ST. LOUIS, MO – John Farnen of Caseyville, IL has joined Kwame Building Group as Vice President of Operations. Farnen is responsible for leading Kwame Building Group’s healthcare, higher education and corporate divisions. He also develops and maintains strategic partnerships and directs marketing and business development activities.
ST. LOUIS, MO – Michael Maue of Mascoutah, IL has joined Kwame Building Group as a Project Manager. He is responsible for project planning, development and execution, from conceptual design to project closeout. He coordinates project teams to ensure client requirements are met and outcomes are delivered on time.
As the St. Louis-based construction management firm marks its 30th anniversary, Tony Thompson offers insight for today’s entrepreneurs.
In December, the St. Louis American named Kwame Building Group CEO Anthony “Tony” Thompson as its Person of the Year for 2021. Through this honor — which overlaps Kwame Building Group’s 30th anniversary — the paper highlights not only his career and the success of his company, but his commitments to his community, equality in education and diversity and inclusion within his firm.
Based in St. Louis with offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Seattle, Kwame Building Group is exclusively focused on construction management services, including estimating, scheduling, project planning and value engineering, among others. It has completed over 6,000 projects and currently manages more than $300 million in work each year, with 75% of its work from repeat clients, including a 26-year business relationship with St. Louis Lambert International Airport (above).
ST. LOUIS, MO – Carson Green, of Alton, IL, has joined Kwame Building Group, Inc. (KWAME) as a Field Engineer. Green is responsible for interfacing with the project team, reviewing drawings and specifications, mitigating project issues, estimating, providing technical assistance, delivering construction management services and managing regulatory aspects of projects. He is working on keystone KWAME projects including the Cervantes Convention Center expansion project at America’s Center and St. Louis Major League Soccer Stadium.
Left Image: Tony Thompson, Kwame Building Group CEO
Right Image: Kwame Building Group headquarters on Washington Avenue in St. Louis
ST LOUIS, MO – St. Louis-based construction management firm, Kwame Building Group (KWAME), is celebrating its 30th anniversary. One of the nation’s top pure construction management firms, dedicating 100 percent of its resources to project management services, KWAME has completed more than 6,000 projects and manages more than $300 million of work annually, with more than 75% of their work from repeat clients. KWAME is headquartered in St. Louis with offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Seattle.
Tony Thompon, president of Kwame Building Group (KWAME), has been paving the way for minorities and women in construction for decades.
A solid dose of business expertise, a generous amount of relationship building, heaping quantities of grit and a healthy measurement of self-awareness are ingredients in the recipe for success of minority business enterprises (MBEs) working in St. Louis’ construction industry.
MBE firms of all sizes and specialties are woven into the fabric of St. Louis’ built environment. While a sizable number of MBE firms got their start in connection with a major construction project, the genesis for others was a transition from the trades to the office. Still others found their path to MBE ownership via education, be it from the walls of the university or a one-on-one mentoring relationship. Many have built upon working relationships with larger first in the private sector, working on their projects.
Regardless of the avenue through which they traveled to launch an MBE firm, determination, hard work and extroversion equipped and motivated them to succeed.
Twice each year, Kwame Building Group CEO, Tony Thompson, shares his wisdom with Executive MBA students at St. Louis University. Tony shares candid reflections and lessons learned from his decades of experience working for Fortune 500 organizations, government entities and running a successful construction management firm.
Some of the key messages that impacted the students this semester were about breaking through barriers as an African American business owner, the importance of a ‘why’ in your business, management best practices, lessons for growing a business and the importance of giving back.
Students provided detailed feedback about how the presentation impacted them at this important stage in their careers.
Photo Credit: HOK and Snow Kreilich Architects
More than 900,000 craft hours of work have been completed to date
ST. LOUIS, MO – The construction team has completed the structural steel and pre-cast phases of the St. Louis CITY SC’s state-of-the-art Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium project. The final steel beam of the stadium’s superstructure was put in place last month by the joint venture of Mortenson | Alberici | L. Keeley (MAKjv) with Kwame Building Group as the construction project manager and ownership group representative. This milestone begins to integrate the stadium into the St. Louis skyline and the growing urban landscape in Downtown St. Louis. The concrete floors on all of the decks also have been placed, marking the end of the pre-cast phase.
Photo credit: Fentress Architects
ST. LOUIS, MO – St. Louis construction firms are invited to an informational event this Friday, September 24 to learn about bidding opportunities for the Cervantes Convention Center expansion project at The America’s Center (AC Next Gen.) The event will be held from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Cervantes Convention Center, 701 Convention Plaza, Room 100. Guests should use the entrance at 8th Street and Washington Avenue. Contractors representing all trades are invited to attend and should pre-register at https://acnextgenproject.com/contractor-informational.
