EXECUTIVE PROFILE
THE BUILDER Mike Bontrager is perfect leader to grow Alston Construction’s Arizona operations By STEVE BURKS
M
ike Bontrager is a builder, through and through. During his career, he has been part of companies that have completed projects large and small, but where the construction expert distinguishes himself is in his innate ability to build successful teams. “I do a couple things really well,” Bontrager says. “I’m hyper-focused on the culture of the company, and I’m very good at growing businesses and executing on the strategy.” When Alston Construction, which operates in 20 markets across the country, wanted to expand into Arizona, it was looking for a leader who had a solid reputation among his or her peers as well as a track record of transforming struggling offices into successful ones. Bontrager checks both boxes. “Paul Little, the CEO of Alston, called me up out of the blue and said,
8 | July-August 2021
‘I hear you’re sitting on the bench,’” recalls Bontrager, who had just retired from Adolfson & Peterson Construction (A&P). “I didn’t know what Alston was, so I did some research on the company. Then Paul flew out from Atlanta, and we went to lunch and talked. We hit it off right away.” Little offered Bontrager the job of vice president and general manager of Alston’s new Phoenix office, an opportunity that the recent retiree jumped at. It all became official in early March 2020. “Two weeks after that, the whole country locked down,” Bontrager notes. “I called up Little and asked, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ He said he did.” What Bontrager brings to the table for Alston is a nearly 40-year track record of success in the industry.
Locally, he led operations for two different firms during his time in Arizona. He is very active in industry groups. He’s on the Greater Phoenix Chamber executive committee and is chair of the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation; he is one of the co-founders of the Build Your Future Arizona campaign and is the steering committee chairman; and he’s also on the Beatitudes Campus board and will be board chair in 2022. For Alston, Bontrager is well on his way to cementing his reputation as a man who can build not only structures but also companies. His prior relationships in the market helped the company quickly secure project contracts, the biggest of which is the 685,000-square-foot Brooklyn Bedding factory and corporate office facility in Glendale, which broke ground in February 2021.
