Jeff Niesen, 52, is in a good mood. He just learned that Boldt Co. was chosen to be the construction manager of the Memorial Union project, adding to the company’s docket for the next two years or more. The decision sets the wheels in motion for the vice president of construction management for Appleton-based Boldt. The first phase of the university’s $52 million project will involve the theater wing, and over the next six months, Niesen will be assembling a design team of suppliers and trade contractors to build the project. “We will get into the Hoofers space and the Stiftskeller to some degree, and there is some fifth-floor space that will be worked on,” he said. At least for now, though, Der Rathskeller will remain untouched.
Niesen, who as a boy in Menasha played with Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets, has become a central figure in many of Madison’s signature projects. He is actively involved with the Charter Street power plant conversion to natural gas, and the construction of the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research on the UW campus. His company also has a long resume of work at St. Mary’s Hospital. In Madison, Boldt’s most recognized project remains the Kohl Center.
One might think the best part of a job is its completion, but Niesen disagrees. “Completions are bittersweet. It’s like raising kids,” said the married father of three. “There’s so much excitement that goes on, and then, when they leave the house, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh! They’re gone!’ [In construction], there’s a sense of loss because you were so involved in that building.”
When not on-site, Niesen can be found teaching a three-credit course on lean construction at the UW Engineering School. Lean is a production management-based approach to product delivery that Boldt subscribed to years ago, and one Niesen’s become passionate about. “It takes construction from a command-and-control leadership style to a collaborative approach,” he said. “Rather than telling everyone what they have to do, you paint the picture of the project, and ask for commitments on how to do it. You get a higher level of buy-in, and therefore better results.”
His career in education and management belies the shy teen Niesen once was. “I went into engineering because I wasn’t crazy about people skills, or writing or speaking,” he admitted. “Only to find out that’s what my job is all about – communicating, building teams, and working together.” Now, he gains the most satisfaction from mentoring young people.
Niesen joined Boldt as an intern while attending UW-Madison, and was hired after earning a degree in civil and environmental engineering. The company sent him to Memphis, Tenn., where he lived for nearly 10 years working mostly on a hospital project. There, he earned an MBA from the University of Memphis (formerly Memphis State) and met his wife. He returned to the Fox Valley when jobs became more prevalent, and moved to Madison in 2003 to begin phase I work on WIMR, which he considers his most rewarding project thus far. “It’s phenomenal what they do there, in terms of research,” he said proudly. He’s now working on phase II.
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