2024’s 30 Under 30 EC&M Electrical All Stars: Conner Willert

CONNER WILLERT

Job Title: Project Manager

Company: ArchKey Solutions

Location: Minneapolis

Age: 28

Years on the Job: 7

Interests: Backpack hunting, spending time with his girlfriend and family at their cabin, snowmobiling, golfing, and doing DIY projects around the house

Conner Willert’s interest in construction began in high school in Rosemount, Minn. He was inspired by his father, who works as a project manager and system designer for a local electric utility co-op.“I enjoyed working with my hands and building things with my dad,” he says. “He helped guide me to a degree in construction management as he saw significant opportunities for young people entering the industry.”

He earned his bachelor’s of science degree in construction management with a minor in business management from North Dakota State University. During college, he learned about coordinating construction trades and managing contracts and accounting processes involved with tracking financial information on a project.

He also completed OSHA 30 training and earned a yellow belt in LEAN Principles, which helped him to break down a project and identify and improve inefficiencies in scheduling and installation. He continues to attend project management training sessions at ArchKey, NEC classes, and electrical theory training classes.

As a project manager, he starts his day between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. before the field staff arrive on the job. A typical day consists of communicating with field leadership, coordinating with trade partners, reviewing new drawing issuances, and pricing change-orders or potential new work opportunities.

“My No. 1 responsibility is making sure our field team has all the tools, materials, and information they need to be successful,” he says.

In his job, he enjoys the challenge of being able to understand the role of and work with every department in his company. For example, he works closely with accounting, marketing, tools, purchasing, prefabrication and VDC departments on a weekly basis. He also enjoys seeing projects evolve from start to completion.

“My favorite part is getting to work on landmark projects that are talked about even outside of the construction industry and seeing a project grow from a set of drawings into a functioning building,” he says.

He is currently involved in starting up a large hyperscale mission-critical facility project lasting almost three years. His responsibilities include working in preconstruction planning, estimating, procurement, financial tracking, and design review.

In the future, he sees himself growing into an expanded role and potentially managing people.

“I enjoy teaching and watching people new to the industry grow and find success,” he says. “There are multiple people who I work with that are very successful in growing young people’s skillsets and being great leaders, and I plan to work closely with them to help me learn the skills it takes to guide people to success.”