The superintendents driving Ryan Companies forward

In 2025, the construction industry faces a critical inflection point. With nearly 439,000 net new workers needed this year alone to meet demand, the workforce pipeline is under immense pressure. In an industry where institutional knowledge is everything, construction firms are grappling with the reality that many of their most seasoned professionals are aging out of the workforce—and too few are being trained to take their place.

At Ryan Companies, we saw this challenge as an opportunity to bridge the generational gap in field knowledge in a way that brings lasting value to our culture, projects and people.

After more than a decade marked by a deep recession, a pandemic, and labor market upheaval, the construction industry has been reshaped. During the 2008 recession, construction programs saw sharp declines in enrollment. By 2011, some programs that once graduated hundreds were down to fewer than 20 students. Then the pandemic hit, and just as the industry was starting to rebuild, many older professionals chose early retirement. The result: a talent vacuum, especially on job sites, where experience matters most.

While the median age of construction workers has dropped below 42 for the first time since 2011, many of these younger workers lack the hands-on experience needed to lead projects effectively. We realized the “next generation” hadn’t been trained the way the previous one had.

And in construction, even if you have a degree, you can’t substitute classroom knowledge for years of experience on the ground and how to handle real-time issues and circumstances. We needed a solution that would create continuity, pass on the knowledge that defines our craft, and prepare our younger team members to lead with confidence. That’s how Ryan’s “Field of the Future” initiative began.

Rather than focusing solely on early-career hires, we began intentionally recruiting seasoned professionals who were approaching the final chapters of their careers—but who still had a strong desire to contribute. These individuals are nearing retirement; they are highly experienced superintendents and field leaders looking for meaningful roles where they could share their expertise and mentor the next generation.

We designed the program to be flexible, purposeful and attractive to these late-career professionals—offering them a chance to leave a legacy while helping us build ours.

These experienced hires brought immediate value to our job sites. They offered calm, competence, and clarity—qualities that only come from decades of hands-on experience. More importantly, they had a natural inclination to teach. They didn’t want to be shadowed passively; they wanted to engage with young, ambitious professionals who were hungry to learn.

The Core of What We Do

What started as a pilot effort has now become a core part of our workforce development strategy. Today, these veteran superintendents are placed on jobs alongside early-career field engineers and assistant superintendents, building mentorships and forging partnerships.

The cultural impact on our company has been profound. We’ve seen job site performance improve—not just in terms of schedule and safety, but in communication, morale, and problem-solving. Our younger team members are gaining real-world experience in a way that a training module could not provide. And the older generation is finding a new sense of purpose in their roles.

This approach aligns with broader industry trends: younger professionals increasingly value mentorship, purpose, and culture over just compensation. Programs like this help us meet those expectations while preserving the craftsmanship and standards that define Ryan.

One thing we’ve noticed is that successful young superintendents tend to share certain traits with their veteran counterparts. They’re not satisfied with “good enough.” They ask questions and push for better outcomes. They see themselves as future leaders and are open to being coached.

At Ryan, we’ve come to define leadership as a two-sided coin. One side is expertise—knowledge gained from years of experience—and the other is the willingness to teach. If you’re not developing the person behind you, you’re not truly leading. Our senior superintendents exemplify this belief, and they’re instilling it in the next generation every day.

Most of our seasoned superintendents are on a five-year timeline before they plan to retire for good. But that’s exactly why we’ve paired them with promising young professionals from day one. We’re not just trying to solve a short-term labor issue—we’re creating a five-year runway to develop true leaders who can carry Ryan’s standards forward.

Eye on the future

Our current goal is to place a field engineer on every job site by early next year. These individuals will form the foundation of our next group of superintendents who not only understand how Ryan works but why we do things the way we do. And they won’t just be trained in the technical aspects; they’ll inherit the mentorship mindset from their mentors.

In recent months, we’ve hired three new young people into our field program, and we’re already seeing the momentum build. This program is helping us fill a gap while laying the groundwork for “trained” generational leadership.

Other construction firms facing the same workforce challenges might wonder if this model can be replicated. The answer is yes—with intention. The key is to invest in your people, not just the new hires, but the veterans who have a lot to offer. We were deliberate about building from within, rather than chasing talent elsewhere. By showing our existing employees they have a future with us, we are helping to attract the next generation.

It’s also critical to recognize that this kind of program won’t have a 1:1 success rate every time. You won’t hit it out of the park with every mentorship. But if you can create two or three true experts in every cycle, that’s a win.

As the labor market tightens and the demand for skilled professionals grows, programs like “Field of the Future” will become not just innovative—but essential. Today’s candidates don’t just want a paycheck; they want to know they’ll be trained, supported and set up to succeed for decades to come.

Joe Johnson is VP of Field Operations for Ryan Companies.