1.
I
first
met
Kevin
in
2006
when
he
interviewed
for
the
Facilities
Manager
position
while
I
was
Chief
Financial
Officer
at
Granite
Telecommunications,
LLC.
During
that
interview
meeting,
Kevin
quickly
came
across
as
being
highly
technical,
analytical
in
his
thinking,
organized
in
his
thought
process,
financially
acute
and
very
well
spoken.
As
in
any
interview
process
that
results
in
a
hiring,
you
are
anxious
to
see
if
those
skill
sets
observed
during
the
interview,
are
quickly
demonstrated
in
the
work
place.
I
will
discuss
and
highlight
examples
of
how
Kevin
exceeded
those
impressions
in
his
role
as
Facilities
Manager
while
we
worked
together
for
the
next
five
years.
Granite
was
a
company
growing
at
an
annual
rate
of
40%-­‐50%
when
Kevin
joined
the
management
team.
As
a
result,
there
were
many
fast
moving
parts
that
he
had
to
quickly
understand
in
his
new
role
such
as
space
planning,
capital
improvements
and
renovations,
safety
concerns
and
compliance
requirements.
Compounding
these
issues
was
a
heavy
emphasis
on
cost
containment
and
efficiency.
Kevin
very
quickly
identified
the
most
significant
priorities,
organized
a
tactical
approach
to
address
these,
with
always
a
critical
path
mindset
to
maximize
efficiency.
During
his
first
six
months
at
Granite
he
oversaw
and
coordinated
a
number
of
employee
moves
with
each
typically
in
the
range
of
25-­‐50
employees.
Though
these
exercises,
Kevin
demonstrated
his
organization
skills,
his
analytical
approach
to
planning
and
executing
the
moves
and
his
ability
to
foresee
and
avoid
the
associated
risks.
Further,
he
quickly
established
relationships
with
the
respective
departments
to
guide
them
through
their
moves
as
well
as
IT
and
other
outside
vendors
critical
to
the
success
of
the
whole
process.
In
advance
of
these
implementations,
Kevin
would
always
prepare
a
detailed
and
comprehensive
project
plan
to
review
with
me,
including
a
project
plan/timetable,
project
cost
estimate
and
potential
risks,
etc.
which
served
as
his
guideline
for
each
move.
The
greatest
risk
for
a
Telecommunications
company
during
moves
such
as
these
is
an
outage
where
its
customers
cannot
be
serviced.
In
all
of
the
many
employee
moves
where
Kevin
was
involved,
there
was
never
a
significant
outage.
Kevin
quickly
assumed
responsibility
for
a
number
of
major
capital
improvement
and
structural
projects
in
support
of
Granite’s
rapid
growth,
with
some
of
them
running
concurrently.
The
measure
of
success
of
these
projects
is
that
they
be
completed
within
the
established
deadline,
be
completed
at
or
near
budgeted
projected
costs
and
that
they
met
the
expectations
of
the
work
force
and
Kevin’s
internal
customers.
Again,
through
Kevin’s
project
management
skills,
his
facilities
technical
knowledge,
his
ability
to
react
effectively
to
project
issues
as
they
arose,
combined
with
his
mature
and
approachable
work
style,
each
of
these
major
projects
were
considered
a
success.
Further,
the
size
of
these
endeavors
required
that
Kevin
interview,
select
and
negotiate
terms
with
key
vendors
needed
for
the
projects.
He
took
charge
of
that
whole
process,
demonstrating
a
competency
for
selecting
high
quality
vendors.
He
used
an
aggressive,
yet
accepting
style
of
negotiation
combined
with
a
clear
communication
style
where
vendors
clearly
understood
the
expectations
which
helped
in
their
overall
working
relationship.
Those
same
vendors,
that
Kevin
formed
the
initial
relationship
with,
continue
to
service
Granite
today.

2. In
addition,
these
types
of
projects
required
certain
local,
city
and
state
permitting
and
approval
activities.
Kevin
used
his
unusually
strong
and
skilled
communication
style
and
his
in-­‐depth
knowledge
of
the
respective
projects
to
inform,
educate
and
convince
parties
across
the
scale,
from
local
neighbors
to
high
ranking
city
and
state
officials,
the
importance
and
value-­‐added
of
Granite’s
projects.
He
spoke
a
number
of
times
at
public
forums
and
other
public
gatherings
in
support
of
Granite’s
projects.
To
sum
up,
Kevin
is
a
seasoned
real
estate
leader
who
possesses
all
the
skills
necessary
for
him,
and
the
company
he
works
with,
to
be
highly
successful.
While
I
worked
with
him,
that
was
always
the
case.
Sincerely,
Ross
J.
Weintraub