Katie Uram

From a career at a household-name luxury tech company to carpentry, you could say that Jaime Villgran’s path to the construction industry was unconventional. Eight years as a high-level recruiter there taught him to identify and nurture the best talent but left him wanting more for himself and his future employees. Jaime combined his hobby of carpentry, empathetic nature and HR expertise to launch Construo Construction, a company that is setting a new precedent for customer service in the industry.

Lauren Barron received an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management; she is also the founder and co-owner of Gray Matters Games (GMG). GMG is a company that creates lively and cognitively challenging board game experiences for people with active minds. Through its games, Gray Matters promotes community, encourages fun and gives back to Alzheimer’s research. She shares her advice on how to tackle the challenging times ahead.

Today we are profiling Mario Diaz, President and CEO of Reef Contractors. A self-described lifelong learner, Mario had successful careers in both medicine and healthcare administration before launching his general contracting company. 

When she was 17, Lilly left Colombia and moved to the US. She started in an entry-level office position at a construction company and rose through the ranks until she opened her own business. All of her hard work led to her successfully landing a spot on Negocios Now’s “Who’s Who in Hispanic Chicago”, and a $10,000 Bank of America Supplier Diversity Small & Diverse Business Scholarship.