Get to know him a little bit.
Name: Ryan O’Toole
Title/Company: Vice President – Business Development, Hunzinger Construction
Hometown: Brookfield, WI
Favorite part of your job: Being a part of history. By that, I mean that it is a great feeling to drive by a building and be able to say, “I built that.”
If you could tell someone why it’s important to be involved in the community in one sentence, what would you say? If you truly commit your time and effort, you will realize that what you get in return is greater than what you gave.
Favorite thing about living/working in Waukesha County/southeast Wisconsin: Being a part of improving the community. In business, we are building things that will forever have an impact on people’s lives and careers. On the other hand, my family is involved in the Make A Wish Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters which is making a difference in the lives of children in our area.
Favorite movie or book: Great Expectations–both the book and movie are different but good
Favorite food: Pizza
Something unique about you: As a child I had a pet hedgehog named Eugene Jorge
One thing you couldn’t live without: As bad as it sounds, my phone. In business and in life, it is perceived that we always have to be “connected.”
What was your first job? I got a job as a dishwasher on my 14th birthday
If you could do another job for just one day: A detective
Three best words to describe you: Charismatic, supportive and driven
In your opinion, what makes a great leader? A great leader should be authentic, strategic and resilient. By being authentic, what you see is what you get and that is what your people need to see. By being strategic, you are looking to the future and playing out scenarios of the decisions that you will make and how they will affect your people. Lastly, by being resilient, you have to be able to face the challenges and failures and dust yourself off and pick yourself back up.
What drives you to succeed? In my personal life it is my wife, son and daughter. I want to provide them with the same opportunities that were provided to me by my parents. In business, it is the pride of being a part of the fourth generation of my family’s construction company and seeing it succeed.
What is the most pressing issue facing our area and why? In my industry it is the labor shortage. There is no shortage of work out there but the workforce is aging and the younger generation is not entering the trades as fast as the older generation is retiring.
What is your favorite saying or word? “Here’s the deal” or “Long story short”
Register for our 2018 Emerging Leaders of Waukesha County awards program here.
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