Meet Haydon’s Vice President of Risk Management, Les Keeble. He was born and raised in Port Lavaca, Texas. He spent his college years pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. After he graduated in 1986, the commercial construction industry in Texas was at an all-time low. He began his career in construction shortly after, completing residential historical preservation and traveling all over the states. He then transitioned from restoring historical buildings to completing commercial projects as a Project Superintendent with a company in Houston. In 1989, Les made the move to the great state of Arizona to continue to pursue his career as a Superintendent.
Les joined Haydon in 1994 as a Project Manager for the rapidly growing company and developed right along with it. Today, he is responsible for overseeing the company’s risk, ensuring that procedures are followed, and developing strategies to protect Haydon’s assets, “it is important that we have procedures in place for how we best serve our clients and how we manage our contracts.” His expertise also entails managing as well as understanding Haydon’s risk, rights, and responsibilities, “a big part of our work is making sure we are completing our work in accordance with our owner agreement.”
In addition to maintaining owner agreements and protecting the integrity of the company, Les spends much of his time mentoring our team. On any given day, you can find a Project Engineer in his office going through and learning any necessary topic of discussion to improve results. His leadership has been an integral part of the development at Haydon.
Les’ thorough knowledge of contracts and risk analysis has made him one of the leading industry professionals in this area. He is also the Chairman of the Underwriting Committee for Four Corners Construction, Ltd.
Les is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys hiking and biking at trails, such as Dreamy Draw in Phoenix. Many days, you can find Les riding his bike around Central Phoenix or spending time with his family.
Les’ best piece of advice, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” Be persistent in fighting the good fight.