Brad Nydahl named Construction Management Alumnus of Year

Brad Nydahl, CEO of Howard S. Wright Construction in Portland, Ore., was named the 2011 Construction Management Alumnus of the Year by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction. The Durham School will honor Nydahl April 25 with a reception at the Nebraska Union.

Nydahl was born and raised in northwest Nebraska and graduated from Chadron High School in 1971. At age 14, he had his first construction job working for an excavation contractor. For the next 11 years, through high school and college, he worked part-time and full-time for several general and specialty contractors. He entered the UNL School of Architecture in 1973 and after three years transferred to the construction management department in the College of Engineering.

He left UNL in May 1977 when he accepted a job with CH2M Hill in Portland. In 1978, he completed his bachelor of science degree in construction management at UNL. After three years with CH2M Hill managing designers, Nydahl joined Baugh Construction as a project engineer. Nydahl advanced with Baugh, and at age 38 he was a vice president and a major stockholder.

In 1990, Nydahl joined Fletcher Challenge, a diversified international company, leading its Micronesia construction operations, and moved his family to Guam, where he oversaw large hotel projects amid seven major typhoons and the collapse of the Guam power grid system.

With Fletcher, Nydahl moved back to the mainland in 1993 to take over its Pacific Northwest company, Howard S. Wright Construction, with headquarters in Portland. Nydahl and team redeveloped the company's approaches and within three years opened new offices in Sacramento and Phoenix. In 1996, Fletcher sold HSW to Nydahl and his partners. HSW has since expanded to 35 employees.

With the next generation of HSW leadership, Nydahl's role has become one of mentoring, building values and culture via training and strategic leadership. He also owns a working cattle ranch along the John Day River in north central Oregon.

WRITER: Carole Wilbeck