The Poettker Golf Classic is a long-standing tradition that brings our partners together in support of mentoring, youth development, and local charitable causes. This year, proceeds from the event will support and other local nonprofits serving our region.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is more than an organization — it is a movement that empowers young people to realize their potential and build brighter futures. Since 1980, volunteer mentors have helped children across Southwestern Illinois grow into caring, confident and capable adults. In 2001, the program expanded to include high school mentors paired with elementary and middle school students, resulting in more than 1,000 impactful mentoring relationships. Many of the youth who once benefited from the program have returned as mentors themselves, exemplifying the power of “paying it forward.”

We invite you to support Big Brothers Big Sisters and other local nonprofits by becoming a tournament sponsor or golfer. Thank you for your consideration!

Contributions & Tax Information

All sponsorships, registrations, and donations for the Poettker Golf Classic are made to the Charles V. Poettker Foundation, with proceeds designated to support Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern Illinois and other local charitable organizations that strengthen the communities where we live and build.

The Charles V. Poettker Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ and Poettker Industrial can’t thank you, our sponsors, and participants, enough for the tremendous support.

Preparing Your School Facility for the Summer Build Window

For many school districts, summer represents the most critical construction window of the year. Whether addressing Health & Life Safety requirements, completing renovations, or advancing multi-year bond programs, the months between the last bell and the first day of classes is very compressed and leaves little wiggle room.

Successful summer construction doesn’t begin in June. It is the result of disciplined planning, early coordination, informed decision-making, and proven construction management practices implemented well before summer kicks off. When supporting PK–12 districts through both single-campus projects and district-wide improvement programs, the following essentials separate smooth summer projects from those that struggle to be delivered on schedule and within budget.

1. Start Planning Earlier Than You Think

Districts often underestimate how much groundwork is required before summer construction can begin. Long-lead material procurement, early bid packages, permitting timelines, and Health & Life Safety reviews all impact whether work can truly start on day one of summer break.

Preconstruction planning with a enables districts to:

• Validate budget assumptions and alternates before bidding
• Identify scope items best suited for summer completion versus future phases
• Sequence work strategically to maximize the limited student-free window

Projects that move into summer without these decisions being finalized reduce predictability and place added pressure on both schedule and contingency.

2. Define Clear Summer Priorities

Not all scopes are created equal when time is limited. The most successful districts clearly define what must be completed before students return versus what can continue during the school year.

High-priority summer scope typically includes:

• Safety and security upgrades (secure entries, fire protection, alarms)
• Major MEP shutdowns or tie-ins
• High-impact interior renovations
• Floor, ceiling, and finish work in unoccupied spaces
• Driveway/parking lot enhancements that impact traffic patterns

Establishing these priorities early allows the construction team to align manpower and sequencing accordingly.

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ won the Outstanding Project of the Year in the Under $20 million category for its construction of SUL4R-PLUS. This project sets a new benchmark for industrial construction by pairing a bold vertical manufacturing design with advanced digital tools, strong safety leadership, creative problem-solving, and sustainable solutions.

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ partnered with SUL4R-PLUS as General Contractor to bring a full-service fertilizer manufacturing facility to Marissa, Illinois, helping the company meet growing sales demand. This project represents only the second facility of its kind, constructed around a patented manufacturing process yet to be implemented at this scale or configuration.

“ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ was an outstanding partner throughout the development of our Marissa facility, and their professionalism was evident at every stage of the project,” said Charles W. Price, Executive Vice President of SUL4R-PLUS. “From early planning through execution, their team demonstrated exceptional communication, coordination, and attention to detail, ensuring the project stayed on track while meeting our high standards. Poettker approached this complex, large-scale facility with a collaborative mindset and a clear commitment to safety, quality, and schedule. Their ability to align seamlessly with our internal teams and engineering partners made them a trusted extension of our organization. We are proud of what we accomplished together and would strongly recommend ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ to anyone seeking a reliable and capable construction partner.”

Innovation

Poettker used cutting-edge digital tools to solve complex, real-time challenges. To manage evolving equipment requirements, Poettker leveraged advanced 3D scanning and modeling technology to digitally capture existing conditions and collaborate with its mechanical partner to fabricate complex systems, including more than 20 custom chutes with varying geometries and angles, achieving millimeter-level accuracy, thus eliminating costly field modifications and keeping the project on schedule.

Safety

Poettker combined site-specific planning, technology-enabled hazard discovery, and stakeholder alignment to produce measurable risk management gains. From day one, the team recognized that working within an existing structure introduced dynamic variables, including access routes and designated storm shelter locations. Poettker instituted a living planning process: As conditions changed, so did the plan. These updates were communicated in real time through weekly safety meetings that included both Poettker personnel and SUL4R-PLUS employees, ensuring the owner’s team received the same information and expectations as the construction workforce.

Equally important, Poettker’s safety culture extended beyond the jobsite. The SUL4R-PLUS management team has since adopted Poettker’s safety program, with Poettker delivering site-specific onboarding and safety orientation for SUL4R-PLUS employees beyond the contractual scope.

Sustainability

The project integrated an existing on-site solar field installed by the previous owner just a few years prior, allowing the team to avoid the environmental impacts associated with manufacturing, transporting, and installing new solar panels. The project team worked with utility providers and electrical engineers to bring the array back into service and integrate it into the client’s new electrical infrastructure. The solar array generates approximately 62–75 kW of renewable energy, thereby requiring less than 3 months to recuperate the investment of reactivating the system.

Through innovation, collaboration, and adaptability, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ delivered a high-performance facility that creates lasting value for the client, community, and environment.

Breese, Ill., April 14, 2026 – ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ Company is strategically expanding its Data Center and Mission Critical construction capabilities, strengthening its ability to support clients of complex, high-reliability facilities that require precision, resiliency, and disciplined execution.

Jeffrey Casey, PE will lead this initiative as the firm’s market leader for data center and mission critical facilities. In this role, Casey serve as a strategic leader for initial client engagement through project closeout.

Casey brings more than 20 years of experience delivering and integrating complex infrastructure across data centers, mission critical facilities, power generation, and large-scale industrial and manufacturing programs. A licensed Professional Mechanical Engineer, he has led projects and programs ranging from $17 million to more than $1 billion, with deep experience in critical reliability, uptime, and systems integration.

Casey’s leadership and technical expertise have been shaped by his service in the U.S. Navy as a Nuclear Electronics Technician, where he spent six years managing reactor control systems, conducting division‑level training and overseeing preventive maintenance for critical nuclear equipment. His Navy tenure established the foundation for his disciplined approach, operational rigor, and commitment to excellence, traits that continue to define his professional career.

Complementing his industry experience, Casey holds advanced academic credentials, including an MBA, a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and importantly, a B.S. in Nuclear Technology, a degree that strengthens his technical foundation in energy systems, controls, and high‑reliability operations, especially relevant to mission‑critical infrastructure.

Casey has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, manage complex design‑build programs, drive value engineering efforts, mitigate risk, and guide projects from concept through commissioning in environments where uptime is non‑negotiable. His certification as a Professional Engineer (PE) and other industry credentials further augment his capabilities.

In his new role at Poettker, Casey will lead client and partner relationship development, oversee pursuit strategy and conceptual planning, and collaborate closely with project teams to align delivery approaches with client objectives.

“Jeff brings a combination of technical depth, relationship-driven delivery, risk mitigation experience, and strategic leadership in data center developments and mission critical environments,” said Keith Poettker, Chairman & CEO. “His ability to align clients, partners, preconstruction, and operation teams will be instrumental as Poettker continues to expand into data centers and other mission-critical markets.”

Poettker’s approach to Data Center and Mission Critical construction emphasizes early collaboration, disciplined preconstruction, quality control, and reliable turnover, supporting both greenfield developments and work within active, operational environments. The addition of a dedicated market leader reinforces the firm’s long-term commitment to delivering certainty for clients operating facilities where performance and uptime are essential.

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About ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝: Established in 1980, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ is an award-winning, family-owned business specializing in construction management, design/build, general contracting, and self-perform services with an emphasis on exceeding the client’s expectations. ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ is dedicated to providing safe, quality, sustainable, and technology solutions to clients in the data center and mission-critical, distribution, education, federal and military, healthcare, municipal, industrial and manufacturing, commercial, retail, utility, and infrastructure markets. The company prides itself on building long-lasting relationships with their clients, business partners and the communities in which they work, with an impressive 88 percent of Poettker’s revenue stemming from repeat clients.

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Publication: , April 7, 2026

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ earned recognition on . The list ranks the nation’s largest general contractors, CM at-risk firms, and design-builders for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work based on 2024 revenue.

No. 108 Top ContractorEmpty heading

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ achieved the for its construction management, design/build, general contracting, and self-perform services delivered across the distribution, warehouse, federal and military, healthcare, education, industrial and manufacturing, commercial, hospitality, retail, and utility and infrastructure markets.

No. 17 Military Facility Construction Firm

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ achieved its highest 2025 BD+C ranking in the as the 17th largest company in this market.

No. 18 Shopping Mall, Big Box Store, and Strip Center Construction Firm

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ ranked 18th on BD+C’s list of the .

No. 29 Top Retail Construction Firm

Business from longtime customer Walmart, Planet Fitness, and Food Lion secured ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ a rank of 29 on . In 2024, Poettker earned $78 million in the retail market in 2024 to achieve this honor.

No. 33 Medical Office Building Construction FirmEmpty heading

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ improved its ranking from No. 59 to the .

No. 35 Construction Management Firm

Serving as Construction Manager enables Poettker to advise during the vital preconstruction phase. By identifying budget concerns, mapping out dependencies, and recommending optimal construction materials, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ better prepares the project for success.

No. 38 Justice Facility Construction FirmEmpty heading

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ improved by one spot to claim the 38th spot on .

No. 40 Industrial Sector Construction Firm

Poetter Construction earned the 40th spot on . Industry-leading clients like Continental Tire and Volpi Foods contributed to Poettker’s impressive 2024 industrial facility revenue of $155 million, enabling the company to climb a spot compared to the media outlet’s previous list.

No. 53 K-12 School Construction Firm

With an incredible $65 million in 2024 revenue for this category, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ earned the 53rd spot on . Some active projects include Cahokia High School, Columbia High School addition and renovation, and the Parkway School District bond program.

No. 58 Government Building Construction Firm

BD+C ranked ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ as the in the nation. With federal projects like the 170,000 SF Scott Air Force Base Joint Operations & Mission Planning Center and child development centers at both Scott Air Force Base and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ earned $54 million in the federal sector to win this recognition.

No. 73 Design-Build Construction Firm

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ climbed 27 spots to claim the 73rd ranking on . Design-Build projects like the Innovation Logistics Center in Salisbury, NC, the Scott Air Force Base Child Development Center, and the SIUE Health Sciences Complex contributed to this achievement.

No. 75 Office Core and Shell Construction FirmEmpty heading

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ climbed from the 99th spot to the 75th on .

No. 78 Reconstruction Sector Construction Firm

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ improved its ranking 6 spots to claim No. 78 on . Projects like the Parkway School District 2022 Bond Program capturing multiple schools, renovations for Planet Fitness, and Alton Mental Health Center’s Willow building renovation contributed to this 2025 accomplishment. 

No. 85 University Building Construction FirmEmpty heading

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ claimed the 85th spot on . Higher education market highlights from this year include Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Health Science Building and Kaskaskia College’s new gymnasium.

No. 94 Healthcare Facility Construction Firm

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ climbed 25 spots to achieve the 94th spot on ! Projects like the Memorial Hospital Medical Office Building and Alton Mental Health Center contributed to Poettker’s 2024 healthcare construction earnings of $14 million.

No. 99 Office Building Construction Firm

Notable projects such as TDK’s new office and shop earned ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ the recognition of the 99th spot on .

Other lists specific to market sectors and service type will be released by BD+C over the next few months. Check back to learn about ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝’s other achievements!

Breese, Ill., Tuesday, February 17, 2026 – ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝, an award-winning company specializing in construction management, design-build and general contracting services, earned a spot on the . This recognition honors ABC contractor members’ outstanding achievements in health and safety, quality and project excellence, ranked by the number of hours worked.

As an ABC Top Performer, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ achieved Platinum status in , which helps the best-performing contractors achieve incident rates nearly seven times safer than the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics industry average, according to . Companies participating in ABC’s STEP Health and Safety Management System average 658% safer than the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics industry average — reducing total recordable incident rates by 85% — according to the .

With Safety as the company’s primary Core Value, Poettker employees completed over 400,000 workhours without a lost-time incident and 5,120 hours of safety training in 2025. ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ also launched a drone program to benefit risk management by performing inspections and flagging potential issues from the air.

To qualify as an ABC top contractor, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ earned credential, which recognizes excellence in quality, health and safety performance, talent management, craft and management education and community relations.

“Safety is the responsibility of everyone, so this achievement is a true testament to Poettker’s commitment at every level,” said Charles Wilson, Vice President of Risk Management. “At ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝, safety is a pillar of our company culture, one that we embody and live by every day.”

ľ¨Ó㴫ý’s 2025 performance also earned national recognition from ABC as the 11th top retail contractor and 61st top general contractor with additional top honors in the education, government, health care, industrial, infrastructure, military, and office market sectors.

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About ABC: Associated Builders and Contractors is a national construction industry trade association established in 1950 with 67 chapters and more than 23,000 members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC helps members offer a robust employee value proposition, develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work. For more information, visit .

About ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝: Established in 1980, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ is an award-winning, family-owned business specializing in construction management, design/build, general contracting, and self-perform services with an emphasis on exceeding the client’s expectations. ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ is dedicated to providing safe, quality, sustainable, and technology solutions to clients in a diverse portfolio of markets. The company prides itself on building long-lasting relationships with their clients, business partners and the communities in which they work, with an impressive 88 percent of Poettker’s revenue stemming from repeat clients.

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ won a from the for the 8th consecutive year.

AGC prides itself on conducting a more thorough evaluation of safety award-winners that goes beyond the typical evaluation of frequency rates. In addition, AGC assesses:

• Company management commitment
• Active employee participation
• Safety training
• Work site hazard identification and control
• Safety program innovation

“Your commitment to safety sets the standard for our industry,” said a representative of the Central Illinois Builders of AGC. “Thank you for prioritizing your teams, investing in safe practices, and leading by example every day. We’re proud to celebrate your achievements and the positive impact you make across our association.”

ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ completed 2025 without a lost-time incident; that’s 418,000 safe hours worked. ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ instills a culture of safety with our executive team leading by example and incorporatingĚýsafety teachings into all company initiatives.

Publication: , January 6, 2026

Columbia High School’s large-scale school construction project has reached a significant milestone as Phase 1 work in the main school building addition nears completion and Phase 2 construction on the new gymnasium continues to move forward. The updates, provided by Project Manager Ryan Fuhler of ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝, highlight steady progress across both phases and showcase the rapid transformation taking place on campus.

Phase 1 focuses on the construction of a new wing within the main school building, including classrooms, science labs, fine arts spaces, and a new auditorium. Much of this work has now entered its final stages, with crews transitioning from structural and installation work to cleaning, finishing, and technical setup.

On the second floor of the new addition, classrooms are in various stages of final cleaning, an indication that construction work in these areas is largely complete. The new science rooms have also reached an important benchmark, with casework installation finished and the cleaning process now underway. These spaces are being prepared to support hands-on learning in modern, purpose-built environments.

Progress continues on the first-floor classrooms as well. Flooring and ceilings have been installed, and finish work at the walls is complete. With these elements in place, the layout and functionality of the new classrooms are clearly visible as the spaces near readiness.

Publication: , December 18, 2025

Drones provide excellent aerial video and images of construction projects, but their applications far surpass marketing purposes.Ěýľ¨Óă´«Ă˝Ěýlaunched its drone program in 2024 to support preconstruction, safety, quality, operations and communication in addition to marketing efforts.

“Keeping at the forefront of industry trends is imperative to business growth and meeting customer expectations,” says Ryan Poettker, President of ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝. “But we don’t adopt new technology simply because it’s trendy. We built a successful drone program because of its wide applications and numerous benefits across our operations.”

Preconstruction

Drone technology can provide benefits even before boots hit the dirt. With drones, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ can survey potential project sites or examine prospective buildings for a renovation project. Drones can evaluate the grade of the site and obstacles to construction.

For renovation projects, drones can ascertain existing roof conditions, building envelope tightness, quality of exterior building materials and site conditions, all within a fraction of the time it would take for a survey by foot.

When the client brings ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ into the project early enough in the planning process, the team can aid site selection and help the client avoid costly change orders through more precise planning.

For these reasons, drone technology also benefits ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ in building more accurate bids. Poettker recently bid on a project where the location of the build was identified; however, important property grading details were missing from the project documents.

“The more information we have, the more accurate and detailed we can be in our estimate,” says Ryan Diekemper, VP of Preconstruction at Poettker. “We need to know utility locations, if the site is balanced, if the layout requires retaining walls, and if obstacles necessitate removal. We engaged our drone team to provide this data so we could develop an ideal floor elevation, determine site earthwork needs, and calculate cut and fill.”

The drone readings, enhanced by the aid of geolocation, save the estimating team time as well. “If the Poettker team had to plot the site by hand, it probably would have taken four to eight hours to gather the data in the field and another four to eight hours to plot the data.

“Even after eight to 16 hours of effort, my calculations wouldn’t even come close to the precise measurements provided by the drone,” says Justin Dulle, Lead Estimator at ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝. “Drone technology enables us to seamlessly transfer the data points to the design team as measurements they can use and integrate into their programs.”

Safety

With Safety as a primary core value, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ invests in on-site safety representatives who collaborate with the drone team to maximize protection for the company’s project teams and subcontractor partners.

Drone technology enables Poettker to monitor parts of the project site that are otherwise difficult to inspect or unsafe to access. “Drones are essential for monitoring safety, especially in areas not visible from the ground,” says Peter Ratermann, Senior Project Manager at Construction of the Old Monroe Distilling Co. Wedding & Tasting Venue in Columbia, Illinois. “I frequently check drone footage to verify that roofers adhered to safety protocols for working at heights since it’s difficult to assess from the ground.”

Through a digital interface, Poettker employees can review all the project’s drone footage and images in a single location, including examining all the photos ever captured at a specific location on the project site. Increasing project visibility provides another safeguard for identifying and remedying potential hazards before they become a problem.

Avoiding existing utility lines is a key safety concern for construction projects. Colin Kuhn, Project Manager at the renovation of Alton Mental Health Center’s Willow Building says projects like this that span more than a year will have the painted utility line markings eventually wash away. “We used the drone to record the utility locations so that we can identify their locations even after it rains.”

Quality

In this thermal image captured by a drone, the yellow spots on the solar panels suggest inconsistent energy performance. Drone technology also benefits Quality, another Core Value of ľ¨Ó㴫ý’s.

The architectural plans can be overlaid onto drone footage to ensure the definitive placement of the building on the project site. It can also be used to document product inconsistencies.

The Poettker team noticed that some of the black engineered wood siding was actually a different shade from the rest. It received a bad batch with two different shades of black. The difference was very deceiving and difficult to tell from the ground.

“We used the drones to record the siding progress, which more clearly captured the difference between the two colors and provided a great visual we could send to the manufacturer,” Ratermann says. “Using these photos, we were able to get a representative on site to evaluate, and they agreed to cover the cost of replacement. The drone shots helped significantly to reduce confusion.”

Poettker’s drone fleet includes a model specifically used to create thermal maps. The drone can capture footage for the team to better assess infrastructure deficiencies of renovation projects, such as possible roof leaks or heat loss from insulation gaps, and can even evaluate the effectiveness of solar panels.

“When conducting a solar panel inspection, we’re looking for hotspots,” says Logan Decker, drone operator at ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝. “Areas that display as hotter than the surrounding space indicate malfunctioning individual grids within the panel not converting the solar energy as efficiently as the rest of the panel. As long as a panel isn’t partly shaded, the entire panel should display the same color.”

Decker recently provided images of problematic solar panels to a client so that they could rectify the issue.

Operations

At a Planet Fitness in Missouri, ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ used a drone to measure the site’s current subgrade elevation, which informed the team how much more dirt was required to achieve the desired grade. With many other projects in the area, the client requested to bring in excess crushed concrete and dirt from their other sites.

Drone technology also can be used to measure the height of concrete pads, as well as evaluate stockpile quantities. Another client needed to know how much product they had on site, and Poettker’s drone team assisted—one of the many benefits to hiring a team with advanced resources.

ľ¨Ó㴫ý’s clients, their design teams and other business partners can monitor project progress by accessing drone footage on a digital platform. These images inform the design team when it’s time to visit the site to perform inspections. The inspection findings can then be overlaid onto a site map captured by drones to aid Poettker’s team in remedying any findings.

Community

Poettker’s drone program gives the company an avenue for engaging the local community. The company founded NextGen, a program designed to connect students and teachers to the construction of their facilities and broaden their understanding of the career opportunities available in the construction industry. Drone demonstrations are always well-received by Poettker’s education clients.

Drone technology improves ľ¨Ó㴫ý’s efficiencies, operations, and bottom line — all of which improve clients’ experience — the ultimate goal of any ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ investment.