to see the industry opening up more and welcoming women and, you know, glad that, you know, I was one of the, one of the first to be in that industry and you know, had I known how much fun it would be because it is fun. And you know, when I say fun, it's the challenges and then coming up with the solutions and, you know, seeing.

The results of the.

Yeah, the results. Yeah. It's just. And then, you know, the clients who just, you know, are so happy and, you know, you know, would, you know, trust you and you know, you become, you know, an extension of them too. You know, when you're working on their project, you know, it becomes comes your project, you want that project to you share it, you become sharing the same vision.

Amazing. Well, thank you for sharing your story. This has been very interesting. I've enjoyed it very much so. I know Sarah.

I always enjoy time with Lorraine.

I can tell. Yes, indeed. Well, thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this show, which I know you did. Subscribe and join our tribe so you can get these notifications. We have other great conversations to share. Thanks for listening.

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Sa.