Last week was Construction Appreciation Week, a full week dedicated to celebrating the millions of men and women who work in the construction industry and their accomplishments. As a company with values deeply rooted in showing our appreciation and shining a light on our employee’s achievements, we devoted the week to the remarkable individuals leading the way for Field Development and Innovation at Dome – our Group Superintendents & Assistant Group Superintendents.
We are excited to highlight Jim Gleeson, Ed Medeiros, Michael Gonzales, Jerry Chavez, and Daniel Dickson, Jose Velasco, and Mat Phillips to better understand who they were and how they got here!
Jim Gleeson
Group Superintendent
Jim Gleeson began his construction career over three decades ago, starting as a Carpenter Apprentice on residential projects. Jim, originally born in San Francisco, was raised in South San Francisco and landed at Dome Construction almost 20 years ago.
Over the last two decades, Jim has predominately worked within the Healthcare space, garnering subject matter expert status as a Superintendent, notably on complex OSHPD hospital and healthcare facility projects.
As Jim steps into this new leadership position, what he’s looking forward to most is sharing what he’s learned during his career—having the ability to mentor the next generation to give them the tools and resources to be the best they can.
The last question we asked Jim during our interview was what his favorite Disney Princess was, and he had two. Cinderella because of his daughter, who grew up loving Cinderella, and his second favorite was Princess Merida from Brave!
Ed Medeiros
Group Superintendent
Adelino (Ed) Medeiros was born in Azores, Portugal, and moved to California in 1971. Growing up, construction was in his blood–most of his family was in the carpenters union, and Ed and his brother, Manny (who is also a Dome Superintendent) followed suit. In 1986, Ed was offered a job at Dome as a Carpenter, and thankfully for us, he will be celebrating his 35th year at Dome.
With a broad background of expertise in various market sectors, such as Tenant Improvements, Renovations, Healthcare, and Seismic Upgrade projects, Ed has the knowledge to share with the younger generation. One of the aspects of his new job he is most looking forward to.
Ed’s passion, commitment, and drive for what he does is an inspiration and motivating for all those who are lucky enough to get the chance to work with him.
Please join us in celebrating Ed on his new role as Group Superintendent!
Mike Gonzales
Group Superintendent
Mike was introduced to construction from an early age, growing up in a family where most were involved in the trades, which sparked his interest in building. Additionally, Mike was immersed in sports early on, which would also become a large part of his life. Before joining the Carpenters Union, Mike attended Fresno State, where he played football before retiring after an injury, trading in his cleats for work boots. In 1994, Mike started working as a Carpenter Framer.
Mike climbed the ranks from carpenter to superintendent before he began his own residential construction company. Thankfully for us, in 2012, Mike decided to join the Dome team and has been with us ever since.
With a background in the Tenant Improvement and Biotech sectors, Mike has spent the last several years at Dome, delivering millions of square feet of impeccably designed and built space for several notable tech clients.
Throughout his career, Mike has gained invaluable construction skills and knowledge that he is excited to share. His patience, expertise, and dedication have allowed him to contribute to our future field leaders’ development.
Jerry Chavez
Group Superintendent
Jerry Chavez is a veteran in the construction industry, with over 38 years of experience. When he was a child, Jerry would build go-carts and tree-houses, and from that young age, he knew he wanted to go into construction. When he was 16 years old, he started working for a friend’s construction company, and the rest is history.
At the beginning of his career, Jerry worked for a smaller General Contractor, where he had to do everything from digging trenches for steel and concrete forms, framing with wood and metal studs, sheet-rocking, to installing doors frames and hardware. That laid the foundation of knowledge that he’s built upon, making him an expert in his field.
Over the last three decades, Jerry has built a name for himself, with a resume to match. As an expert in Life Science and Biotech building, Jerry has built some of the most recognizable Bay Area Biopharmaceutical facilities.
With such a long-standing career, Jerry has had experience working for different General Contractors across the Bay Area, equipping him with experience, knowledge, and technical skills. Jerry first joined Dome Construction in 1995 as a Superintendent. After eight years, Jerry moved on to work for a few other companies before rejoining Dome in 2019 as a Senior Superintendent. It didn’t take long for Jerry to re-acclimate to the Dome culture, and within a year, he was promoted to Group Superintendent.
For Jerry, the aspect of the job he loves the most is being able to mentor people, complete successful projects, and the hands-on part of building something from nothing.
Dan Dickson
Assistant Group Superintendent
Dan Dickson graduated from California State University, Chico, in 2010, and since he has worked his way up to the Assistant Group Superintendent position. Joining Dome over six years ago, Dan leaned into the Dome culture and the Dome way of doing things. Over the last several years, Dan has been instrumental in the Life Science and Biotech market sectors, having been a part of some of our larger projects in the previous few years. When he isn’t working on projects, Dan is actively involved in our recruiting efforts to bring in top talent from his not only Alma Mater but also various other universities.
When we asked Dan what he was most looking forward to in his new role, he said, “having the ability to spend time with our field teams to help them reach their goals. This new role affords me the time needed to connect with their teams in a meaningful way.”
When Dan isn’t working, he is spending time with his wife and three children.
Jose Velasco
Group Superintendent
Jose Velasco, originally from Jamay Jalisco, a small town next to Lake Chapala, Mexico, moved to the Bay Area in 1986. He began his career with a roofing contractor before joining Dome as a Laborer in 1986. At the time, Jose had a cousin working at Dome who encouraged him to join the team, and luckily for us, over 30 years later, Jose is now a part of our Group Superintendent.
With a background in the Life Science and Biotech sectors, Jose’s understanding and expertise are unparalleled when it comes to building on complex campus environments and within FDA regulated spaces.
As he steps into this new leadership position, Jose is most looking forward to sharing his knowledge and experience by mentoring and motivating the next group of superintendent leaders.
The next time you see Jose, ask him to tell you a joke. He may be shy, but he has a great sense of humor, a stockpile of jokes, and if he wasn’t in construction, we might have seen him on the stage doing stand-up!
Mat Phillips
Assistant Group Superintendent
Mat Phillips joined Dome over three years ago as a Field Engineer, and over the last four years, he has climbed his way to Assistant Group Superintendent working alongside Jose.
Mat, originally from New Zealand, has been in the construction industry since 2013. Mat wanted to experience the opportunity that the United States had to offer and when he and his wife had their first child they decided to move to California to be closer to her family.
When Mat landed at Dome, he fit in seamlessly. He was eager to learn, grow, and expand his knowledge base. Through the years, Mat has leaned into his new role as a mentor and spending more time developing others at Dome. As he steps into this new role, Mat is looking forward to creating opportunities to share knowledge, creating a space to work better as a team, increase communication and respect between the office and the field.
When Mat isn’t working, he is spending time with his wife and two kids. After coaching snowboarding and skiing through back to back winter seasons for 10 years, Mat still loves the mountains and the snow as much as ever. His time on snow now is dedicated to sharing his passion with his two young children and teaching them the ways of the snow Jedi, which is why he loves the Dome Ski trip every year as it allows him some soul time and to reconnect with the shred!