I have to thank Scott, our VP of Integrated Services, for refusing to let me publish my original CEO announcement. I had drafted a boilerplate corporate “Bachman Construction is excited to announce…” press release. After reading it Scott looked me in the eye and said “You only get to do this once. You only get to step into this role and accept this challenge once. This is a big moment. I think you should take the opportunity to really say why. Why you chose this. Why you are the right person for the job.” I will forever be grateful that he challenged me to trust you all with my truth. So here is how I see it.
The truth is Bachmann Construction isn’t excited to announce anything. Bachmann Construction is a business, a legal construct that was created 70 years ago by my grandmother and grandfather. It has no ability to think or feel or do anything in and of itself. Bachmann Construction is just a vehicle. The truth is there is a group of very talented, skilled, and experienced humans who I am lucky enough to be a member of, that have organized around the idea of Bachmann Construction as a way to earn a living. And I have become their next CEO.
So, why have I chosen to take on this role? Why do I think I will be good at this? Why am I the right person for the job? I have the background, the experience, the education, and the right last name. And if I just wanted a paycheck and to say I owned something, then “Bachmann Construction is excited to announce…” would be the whole of it. But it isn’t. I could have done a lot of different things career-wise for a paycheck and to own something. And I didn’t. Because this place has always drawn me in and challenged me. This keeps being what I want to do with my life. Taking on a family legacy, accepting the weight of 70 years of history, is no small decision. And I’ve asked myself, again and again, if I really want to do this. And I have always come back to yes, yes I do, because this is a path where I can find meaning and purpose and fulfillment. I’ve decided this is how I want my personal story to unfold.
But beyond that, I see the people behind this company. I have watched my people work hard, apply their trade, problem solve, and help our jobs come out well. I have watched them finish their apprenticeships, get new certifications, and develop and learn and grow. But I have also watched them adopt pets, buy houses, fall in love, get married, have children. I have watched them get their kids to the dentist, take their annual trip to Sturgis, send their oldest off to college, plan their mother’s wake, retire to spend more time with their grandkids, and live lives full of joys and challenges and hardships and successes. And I see our clients, people, working hard to enact change in their businesses, to live up to professional expectations, hoping this project will help make their dreams come true, but also riding the ups and downs that life throws at us all. I watch our architects, subcontractors, engineers, and all our partners being members of their families, their businesses, and their communities, driving change, providing help, and striving together to make this place we all live better and fuller and richer. And I’ve attended funerals, shaken the hands of the grieving, and been told they are grateful for what Bachmann Construction meant to their loved one.
That’s why I want to lead Bachmann Construction. Because I want it to continue to be a vehicle by which my people, and all the people it touches, build a better, stronger, healthier community.
I am a Bachmann with the right abilities, the right personality, the right leadership skills, and the right team members. I am excited and honored to be CEO of Bachmann Construction and to continue our legacy of Quality Thru Teamwork, as we have done since 1954.
Naomi Kroth (Bachmann)
CEO
Bachmann Construction looks forward to a new era of high level leadership as my Daughter, Naomi Kroth, assumes the position of Chief Executive Officer.For quite some time, now, we have enjoyed the benefits of Naomi’s fresh ideas; demonstrations of leadership and keen awareness of how Bachmann Construction can best deliver exceptional construction projects for our clients, our employees and our community. I have every confidence that in the hands of Naomi Kroth, the third generation of Bachmann leadership will continue to demonstrate commitment to our core values of Quality, Integrity, Community, and Teamwork, now and into the future.
