1. CONSTRUCT!ON
October 4*, 2010
To Whom It May Concern:
It is with great enthusiasm that I write this letter of recommendation for Lois Barnes, who worked at Colon
Construction Services for three years as the company's Business Operations Manager.
Lois is a very talented individual whose demeanor in the office had a tremendous positive impact on all of us. She
did not need much direction as she immediately noticed not only what she was being asked to do, but also noted
issues that needed to be addressed that no one was, and took the initiative to resolve them. She quickly became our
most valuable employee, and everyone in the company, includingme, had total confidence in her and her ability and
desire to do the best job possible. She always gave her all for the benefit of the company, and never wavered in her
desire for the company to succeed in difficult times.
The most important traits I saw in Lois were her ability to take on new tasks, educate herself to the level necessary
to carry them out. She came to us with little experience in the construction industry, yet she quickly took a
leadership role in preparing proposals and pricing bids for projects. She would work with our estimators and project
managers, establishing deadlines for pricing, working with our bonding company to get the necessary
documentation, and preparing all other supporting documents required by the project. She also became our most
efficient project coordinator, managing our Primavera Contract Manager software to keep contract information,
manage the change order process and track the submittal process in several projects simultaneously. She also
managed our subcontractor negotiations, pay application processes and dispute resolution, as well as owner-client
communications.
Lois also became our go-to person for all finance-related issues. She managed our banking relationships, our
accounting and bookkeeping functions, and prepared any application that required financial information. Lois
mastered the use of financial management software such as Business Information System (BIS) and QuickBooks to
enter any information and develop reports that gave her the information she needed to do her job. I also entrusted
her with all my personal financial duties and she did an outstanding job at it. And she was able to accomplish this
without a formal background in accounting.
In addition, she prepared all our minority certification applications at the federal, state and local levels, and followed
them through until we received final notice of certification. These applications go through very complex processes
and Lois navigated through them skillfully.
In all, Lois was a great asset to our company and we are very sorry to see her leave. The realities of the economic
crisis reached Col6n Construction and I am obliged to close our doors as I ponder the future. Lois was the last
employee standing with me, and I am extremely grateful for her loyalty, her diligence, her exemplary efforts, and
her support over the last three years.
No matter where she goes, she will be a tremendous asset to the company that hires her. Please feel free to contact
me at 303-945-0981 for a personal reference and recommendation.
Sincerel
Luis A. Colon
President and CEO, Colon Construction Services
4101 E. Louisiana Ave, Suite 101, Denver CO 80246 Ph 720.891.1300 Fax 720.891.1305