Lee Cyrus Reflects on Five Years with Swinerton

We took a walk down memory lane with Lee Cyrus, Project Manager of our Swinerton Oregon division, to celebrate his five-year service anniversary. Lee mentioned that he was drawn to Swinerton because he wanted to be apart of an employee-owned organization.  Additionally, a culture that made it fun to go to work and offered growth opportunities were valuable as well. While visiting the Portland office, he witnessed employees riding bikes through the offices, tossing footballs during a meeting in the open office area.  The Project Engineer position he was interviewing for provided opportunities to develop new skills by moving, which shifted his talents from new construction to aggressive special projects.  the culture of the group felt like he belonged by

When it came to Lee’s interview, he was surprised and thankful that questions were geared on personality and teamwork. He was dreading that the questions would be technical to show in-depth knowledge of special projects – since he admits he knew very little at the time. That quickly changed when Lee joined the Swinerton family and became the Project Engineer on a sizeable multi-building tenant improvement project for a global athletic apparel firm. He gives credit to his team members who were willing to take the time to educate him. Through long hours, he gained a new appreciation for furniture, branding, and audio/visual. Lee joked that “you cannot just buy it on Amazon to have it delivered the next day.” The success of delivering intense scope packages led to the nickname, FF&Lee. The name still sticks today.

Change is inevitable, and within five years, Lee has been proud of “being part of the Oregon division’s success and growth, and being given multiple and endless opportunities.” For the past four years, Lee was an integral team member of our global athletic apparel project team and had the opportunity to strengthen his skills and lead his own project teams. Currently, Lee has been given another chance to shift from special projects, back to his original roots of new construction. Now working on the ilani Casino Resort Parking Garage, the project consists of over a million square feet of parking with 2,600 stalls. Lee has coordinated the efforts on the elevator towers and exterior facade.

Lee states, “don’t worry about what others around you are doing, take the tasks and opportunities that you are given, and the rest will take care of itself. These words have aided Lee in obtaining new skills, excepting challenges, and being a proud employee-owner.

Congratulations, Lee Cyrus, on your five-year service anniversary!