As Luck Would Have It
G
uillermo Lizarra- business. His first estimating job was for a From Duquesne, Lizarraga went to West
ga drums fingers ballpark in Maryland. “When I got this Virginia University, where he approached
from both hands project,” he says, “I was sweating bullets. It perhaps the most important person ever –
against the table as he was like $20,000, which was a lot to me.” his future wife, who is from Colombia. “I
looks at the ceiling But his responsibilities continued only saw my wife and thought, ‘beautiful Euro-
and searches for the to grow as the Deans entrusted Lizarraga pean girl.’ We spent one date speaking Eng-
right word. Willy, as with increasingly more complex and lish and the next speaking Spanish.”
he is known around important work. By 1997, he was assisting Lizarraga’s parents were “200 percent
M.C. Dean, Inc., is no stranger to this his supervisors with writing the company’s supportive” of his decision to come to
conundrum. “The challenge is communica- technical proposals for new projects. After America, but he’s observed something since
tion,” he observed earlier. After a few winning one of those projects, he found arriving that he set out to change. “It’s inter-
moments, the word springs into his mind, himself stepping in as project manager esting because, as a Hispanic, I noticed most
off his tongue, and he is again expounding when his predecessor quit. Time after time, Hispanics do not pursue professional
on his original thought: “We want to be a he found ways to succeed in what Lizarra- careers. I realized that second-generation
world-class company.” ga describes as an environment where Hispanics were insecure, and it’s been nice
Arguably, few have contributed to that employees are always challenged to learn to be able to tell them they have opportuni-
goal across a broader array of responsibili- and to push themselves. ties.”
ties over the past 20 years than construction “At one point, I was dealing with $10 In his talks with potential hires and new
operations manager Lizarraga, who in 1995 million, and then it jumped to $16 million,” interns, his message for how to turn oppor-
was the Dulles, Va.-based design/build he says. “That’s a big jump, and that’s what tunity into success is simple. “We see a vari-
firm’s second engineer ever hired. And it M.C. Dean is all about.” ety of people here. If you have the theory
almost didn’t happen. If Lizarraga seems at ease now, he will and the drive to implement, then you can be
After Lizarraga finished his master’s tell you that wasn’t always the case. A successful. You have to be self-motivated
degree in electrical engineering at West native of Peru, he first visited the United and willing to take ownership. That’s what
Virginia University, where he specialized in States for three months in 1982 as a for- M.C. Dean offers. … I tell these girls and
the subfield of controls, he was looking to eign-exchange student in Connecticut. guys, ‘You control your own destiny. No
join a big company. “I really wanted to go From the moment he arrived, Lizarraga matter what is happening in your life, you
to a corporation with electrical engineer- knew he wanted to live in the U.S. one day. have to stop and realize you are in control’.”
ing,” Lizarraga explains. “Then I found this “I fell in love,” he says with a smile. “This But Lizarraga, though he approaches
little company, M.C. Dean. I exhausted is a sea of opportunities.” life methodically, leaves a little room for
resources looking for information and was But those opportunities didn’t come luck, with a twist. “This is one of the topics
about to give up, but then I found two arti- easy. After finishing his bachelor’s degree my wife and I talked about while dating. I
cles.” in engineering in Peru, Lizarraga relocated believe human beings are positive and neg-
With those articles in mind, Lizarraga to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he took on what ative energies,” he says. “Positive energy
interviewed with then President and CEO he describes as “the biggest challenge” – can be luck, wife, job … if you have posi-
Marion Casey Dean and Bill Dean, current speaking and writing the English language. tive energy, you can only bring about
president and CEO, dropping information While studying English at Duquesne good.”
he had learned about the company into the University, the self-professed shy kid As luck would have it, Lizarraga landed
interview. This impressed the Deans, who learned another important lesson. at that obscure little company in 1995,
in turn intrigued Lizarraga by describing He made Cs on several assignments in a where he has since wrestled with language,
their plans for the company: a one-stop writing class and knew he had to do some- his own shyness, and $16 million-dollar
shop for general contractors to get both thing. He realized he had to approach the design/build projects, but he has also man-
engineering design and implementation, teacher because she wasn’t going to aged a world of good in the process. For a
which at that time was a new concept in the approach him. He describes approaching man so candid about his own struggles with
industry. Lizarraga was so fascinated by the people as a significant challenge he’s had to the English language, you perceive not a
concept that he took the job and began overcome in his career. “I forced myself to hint of difficulty when he summarizes
learning the business from the outside in. approach people,” he says. “If you want to everything: “What makes a company
He spent eight months in the field and be approached, it’s a different thing. One of strong is the people within. … That’s what
then another stint estimating projects, the things I noticed here is that Americans I’m doing. If M.C. Dean takes care of me,
which taught him the financial side of the have to be approached.” then I’m going to take care of M.C. Dean.”
36 Celebrating over 15 Years of Embracing Diversity WWW.HNMAGAZINE.COM
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