Sargent: On Track Podcast

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast , President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Vice President of Finance & CFO Tasha Gardner and Board Chair Herb Sargent in the Flywheel Studio to wrap up National Employee Ownership Month. Herb shares what he has learned since Sargent became employee-owned in 2013, including his advice to stop telling people what the ESOP will mean to them an...

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, guest host and Business Development Director Glenn Adams is joined by Cianbro's Corporate Director of Operational Human Resources Dan Coffey and Retirement Benefits and Organizational Development Manager Rachel Ervin in the Flywheel Studio for a special Employee Ownership Month conversation. Cianbro began its transition to employee ownership i...

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, guest host Business Development Director Glenn Adams is joined by Vice President and General Counsel Amy Tardiff and Chief Financial Officer Matt "Maddie" Tardiff of J.S. McCarthy Packaging + Print for another National Employee Ownership Month conversation. The sibling pair explain how their Augusta-based family business became 100% emplo...

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined remotely by Project Executive Peter Schaaf of Harkins Builders during National Employee Ownership Month. Peter explains how Harkins, founded in 1965 by Thomas Harkins, became an ESOP after former president Blaise Cook, who started with the company as a laborer, set up the plan in 2002 to secure the company...

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, Business Development Director Glenn Adams guest-hosts and is joined by DeBlois Electric CEO Mitch DeBlois and President Steve Morin in the Flywheel Studio for a conversation about employee ownership, just ahead of Employee Ownership Month in October. Mitch shares how the Lewiston, Maine company grew from a small, mostly residential shop started by...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by VP of Finance & CFO Tasha Gardner in the Flywheel Studio to kick off National Employee Ownership Month! They share recent project wins across New England and a strong outlook for 2027, then talk about why Sargent celebrates employee ownership twice a year. Eric closes with a reminder that the real strength o...

Steve Perry showed up at Sargent the Monday after his University of Maine graduation in 1975. By 6:30 that morning, he was out in the field pounding grade stakes. He retired 46 years later as the company's head of business development. In between, he worked his way through the estimating office under Dale Jellison, helped run a satellite office in New Hampshire, and eventually became one of t...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Project Manager Scott Bartlett, Project Manager Ryan Cullen, and Project Executive Bernard Lupini in the Flywheel Studio to talk about the WingtraRAY, a new drone the Mid-Atlantic region picked up this year. The group breaks down how the drone covers ground far faster than the old quadcopter drone. Bartlett, Cul...

Tim Folster started at Sargent in 1979, fresh out of college and assigned to a road crew in Kenduskeag. He retired 40 years later, having worked as a foreman, general superintendent, and head of operations through many major chapters the company has lived through. In this episode, Tim covers a lot of ground. He talks about the early days of H.E. Sargent, what it was like to work under Jim Sargent...

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Workforce Advancement Manager Pete Parizo in the Flywheel Studio, along with three guests joining remotely: Senior Foreman Alex Morgan, Junior Superintendent Jacson Blais, and Dozer Operator Chandler Plante. The conversation centers on the paths these three employee-owners took from the Sargent Construc...

In this episode of the Sargent On Track Podcast’s Sargent 100 interview series, Sebastian sits down with George Thomas, whose 40 years of service began in 1972 as a field office clerk and evolved into a career spanning accounting, finance, and leadership. George reflects on the company’s interstate highway years, the first steps into out-of-state work, and the values and work ethic that made Sarge...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Assistant Equipment Manager Brandon Mace and Instructors Mike Boyd and Lowell Gardner of Eastern Maine Community College in the Flywheel Studio for a conversation about the heavy equipment program that's been feeding skilled technicians into the industry for decades. The group digs into what makes the two-y...

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by VP of Finance & CFO Tasha Gardner in the Flywheel Studio to wrap up the series, answering questions submitted by employee-owners at the all-employee meetings. In a “lightning-round” format, Eric and Tasha cover the company's strategic planning efforts, including the completion of the first phas...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Equipment Manager Tim Richards, Assistant Equipment Manager Brandon Mace, and Mid-Atlantic Assistant Equipment Manager Jeff Marsh in the Flywheel Studio to answer equipment questions submitted by employee-owners at the spring all-employee meetings. The guys cover a lot of ground: how the fleet has grown over the...

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Vice President of Operations & COO – North Douglas Morrison, Vice President of Operations & COO – South Justin Porter, and Safety Director Cam Haggar in the Flywheel Studio to cover project wins, upcoming work, and safety — topics drawn directly from questions submitted at the all-employee meeti...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, we continue our series answering questions submitted during the all-employee meetings with Pete Perizo, Workforce Advancement Manager; Vice President of Human Resources, Amanda Martin; Chief Operating Officer - North and Vice President of New England Operations Doug Morrison; and Chief Operating Officer - South and Vice President of Mid-Atlantic Operations...

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Vice President of Finance and CFO Tasha Gardner in the Flywheel Studio to kick off a new series answering questions submitted during the all-employee meetings. Tasha breaks down vesting and what it means to be a true employee-owner, walks through how shares get allocated between hourly and salaried empl...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, VP of HR Amanda Martin is joined by Superintendent Keith Edgecomb, Controller Casey Flynn, Project Manager Ryan Cullen, Project Executive Kody Vining, HR Manager Claire Ryder, Foreman Alex Castedio, Foreman Kyle Salley, Project Executive Seth Watts, WellBuilt facilitator Matt Verderamo, and Laura Pfeiffenberger and Chris Whitney from Spinnaker Trust in the...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by CFO Tasha Gardner and VP of Human Resources Amanda Martin in the Flywheel Studio to break down ESOP distributions during Sargent ESOP Month. The team walks through the four main distribution groups, in-service employees, terminated participants, retirees, and beneficiaries in cases of death or disability, and ex...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Mid-Atlantic Business Development Manager Mike Mullins and Brinkman Constructors Senior Vice President of Corporate Operations and Regional Offices Ted Hoog in the Flywheel Studio for a conversation about employee-ownership, company culture, and what it takes to carry a strong construction company forward. Ted s...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast , we catch up with employee-owners at Sargent’s Northern Maine and Southern Maine all-employee meetings to hear what keeps them moving, what they’re taking into the busy season, and what it means to be part of Sargent during its 100th year. From newer team members finding their place, to long-time employee-owners reflecting on safety, career growth, and the...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, Vice President-Human Resources Amanda Martin is joined by HealthJoy representatives Lindsay Nelson and Stephanie Young, Cross Insurance representative Gabe Marchese, and HR Generalist Jennifer Snow in the Flywheel Studio to talk about how the HealthJoy app can help Sargent employee-owners and their families better understand and use their healthcare benefit...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Workforce Advancement Director Kevin Gordon, Vice President of Human Resources Amanda Martin, and Vice President of Finance & CFO Tasha Gardner in the Flywheel Studio to reflect on Sargent’s 100th anniversary celebration, share project award updates, and spend meaningful time on the introduction of the new H...

In this episode of the Sargent On Track Podcast’s Sargent 100 interview series, Sebastian sits down with Patrick Findlen, a longtime employee who joined Sargent in 1986 after returning to geology and stayed with the company through 2016. Pat shares how he helped Estimating by locating and permitting gravel, borrow, clay, and other material sources, and how that work later led him into a field-focu...

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, Marketing & Communications Lead Sebastian Bennage is joined by Project Engineer Carter Patterson, Northern Maine Safety and DOT Compliance Specialist  Adam Smith, and Division Vice President at Well Built Matt Verderamo in the Flywheel Studio for an on-the-fly conversation recorded during the Sargent Leadership Academy. The group talks through what the...