Lauren Krueger has really come up in the world. Sixty floors up, to be exact. Some ten years after she was Dowagiac’s co-salutatorian as a dual-enrolled student at Southwestern Michigan College, she is a top-flight civil engineer busy erecting high-rises on the Chicago skyline.
As project manager for Harmon, Krueger, who currently lives in Naperville, recently completed Wolf Point East and began another skyscraper, Salesforce Tower.
She manages the entire building process and finances from the start of engineering to manufacturing, all the way to installation on the job site and the finished turnover of the building. Harmon, which has about 400 employees, prefabricates all curtain wall units in-house at one of four manufacturing plants.
While both projects rise 60 stories, Wolf Point, a concrete building, stands 694 feet tall, compared to Salesforce’s 846 feet. Krueger tells us, “Steel buildings usually have taller floor spans,” and adds, “The only time I was afraid of heights was when I went skydiving in 2016.”
Lauren says, “I was inspired to go into a construction-related career mostly because of my father,” who points out, “My dad was a union carpenter in Chicago when I was young, then started his own company building houses. As a little girl, I was amazed at how he could take a stack of 2x4s and make it into a home. I couldn’t imagine myself in any other type of career besides construction.”
A college friend told her about Harmon’s high-rise facades, and she says, “It sounded awesome, so I found Harmon at the Michigan Tech career fair in October of 2014,” and notes, “At that time the only knowledge I had was from residential windows.” She landed an interview with Harmon the next day. The now-president asked, “Can you explain what a mullion is?”
Krueger says, “Thanks to remembering what my dad taught me, I said, ‘Isn’t it the framing around the window?’ Technically, I was only half right,” and adds, Mullions are only the vertical part of the windows. But they were still impressed I came close to the answer. After my first internship in summer 2015 with Harmon in Baltimore, I knew this was the company and career for me.”
Regarding her time in college, Krueger says, “SMC was an amazing experience,” and adds, “It definitely helped me get ready for Michigan Tech. It also helped me a ton financially. I graduated high school with 42 credits from SMC and started at Michigan Tech as a sophomore. I was so far ahead of my classmates I was able to take a semester off my second year and work at an engineering firm in Kalamazoo (SME) and still graduate in four years.”
After completing her bachelor’s degree, Krueger moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a year to serve as project coordinator on a 25-story office tower.
Krueger’s SME role was testing concrete, asphalt and soil. She says, “It just so happens almost any construction site has all of those things,” and adds, “I tested concrete on many roads and bridges, but also building foundations, parking lots, sidewalks and wastewater treatment plants. I got to almost every civil engineering industry and grew to love the building side the most.”
Krueger helped on Meijer in South Haven, Arcadia Ales in Kalamazoo and New Buffalo’s public library.
Her Bolingbrook office is 10 minutes from where she grew up in Lemont. She also works from a “steel box” jobsite trailer, suggesting, “Some weeks I spend every day downtown at the jobsite. Some weeks I don’t go downtown at all. It just depends on when I am needed. Right now I usually go to the jobsite once a week.”
Krueger was 10 when her family left Lemont for Dowagiac, and admits, “At the time I was so mad at my parents,” but quickly adds, “Today I am more than thankful we moved and for all of the opportunities I had in Dowagiac. It does feel like my life has come full circle being back here.”
For those interested in a similar career, Lauren says, “Opportunities in construction are off the charts,” adding, “In 2017, 70 tower crane permits were pulled in the City of Chicago, which is booming in the construction industry. It is good to have diversity and balance in any workplace. The way women and men think is very different. While working with my male counterparts, we look at a problem and come up with different solutions. Sometimes my male counterparts are better. Sometimes mine are better. But the best thing is we are collaborating and making sure we pick the best solution.”
The dynamic contractor says, “It’s crazy how many people cannot believe women can do the same thing,” adding, “A project executive I work with, a 67-year-old gentleman, after about the first six months of working with him and earning his respect, finally turned to me and said, ‘Lauren, I am so impressed with your work. I have never seen a woman do what you are doing before.’ I took it as a compliment because, honestly, they never have. We are here to show them we can do anything they can.”
Addressing young women considering the construction trades, Lauren says, “Believe in yourself! You can do anything if you put your mind into it,” and adds, “There will be challenges along the way. There will be difficult people, situations and conditions. Just take each as it comes. Sometimes you need to be strong and hold your ground. Sometimes you need to be softer and let things through, but never feel bad about correcting someone if they make you feel uncomfortable. This is what I would say to any young lady going into any career.”
She concludes, “Don’t be intimidated by the rough, tough and rowdy construction industry,” adding, “Every single person in this industry is human and still has a family and life outside work. Being liked and being respected are two different things. You do not need to like someone to earn their respect.”
Krueger is a director for the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) Chicago Metro Chapter and returns to Michigan Tech’s career fair as a Harmon recruiter.
To this day, if anyone asks what class helped most, she points out, SMC’s Architectural AutoCAD “helped me learn how to design a house to code in AutoCAD and taught me to understand construction drawings to the next level. Community colleges can really help build a great foundation for you to excel at a university.”
Last week was the observance of National Women in Construction Week, and Lauren’s story was highlighted in the region.
In the photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market, Lauren Krueger is shown as she mentors young women through Camp NAWIC, a free, one-week day camp designed to introduce female high school students to the wide variety of careers in the construction industry and to showcase female role models.
