93
Let’s hear the story of Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry Agriculture, and the people who make it happen. Sponsored by Nebraska's Law Firm® - Rembolt Ludtke.
93
Kara Habrock--Leading with Humility, Putting People First
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In this episode we visit with Kara Habrock, President and CEO of Roloff Construction Company headquartered in Omaha. A native of Louisville and graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kara describes her journey, her vision for the company, how she's tackling workforce development challenges and a few leadership lessons she's learned along the way.
Nebraska, it's not just a place, but a way of life. It's 93 counties that are home to innovative individuals, caring community, and a spirit that runs deeper than its fertile soil. It's a story that should be told.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to 93, the podcast. Welcome to 93 the podcast, where we talk about Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the people who make it happen. I'm Mark Folsen, your host for today's episode brought to you by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Lutke. Today's guest leads one of the region's most respected heavy civil construction companies. We're going to discuss her vision for her company in the industry, how she's tackling workforce challenges, and some of the leadership lessons she's learned along the way. Our guest is Kara Haybrock, president and CEO of Roloff Construction, headquartered in Omaha. Kara, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, Mark. All right, give folks a little background on yourself.
SPEAKER_02Well, I grew up in Louisville, Nebraska. That would be Cass County, and that would be 20 County.
SPEAKER_00Another one. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Born and raised there, still live there today. Graduated from Louisville High School.
SPEAKER_00How many kids in your graduating class?
SPEAKER_0227.
SPEAKER_00That's a huge class. It's probably big. Well, Louisville's probably grown quite a bit.
SPEAKER_02It has. They just graduated 47 kids this year, and that's not one of the bigger classes that have come through there recently. My daughter graduated five years ago, six years ago now, and she had 50, 55, 56. It's a very it's a growing district. Um, you know, just the kind of the last small town bedroom community around Omaha that still has kind of a class C school. Right. And so, yeah, it's been a great place to raise a family. Um, but I I left in 1986, went to the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
SPEAKER_00What'd you major in?
SPEAKER_02Broadcast journalism.
SPEAKER_00Are you putting that to use maybe today in this podcast?
SPEAKER_02Yes. Uh for the first time in, I don't even want to say how many years that's been.
SPEAKER_00So why broadcast journalism?
SPEAKER_02I really don't know. I loved performing arts when I was in high school. I did a lot of speech. I thought I was good at it. Um, you know, back in the late 80s is when you started to see the advent of like the today show becoming really popular. Um, CNN was getting started. I've always been a real um kind of news junkie current events type person. And I I just thought it was so interesting. Um and uh I just when I did my new student enrollment at the University of Nebraska, I just I I went down that path of learning a little bit more about that college. And I what I really liked about the degree program was that it was very broad. In order to be a good journalist, you have to have a very broad set of knowledge. And so the majority of the hours are spent getting concentrations in other areas. So I have a, you know, these large hour concentrations in marketing and political science and history and things like that. I think it just appealed to my my um thirst for knowledge and a lot of different things.
SPEAKER_00So you graduate from the university, then what'd you do?
SPEAKER_02I kind of bounced around a little when I got out of college. So I had met my uh husband, well, my my my now husband, Monty, the summer before my senior year of college. He's from Northeast Nebraska. He's from Emerson, Nebraska. And um, in order to get into broadcast journalism, you've got to be willing to probably move to a small market and to get into um television if that's what you want to do. But I had taken so many business and marketing classes that after I got out of college, I was thinking that was really kind of more what I wanted to pursue. And so I just started looking for jobs um more in that uh industry or in that uh path because I didn't really want to move. Monty um took a, I graduated and then Monty had another semester. We knew we would probably get married soon, but we just didn't know, you know, the whole, the whole schedule of it all at that time. And so um I actually did about a year as a manager of a gap store, uh, which was that was just in just to get me to Omaha. I just wanted to get a job in Omaha. And and then after that, I started looking and um that was a great experience. Man, did I learn a lot working for that organization? Um just so many valuable lessons learned about managing staff and and communication and marketing and things like that at that. And then I ended up um at um Inecom Corporation. And so that was what I would call my my first career. Uh started with them in a very entry-level marketing job. Um, but at that time, Inecom was growing rapidly. Inacom was a spin-off of Valmont Industries. Um, it Inecom was a reseller of technology. So they resold uh, you know, HP, Compaq, um, IBM uh and things like that. And then they did a lot of integration configuration of those of those um computers and then all the support services around that. So um, and it was, you know, it was during the dot-com boom. So the company was growing rapidly, and there are lots of acquisitions and things like that. So it was a really at a front row seat at uh all the all the goings-on in a what became a Fortune 500 business in Omaha. I just learned a ton and I had a marketing role to begin with, but then um moved into business development and did um some business development in the support services area.
SPEAKER_00Do you have children?
SPEAKER_02I do. Um, so I always tease my oldest Claire, she's um 27, that she ended my career at them. Um, and thankfully so I believe there was a reason for everything. Um so I had Claire in 1997 and I was traveling. I it wasn't uncommon for me to be on a flight at least once a week, going somewhere um to help the various INCOM locations around the country um land a service contract or something like that. So um I just decided that um I needed to take a break from that, ended up working a deal with my then boss at Inacom that um, you know, I would work part-time uh and because we were in the middle of an acquisition and and they asked, could you stay on and help out with um some of the things that you've been working on with this acquisition? And I said, yeah. And and the fun the funniest thing I remember about that is they were like, you can work from home. Well, this was you know, 19, well now we're into 1998, and you know, it's dial up and not an efficient uh work situation, and um, I'd still end up going to the office most of the time anyway. But um, so that gave me, you know, I wasn't working full-time, and and around that time my dad um had said, um, I could really use some help with this Y2K thing. Um, and so that's how I kind of ended up getting back into roll-off. Um, but you asked me about my kids. And so my other daughter, Sophie, who is 24, um, she is um also a graduate of University of Nebraska, as is Claire. Um, and she is a teacher here in Lincoln.
SPEAKER_00So both your girls graduated from Louisville. I understand you refurbished or redid a an old historic old house down there. Tell folks about that.
SPEAKER_02There was this home on the edge of town. It was um like two blocks from the house I grew up in. And uh I always I was when I was a kid, I was fascinated with horses. And uh they had a this old four square farmhouse, um, a barn with a paddock and you know, horses in the paddock. And my mom and dad would let me walk down there and pet the horses. And there was this old couple that lived there, and they were really kind to me, and um, you know, just kind of let me come over there occasionally.
SPEAKER_00That's the cheapest way to give your kids horses. Yeah, just go to the neighbor's house.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And so um in the late 70s, my parents decided that they were gonna move, and uh, they actually almost bought that place. They had always really liked it too. And but it needed too much work. And at the time, you know, late 70s, early 80s, that's when everybody's building your your brick ranch on an acreage, right? And so that's what they chose to do. I was absolutely devastated. And uh so uh, you know, and then living in Louisville, um, I watched over the years, you know, that couple, you know, passed away, and then the house got sold and it became a rental. And I just would drive by it on our way to church every Sunday and just get sad, you know, like, oh, it just doesn't look very good anymore, and the barn's gonna fall in. And I kept telling my husband, we need to rescue that house. And he's like, and we had lived in another old house previously, and he was like, Oh no, we don't. But I eventually he sought my way, and we moved into that and uh knew that it was going to take a big project to make it last another hundred. And I think at the time we bought it, it was like 112 years old or whatever. So yeah, we we decided that we were gonna go all in and restore it, not just not just remodel it, but restore it. And then um we added on to it as well because you got to make it, you know, someday we would probably need to sell it and make it marketable. Um, so we we added on to it. And then we also pulled the barn down and and did a post and beam barn um to keep the look of the place, really. And so yeah, it was a passion project, but we love it. Now we kind of wonder with just the two of us there, why did we do this? We could have a squatter living in our attic and we would not know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but in addition to two daughters, do you have any grandchildren?
SPEAKER_02I do. So my oldest daughter, Claire, is married to an awesome man, Ben, and they have two uh little boys. Leo is uh three and uh is obsessed with construction equipment. So we're very proud of that. Um, and Bo is five months old.
SPEAKER_00So you have a background in broadcast journalism, you worked in Ranagap, you worked at Enecom, and now you find yourself running a construction company. Again, explain how that happened.
SPEAKER_02So um, I mentioned before my dad and I were having this conversation, and um he said, I know you're not working full time right now. I don't know if you would be interested, but I really need some help with this Y2K thing. And you know, at that time it surprised me my dad even knew what Y2K was. And um, I think they had two computers in the office. Um, and um, so I was like, well, who's telling you that? And he said, Well, we got this call from our software company, and something's not gonna work. And could you come look at it? I don't even know what they're talking about. And, you know, because I had worked at Incom, I I wasn't a techie person per se, but uh the support services that I was marketing spoke a lot to this. And so I knew enough to be dangerous, I'll just put it that way, and knew what to look for, knew who to call. And so I started going in there and um looking at this and talking with the the software folks. And what I found out was when I called, it was Great Plain Software. Um Doug Bergram's company from North Dakota. And he uh or so the support people there were like, wait a minute, what version are you on? And I'm like, Well, it's DOS, and they're like, it works. And I'm like, yeah, it still works. And, you know, they were using it for payroll and payroll tax upgrades and a few other things, but they were still handwriting checks. They weren't, they implemented very little, you know, just enough to get by. And so I just, you know, I had to tell my dad, I'm like, this isn't gonna work. We're gonna have to get something new. And at the time, you know, I was just in the office enough just to just hear the things that were going on. And my dad was the hardest working man that you could ever meet. But he thought working hard meant your boots got dirty. He didn't put the value on the office work as much as he put the value on the field work, you know. And so he he didn't want to pay attention to that stuff as much as he wanted to be out on a job site. I mean, he truly loved what he did. And so I think, you know, it wasn't a crisis by any means, but it was just a long by this time the company's almost 30 years old and uh uh, you know, just a lot of things that needed to be updated. And so, you know, I said, Dad, you probably need to one, we need to get the software in here, but you you're always seems to be chasing your tail with your books and and that sort of thing. You probably really need a controller or CPA type person in here full-time to really make that thing hum and and get you going. And then there were he had an issue with this safety record. You know, there was a safety program, but it wasn't being implemented, you know, top to bottom in the company. Um, he was having labor issues. And I I, you know, I was just when I was in there, I was hearing all this and I would say, Dad, do you want me to help you with that? And he'd be like, sure. And and before I knew it, I was just like, oh my gosh, I'm here full time. You know, like I the the the part-time gig with Anacom had kind of ended because the acquisition happened and um they didn't really need me anymore, and I truly didn't want to be doing that anymore, but still traveling a little bit. And uh so yeah, I just ended up back there. And it's kind of a funny story because when I graduated from high school, I said, I'm never living in Louisville, Nebraska again, and I'm never working for my dad again. Because when I was in high school, my dad made me work for him and do all the crap jobs. So that and so he's a good dad. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I I drove, I escorted equipment up the road, you know, before I could even reach the pedals in the truck that he had me. I mean, oh my goodness, and sweep the shop and clean the office and answer the phones and run parts and oh, I need you to pick up plans. And he said, I'm not gonna pay you to do any of this, but I'll I'll take care of your college. And that was, you know, you don't think of it at the time, but that's that's a pretty dang good deal when you get out of college debt-free. And, you know, I always look back at that and think, wow, the advantage that gave me. But um, it didn't make me love roll-off construction back in the day, let's just say that. So um, you know, I just I have to laugh now because I live in Louisville and I took over my dad's company.
SPEAKER_00So compare roll off construction when you came in late 1990s uh and started helping your dad out, and then all of a sudden you find you're kind of around the show. Compare that roll off construction to what it looks like today. What what what do you do that's different and what the size comparison?
SPEAKER_02When I came to the business in, like I said, late 90s, uh I would say we were about 50 employees. Um now we're at 120. Uh the um it's a lot more um structured, if you will. There's just a bit more of a um focus on um compliance and efficiency and training and developing people. Way more of, you know, my dad was a he was a wonderful man in terms of he would always say, and this is kind of our motto now, you know, make sure you take care of your people first, because without your people, you can't do the work. Um, and he exhibited that in a lot of ways, but um he we needed to make it more um embedded. So things like you know, paid time off and paid holidays, and um, we have a thing called Sacred Saturdays, where we have sometimes the reality of our work is we have to work a lot of Saturdays if we're behind or if we've had rain or whatever, because we are very seasonal and we, you know, only have basically 40 guaranteed weeks to do 52 weeks of work. And so um we implemented sacred Saturdays or Sacred Saturdays, and that is, you know, no matter what, these Saturdays are off. So families can plan and and you know, schedule things, and those are always tied to holidays Mother's Day, Father's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Fourth of July, that sort of thing. Um, so just um a lot more work and company benefits and programs for employees who are struggling and um things like that. So I just say it just evolved into a more um I don't know what the word I'm looking for is. Uh it just evolved into a more mature business enterprise um without losing its edge in terms of the grit and and the rigor it takes to get that kind of work done.
SPEAKER_00So Roloff construction has really established its footprint in what's called heavy civil construction. Describe for our listeners what that is, because that that turn it's a term of art.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it's a broad term. Um heavy civil refers to um, if you think civil engineering, right? Uh all the work that comes before vertical construction is how I would put it. So it's all your dirt moving, excavation, all your underground utility work, um, road construction, things like that, everything that uh makes the vertical construction possible.
SPEAKER_00And what's your geographical area that you cover?
SPEAKER_02So uh we've we've been blessed that we have we've we basically just work out of Omaha, but you know, we'll we'll travel a little bit if we need to. We've worked in Lincoln before, um, gone into some of the communities. I always say we're willing to go um in a 50-mile radius of Omaha. We've gone farther, but honestly, the market has been pretty good and we and we haven't had to. And I should I should point out that we don't do all of those things I mentioned in the heavy civil uh um field. We focus mainly on um underground utilities and we the wet utilities, so that's sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water, and then we also do road construction.
SPEAKER_00So you had mentioned that obviously you've really uh matured the the organization, it's employee benefits. One of those, if I'm not mistaken, earlier this year, uh you uh did something relative to employee ownership. Explain that to our listeners.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that was exciting. Um we are now, as of January 2nd, and uh a 100% employee-owned company. We did a we did an Aesop. Uh we are, you know, my husband and I, um, and we have a partner, um, Ron Siba, he's our CFO. Um we Decided that, you know, none of us are spring chickens. And while we don't have any immediate plans to retire or anything like that, we really need to be starting to think about how do we we're fifty roll-off construction is 50 years old this year.
SPEAKER_00Um, and how do we How are you celebrating that?
SPEAKER_02Um, we are going to do a party in December at the end of the year um to celebrate it. So a little sad note here, my dad passed away at the end of January, and we had initially planned for um the celebration on the first of March, um, which was our incorporation date. But um, it's just a little too soon after that to keep that date. We had a huge project deadline that we were working on, and we had all of a sudden all these jobs came up for bid, and everybody just looked at me and they're like, this is not a great time to stop and have this celebration. I said, I understand. I don't think I'm emotionally ready for it anyway. So we we booted it to December. Um, so we're just gonna celebrate it at the end of the year, but we'll have a big open house. And we've done this before. We we kind of celebrate our anniversary every 10 years, and usually that involves um, you know, bringing back anybody who's ever worked for roll off, all of our business partners, subcontractors, vendors, things like that, and just kind of having a big open house celebration right there in our shop.
SPEAKER_00Is there one leadership lesson that perhaps you learned, maybe something that worked, something that even failed, uh, that you've learned in your role at roll off construction that you look back on and say, boy, that was really important?
SPEAKER_02It's always about your people. They come first. Um, they're the ones out there that are um doing the work. And without them, you're nothing. Uh, so make sure you're uh taking care of them. And when I say meeting them where they're at, you know, we have all sorts of different situations where we have people that work for us that um, you know, uh may have immigrated from um, we have about a third of our company is of the Latino culture background. Uh we have people that work for us who have been in prison. Uh we, you know, and then we have people that um we've known all our lives, like we've known their families, and they've, you know, they're second generation at roll-off or something like that. And just being aware of them and what they might need to succeed. My dad was famous for giving people not only a second or third chance, but a tenth. And I just I always thought that was so special. We have so many stories at roll off of people who have come in and maybe it's been rough, but they've really made an amazing career, turned their life around, um, prospered. And at the end of the day, it's not really the work we do that gives me all the pride. I mean, I'm proud of our projects. It's the what people have been able to do because they've worked there. Um, and so whether that's buying their first house or putting their kids through college or taking the dream vacation or retire comfortably. I mean, all of those things are just to me what matters more than anything else.
SPEAKER_00How would you describe your leadership style?
SPEAKER_02I'm very fair. I don't like things that are perceived to be unfair. So I try to rule rule. That's the wrong word. Although the guys would probably say no, that's the right word. Um, I try to lead in a way that shows that we're trying to be really fair and equitable, reasonable, um calmly. You know, don't get too worked up about things, but you know, challenging things are gonna happen. And I realize that I lead by example. So if I'm freaking out about things, I'm just creating a freak out for everyone else too. So uh I'd like to lead humbly, uh, meaning I I realize it's not just me. There's we have a lot of other leaders uh roll off whom I'm really proud of. And I like I'd like to see them take the leadership and and and let them experiment with that a little bit. So um that's not a very direct answer, but I'd I rather lead like to kind of lead from behind, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Just be very supportive and make sure everybody's being treated fairly and and let let other people learn how to do it.
SPEAKER_00Is it true that you were once named Ditch Digger of the Year? Yes, that's explain that award.
SPEAKER_02So I've been very involved with an organization called NUCA. It's the National Utility Contractors Association. And that is a national organization, and then there are local chapters as well. And um, this is an organization that my dad was has been involved with since the 70s. And uh when I first started at Roloff, there wasn't a Nebraska chapter. And then myself and a couple other second-generation contractor friends of mine who our dads all knew each other. Um we got together in 2010, I think it was, and you know, talked to the national organization saying we could really use a chapter here in Nebraska. So uh us three probably led the charge, but there were so many great contractors in Nebraska who really jumped on board and and got that um chapter going. And as I became more involved with Nukin National, Invisible, um they asked me to be on their national board of directors. And then I was a convention chair one year, and then after that, they asked me to be on the executive team. And so that led um, and then also head up their industry and government relations committee, which is in charge of doing a lot of the lobbying, um, both at the state and the federal level. And I just I find that stuff so interesting. And so I was very involved. And then once you're on the executive committee of the board at NUCA, you just you year by year you move into the next position until you become the chairman of the board. So in 2017, I was the national chairwoman of the board uh for Nuka. And, you know, I've stayed pretty involved in the organization, try to give what I can with my time and my knowledge and financial, you know, contributing to the PACs and whatever funds they need to do the programming that they need to do. So they give the Ditch Digger of the Year Award to someone who has made a significant contribution to Nuka at the national level. And I was honored in 2019 to receive that award. And I laugh at the name of it. And in fact, I know they've discussed like, is that the right name for that award? It's a great name. It's a great name. Yeah. I mean, a lot of people are like, well, a lot of the people who get this award now aren't actually the ditch diggers, you know, because the Nuka organization is made up of a lot of owner-operator types. And I'm sure back in the day when they originated the award, some guy probably, you know, said, Oh, I'm gonna have to get out of my excavator for a couple of days and go get this award. They truly were digging the ditches, right? Um, but uh, you know, we've I know we talked about it when I was on the executive committee at the national level. Like, there's too much uh too much history with that award and that name and what it means to to try to call it anything else. So we kept it.
SPEAKER_00So workforce development is a significant challenge for Nebraska and a lot of states, and I know it's a passion of yours. Uh, what things has Roloff Construction been able to implement that have allowed you to attract and to retain quality employees? I mean, so many of your employees, my understanding is have really long links of service, been with you for a really long time. How's how do you make that happen?
SPEAKER_02I think a lot of it is culture. Uh, we always had culture, you know, culture is there, whether it's by design or by default. I think for a lot of years, Roloff had a good culture just by default. But as generations change and um uh, you know, people's work expectations of their employer change, um, it's important to really be super intentional about your culture. And so uh, you know, if you're good, you know, like I've talked about already, uh if you're good to your people, that's a lot of it. You know, they're not they're not going to probably leave you without um or come to work for you uh without a lot of thought going into that. Um, but I think so that the workforce development part of it is I think it's twofold. It's attracting the right people to your organization. And one of my favorite books is Good Degree by Jim Collins, and he uses that flywheel analogy. So we have a flywheel and it's all about how we operate and how when the momentum, when that wheel starts to turn, uh, you know, kind of on its own, you're attracting that's a you're attracting people to your organization. And and that that has that is borne out and and it works very well for us. And then once they're there, um, it's all about the culture because um it's a highly competitive organization. We're all after the same type of people. And so um you have to do you have to do a lot besides just the pay and the benefits to make them stay at your organization. And so that is is making it a really good place to work and making them not want to leave their friends at work or their environment or some of the cool things you do. So um about six years ago, um I belonged to a vistage peer group uh organization, and we had a speaker by the name of David Friedman who wrote a book called Culture by Design, and they were pitching, basically, a intentional culture building practice. And I left that presentation thinking, oh my goodness, I know exactly what he's talking about. I was it was a lot, you know, my dad was um his health was starting to fail around that, and it was a lot about um how um if your culture is is really kind of built around a figurehead in your company and that person's no longer there, are you going to be able to continue that? You know, and I that just really got me thinking. And I thought to myself, boy, we really need to capture a lot of what my dad instilled in everybody and all the other leaders at Roloff that he taught. Um, and that the stuff that my husband and I, our partner Ron, and we also had a partner um until he retired a few years ago, Bob uh Norris, who we we need to make sure this stuff gets passed through to the next generation. And so we we started this intentional culture building practice. We call it the roll off edge, and it's basically a defined set of uh behaviors or fundamentals, we call them, that um we practice. And so we take one a week and we talk about it and we it's like like this week's uh this week's fundamental at roll off is take care of yourself. And it's talking about you know, you in order to be the best you can be at work, you've got to be the best you can be as a person in your physical health, your mental health, your home life, that sort of thing. That's one of our fundamentals. We have fundamentals like build it right, and uh we have a fundamental called think and act like an owner, uh, and things like that. And so we just take one of those a week and we we work really hard at that. And you know what's really been interesting about this uh culture in terms of workforce development retention is once you nail these things down and you're like this is who we are and this is what we expect. If you have people in your midst who come into your company um and they don't fit, it's a lot easier to let them go.
SPEAKER_00Right. Sometimes on their own.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and they'll and they'll self-select out too because they just know uh this I can do this. And so um it's it I feel like it's really been a turning point for our company. And uh yeah, so I'm excited to see where it goes in the future as well.
SPEAKER_00What's roll-off construction look like 10 years from now? Where do you where do you see it headed?
SPEAKER_02I hope that it grows. Uh so we're in strategic planning right now, and uh we are really letting we have a senior leadership team um of really great individuals who um each represent have expertise in a major functional area of roll-off. Interestingly enough, the very first strategic planning session that we did was three days after my dad passed away. And of course, Monty and I couldn't be there. And I said to our facilitator, I said, you know, maybe this is better because they're all gonna speak really freely. They're not going to feel like they have to listen to my ideas or Monty's ideas. And maybe, maybe they'll come up with things that we haven't thought about or they'll take us in a direction, and that's what I want them to do. They're the future. And uh boy, when we went to the next session and I saw the visioning plan that was rolled out, I was like, wow, they're big dreamers. And, you know, but I they were so excited about it. And and nothing that they've we've got on there isn't anything that I, you know, that we're not capable of. But mostly it was about growing the business in terms of revenue and things like that, of course, but also expansion, like what can we get into to better utilize all the equipment, trucks, and the people that we have? What are some natural bolt-on businesses that we could get into? So it's not only, not only just growing the business in terms of volume, but in terms of scope as well.
SPEAKER_00So I assume uh you and your husband Monty have sort of different strengths, different skill sets. What what what lane does he feel that's different than than you?
SPEAKER_02So Monty has actually worked at Roll of Construction longer than I have. Really? Yeah. Well, I don't count the years that I was.
SPEAKER_00You were dating an employee? No.
SPEAKER_02Well, secretly, yes. So uh if you don't count all the odd jobs I did from age seven to 18, uh yeah, we're we're just not gonna count those years. I didn't get paid. Um so uh Monty, he, our senior year of college that summer, no, the summer after our senior year of college, he needed, um, he's like, I need a better paying job. He worked at Campus Rec um at the university, which he loved. But um, he's like, I need a better paying job. So my dad's like, well, I need help. And so he worked for my dad for summer. He absolutely hated it. Uh, you know, it's it was kind of the Wild West a little bit. Uh, there was no intentional culture building back then. And uh, but we didn't tell anybody. He didn't want that, we were dating. And so uh he wasn't protected by any means and he knew nothing. I mean, he'd never worked in that environment before. And so um, you know, he did one summer and then he had to go back to school and finish up his last semester, and he's like, I'm never doing that again, you know. And we still laugh about that. And then um, we got graduated money work for a friend of his at like a residential construction firm. Monty has a business degree, but he knew he did one internship at the state uh office of personnel back in the day, you know, wear the old suit and tie to work every day. And he's like, I cannot do this. Um he grew up rural doing all the outdoor jobs and that sort of thing, too. And so he's just like, this isn't for me. And so he went to work for his friend who was in residential construction. He really did like that, but he didn't, it was very small, didn't really see an opportunity. My dad had said, you know, if you're willing to get back out there, um, I'm I could I could use some help and I would, you know, you can work year-round and work in the office and learn estimating. And so that's kind of how it went. So Monty, Monty preceded me by about five years um at Roloff. And and when my dad said, you know, you can work in the field for a while, Monty was thinking a couple years. Um, 13 years later, Monty arrived in the office uh to be a full-time estimator. But he's so thankful for that because he literally has done every job in the company, except he's never really been a like a DOT truck driver and he's not a mechanic. Um, but uh it's made him an amazing estimator because he literally can build every job in his head. And so that the estimating the work, um, the the relationships that he has to maintain with like all of our suppliers, subcontractors, and that sort of thing. And then also he oversees um the project management side of that too. So, you know, these projects are huge and they're complex. There's a lot of paperwork, negotiation, contracts, um, a lot of change orders, a lot of things like that that happen on over the life of a job. And so he he heads up that. And we, you know, we work together every day, but we truly he works upstairs, I work downstairs, we don't really talk too much during the day because that's a lot of togetherness.
SPEAKER_00So I know some couples, when they're together all day, when they go home, they actually go one upstairs, one downstairs, but you guys don't see each other much during the day.
SPEAKER_02No, we intentionally we don't. I mean, we try to just stay out of each other's hair. Um, you know, my parents tried to work together in at Roloff, and that that just didn't work for them. Um, Monty's parents own a business together and they love it. Like they wouldn't have it any other way. They're together 24-7. So I was very when he worked in the field and I worked in the office, it wasn't an issue. You know, like we didn't see each other at all. When he moved to the office, I was like, oh no, you know, I don't know. And we're two very different people personality-wise. And so I was like, this is gonna work. But so we talked about it and and we and we said, let's just keep work at work and let's maintain our own separate silos. Um, you know, of course, get together and collaborate when we have to. Um, and that just it worked perfect for us. And uh, you know, it was it's nice to have that bond.
SPEAKER_00So, in addition to being president CEO for a lot of construction and being a wife, a mother, or grandmother, you also spend quite a few hours giving back to your communities. Uh, tell our listeners some of the things you've been involved in from uh just helping your communities uh serving in various leadership positions.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was taught at a very young age that um in order to make small town entities work, everybody kind of has to chip in. And so um I've been very involved over the years with my church, um, serving on church council and Sunday school director and all those sorts of things.
SPEAKER_00I um Did you ever run vacation Bible school? Yes, I of course she did. That's where all leaders are truly born.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I actually just today wrote a note to the VBS director of our church and to just to say thanks for keeping on doing that. You know, her kids are far and away out of VBS and she's still doing it, you know. And I just, it's a lot of work. Uh and I just, you know, I think some people don't get thanked enough for that kind of stuff. So I wrote her a note. Um I um was really involved, like I mentioned before, that I really loved the performing arts when I was in high school. And we have a gem of a theater down in Cass County called the Loft Community Theater. And so I had done shows there in high school and continued to do some through college and in my early married life before I started travel and got too busy and had kids and all that sort of thing. And I had served on their board of directors for a long time, um, chaired a capital campaign to help them build a new theater, did that for a lot of years. I've been on the Louisville Um Area Foundation board for several years, the Midlands Community Foundation board served on our um board of education. For eight years up until about four years ago or three years ago, excuse me. Yeah, I just, you know, when I see something that could use some help, or I feel like, you know what, I have a gift to give that organization or an idea to give that organization. It's it's hard to say no. Um, my husband always jokes when I leave for a meeting or something, or uh he'll say, Do you got your duct tape with you? And I'm like, Why do I need duct tape? He's like, keep tape your hand down so you don't volunteer for another thing. And so that's our joke. Um, but yeah. And then of course the industry stuff, nuca, um, and just other various industry endeavors, if you will.
SPEAKER_00Did you get that from your parents?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. My dad, you know, church was always a really big part of our family. And my parents were both really active in our church, um, church council, all those things. My dad was mayor of Louisville back in the day. Um, my mom was big and 4-H, was a 4-H leader for years. Um, you know, just they were very giving people of their time. And um they, you know, always taught us kids, you know, don't people need help, don't say no. You you're born with a brain and um the resources to to help people out. You should do it.
SPEAKER_00So, Kara, something we ask all of our guests, and you get one word. What's your one word that to you best describes this place in which you were born and raised, in which you attended the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in which you are currently the president and CEO of Roloff Construction? What's your one word for Nebraska?
SPEAKER_02My word is stewardship, because I think Nebraskans are raised with a responsibility to take care of what they've been entrusted with, whether that be land, a government office, a business, an organization. Um they so many people I know really focus on how I'm leaving this for the next generation of people who have to do it. And they they think downstream. And I just I think that's amazing. You don't always see that in um other states, whether that's because of the state's economy or their government or or what have you. And I uh that word just resonates with me, Steer Chip. You know, that's in a nutshell, it's leaving something better than when you found it. And I really see that it's pervasive through the state of Nebraska. It's something I'm really proud of.
SPEAKER_00Kara, thank you for joining us. It's been exciting to watch you thrive as a leader. Thank you. And the tremendous success of roll-off construction. Again, I'm very grateful that you would take your time to come in and visit with us.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing on Apple, Spotify, or wherever it is you get your favorite podcasts. Also, share it with someone who might find it of interest. And please keep on listening as we release additional episodes on Nebraska, its great communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the folks who make it happen. Thanks.
SPEAKER_01This has been Nighty Three, the podcast, sponsored by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Ludke.
