Regional Healthcare Lead Spotlight

As Swinerton’s Regional Healthcare Lead and Project Executive in Colorado, Adam brings nearly two decades of hands-on experience delivering complex hospital and healthcare environments across the West Coast and Rocky Mountain region. From his early days building healthcare facilities in California to shaping Colorado’s healthcare landscape, Adam has developed a deep expertise in the intricacies, standards, and people that define this market. After joining Swinerton in 2024, he’s played a key role in elevating our healthcare practice by championing field-driven learning, cross-market collaboration, and a team culture built on trust, technical excellence, and true passion for building spaces that impact patient care.

Q: How did you get into the construction industry?

I grew up in Milwaukee and went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where I tried out a few different majors before landing on civil engineering. I started off thinking I’d be a math major, realized quickly that wasn’t for me, tried mechanical engineering, and then realized that wasn’t the kind of “mechanical” I had in mind. Civil engineering—with a structural focus—finally felt tangible and right.

My first internship was as a structural engineer at a nuclear power plant. The work was interesting, but honestly, the highlight of my week was the staff meeting because it was the only time I got to talk to people instead of sitting at my desk pushing calcs all day. That’s when I realized I probably belonged on the construction side.

Even without a construction management degree, I saw classmates going that route and landed an internship with a general contractor on the West Coast. They put me on a hospital project. After my summer internship, they invited me back after graduation to help finish the three-year project, and I jumped at it. That was my introduction to the unique world of hospital construction in California.

From there, it snowballed: another large project, this time a ground-up design-build hospital, then projects in Arcadia and Torrance. One hospital after another, and that’s how my healthcare construction journey started.

Q: What were your first projects or your first job titles in the industry?

I started out as a project intern and worked my way through the typical progression: project engineer, senior project engineer, assistant project manager, project manager, and eventually senior project manager. Depending on the size of the job, the title didn’t always match the role — more than once as a senior project manager, I ended up serving as the superintendent too, just because that’s what the project needed.

I spent 13 years in California, all with McCarthy, before moving to Colorado for family reasons. Once we had kids, those Midwestern values kicked in, and we wanted more space and a real neighborhood feel — something that just wasn’t realistic for us in California.

In 2017, I moved to Colorado with a large general contractor, but I quickly realized the bureaucratic structure wasn’t a good fit for me. I moved to a smaller operation where I could be more hands-on and help grow the office from the ground up. Over four years, I took on a wide range of responsibilities, which was a humbling and valuable experience. Eventually, I missed the scale and complexity of larger projects, which led me to Swinerton in July 2024.

Q: Throughout all of these different companies, were you always focused on healthcare construction, or did you explore other types of work?

No, I haven’t always been in healthcare. One of my toughest projects was actually a non-healthcare job: a hard-bid conference and guest center right in the heart of the UCLA campus. It was a true “rip and read”—you submit a bid, they open it, and the lowest bidder wins. Hard bid, lump sum. That experience taught me a lot; I came out thinking everyone should manage a hard-bid lump-sum project at least once in their career if they want to grow.

I’ve also worked on life science and lab projects, which run parallel to healthcare, and a few parking structures, which are common on healthcare campuses. The UCLA project was really the only major project outside healthcare or its related sectors.

Q: What Are You Passionate About in Healthcare Construction?

I love the people the healthcare market attracts—owners, trade partners, everyone. You can’t just “fly by the seat of your pants” on a healthcare project. If you don’t know the industry, it shows immediately. Success on a healthcare project requires a certain caliber of individual, a level of sophistication built into the fabric of healthcare work, because people’s lives are literally at stake – so you get these great minds of people who are working together and willing to take the steps and go the extra mile to build complex projects that matter.

Q: What do you think is Swinerton’s greatest asset when it comes to healthcare construction?

I tell people all the time: if a project is ugly, hairy, complicated, and requires careful planning, that’s our sweet spot—we’ll win it every time. Healthcare projects are complex by nature, and that’s where we thrive.

Having a national healthcare market is a huge advantage. I know every single one of our healthcare market leaders across the country and feel comfortable picking up the phone or sending an email, knowing I’ll get support. I’ve never had that feeling at other companies — the culture of information and resource sharing here is unmatched, which makes us effective because there’s very little we haven’t seen across the country collectively.

And, of course, it’s our people. I love our team. We’re selective in hiring because everyone needs to be “all in” on the projects we go after. Healthcare construction attracts a particular type of professional, and we have a lot of them — people who are passionate and committed to delivering complex projects.

Q: Would you label Swinerton as a leader in healthcare construction?

I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished in the four to five years we’ve been in healthcare. We’ve built a strong team and an impressive resume in a relatively short time. While many of our competitors have been in this market for decades, I think we’ve proven we can compete at a high level and deliver complex projects successfully.

Q: What’s a favorite healthcare project highlight in your career?

One of my favorite projects was our UCHealth PET/CT and Cardiac CT project in Colorado, recently recognized with an ACE Award for Best Building Project, General Contractor (Under $10 Million). It was a tough job — not the most complex I’ve done — but man, I loved that team. Those people are still some of my favorite colleagues I keep in touch with.

Tough projects are always easier when like-minded people surround you, and you enjoy being around them. That team jived, had fun, and got through one of the most challenging jobs our office has taken on. For me, the people I build with make the project truly memorable — not just the construction outcome.

Q: What advice would you give younger professionals entering this industry and the healthcare market in particular?

My advice to younger professionals in healthcare construction is simple: be a builder first.

Early in your career, whether you’re a project engineer, field engineer, or assistant project manager, nobody expects you to know everything. But as you move toward project management, there is a baseline expectation that you know more, like reviewing submittals, managing safety, and understanding the trades.

Use your early years to learn everything you can in the field to be a builder. Talk with foremen, humble yourself, and soak up hands-on experience. The financials, procedures, and policies will come later. Enjoy the journey, build a strong foundation for yourself, and make the most of your time on the job site —it’s the core of becoming a great project manager.

Q: Are there any obstacles that are unique to healthcare construction?

Healthcare construction comes with unique challenges, largely because projects take longer due to the steps required to protect patients and staff. Teams need specialized knowledge in infection control and the diseases associated with working in and around hospitals—something you don’t encounter in other markets.

Our teams understand things like Aspergillus and how it can spread, as well as the risks patients face while being treated. That level of sophistication and awareness is critical and makes healthcare construction uniquely complex.

Q: What do you see as the future of healthcare construction?

There’s an interesting shift happening toward rural care. Recent legislation includes significant funding for rural hospitals, which could bring more complexity and investment to facilities that have traditionally focused on immediate community needs. These critical access hospitals usually don’t spend much on facilities—they exist to support basic care, and patients get sent to metro areas if they need advanced treatment.

Most healthcare builders focus on metro-area projects because those buildings are more complex. It’ll be interesting to see how the industry adapts as rural hospitals start to receive more funding and attention, creating new opportunities in areas where travel teams and large ground-up projects haven’t traditionally been common.

Q: What’s changed during the course of your career in terms of healthcare construction?

Outpatient care continues to grow faster than inpatient care, but what’s really shifting is patient acuity — the level of care patients need. With baby boomers aging, hospitals are seeing more patients requiring serious inpatient treatment, not just routine scans or tests.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the industry shifts to accommodate these changing needs. I think what we’re going to find is hospitals are going to become more specialized and complex. Hospitals will likely use technology and virtual care to free up inpatient space. Standard patient rooms will start evolving to handle higher-acuity care. Basic rooms with just a few medical gases may become less common, replaced by rooms with more advanced capabilities. Swinerton aims to be at the forefront of these changes, helping shape the future of healthcare construction.

Q: Why is healthcare construction important to you?

Healthcare construction is important to me because we’re not just building spaces — we’re building environments that directly impact patient care. We build healthcare and spend a lot of time educating ourselves on this market and the complexities associated with treating patients, but I think there’s a missed opportunity in truly understanding what providers experience.

I’d love to see our teams shadow clinicians, even for an hour or two, before we build or renovate a space. If we’re doing an interventional radiology equipment replacement, for example, how powerful would it be for the team to see how that room actually functions, hear from the doctors who use it, and feel the environment instead of just relying on plans and past experience?

Where I want to take our teams next is finding ways — big or small — to integrate them into the environment of care, outside of the construction area. That firsthand understanding builds a deeper sense of purpose, belonging, and commitment to the work.