Women in Construction Spotlight: Maureen Decker

One of our fastest growing groups at Keeley Construction is our Industrial Group. With a recent, exciting expansion to a new region of the country, our Industrial Group is full of dedicated, talented individuals who work tirelessly towards Keeley’s vision. Maureen Decker, Assistant Project Manager, is one of these individuals and her commitment to learning and growth is vital to her team.

Maureen joined the Keeley family a little over a year ago as a Project Engineer. She quickly grew into her current role where she supports two of our largest, most trusted clients. To Maureen, there is nothing more empowering than trust, and for her to be entrusted with growing and nurturing our relationships with those clients continuously drives her to succeed. Whether a new or tenured team member, it is great to be given a task and the tools and trust needed to get the job done while also being given the freedom to complete the task in a new way that can benefit the entire team. For Maureen, it has been a fantastic experience working in such an empowering atmosphere where she is constantly learning new things and challenging herself to get out of her comfort zone.

“I love the variety of projects we get to work on in the Industrial Group. We work on huge crushers while simultaneously doing a lab remodel or concrete paving. It keeps things interesting and helps my knowledge expand in multiple directions within the industry.”

Previously, Maureen worked in the power industry for eight years and had never considered working in the construction industry. However, once she found Keeley and learned more about the culture, she knew it was time to make a change. However, for her, the industry has only been a small part of any job she has had. What’s important to her is the people and the culture and since she walked through Keeley’s doors she has never looked back. If Maureen could give one piece of advice to young women just starting out in the industry, it would be:

“Be patient. It can be overwhelming getting into such a broad industry, but Keeley has a wonderful, nourishing culture that fosters a training mindset. Remember to take advantage of any and all learning opportunities as they are such amazing tools that will help you grow in every aspect of your career!”

Throughout her career, and especially her journey so far with Keeley, Maureen has learned a lot of important lessons that have helped her get to where she is. However, the most important lesson she has learned is one that our CEO, Rusty Keeley, lives by: Fail Forward.

“There is a lot to learn coming into a new industry and making mistakes is inevitable. When you are surrounded by the right people, they teach you to learn from your mistakes and immediately step in to help turn those lemons into lemonade.”

This lesson helps guide Maureen through every decision on every project and she is incredibly excited for everything that is yet to come. Her vision for the future is simple – grow in her current role as Assistant Project Manager and become a Project Manager in the Industrial Group. Learning the ropes with her team has been amazing and she strives to absorb as much of their industry knowledge as she can on a daily basis. This positive atmosphere of growth and learning is her favorite thing about Keeley. Her team makes every day fun and the work they do every day is challenging, but Maureen and her team are more motivated than ever.

Keeley is driven by our core values – PRIDE – and Maureen’s favorite value is People. Keeley genuinely cares about hiring the right people for the right job. As Rusty says, “If you get the people right, the results will follow.” There is such an emphasis on recruitment because our amazing people know that positivity attracts positivity. For Maureen, it has been amazing to experience Keeley’s culture and see that Keeley will always support and celebrate our most important asset – people.

Maureen is so grateful she made the switch to Keeley and knows that she has truly found her career destination. As for why someone else should make Keeley their career destination?

“It’s all right there in the core values – People, Respect, Integrity, Discipline, Empowerment. Every Keeley’n takes these to heart and lives them out every day. What more could you want!?”

Maureen, thank you for your passion for everything Keeley and for living out our core values every day. Our Industrial Group would not be able to grow and succeed without you. Your future at Keeley is limitless!