Snyder Construction Group’s Clay Alexander Named AIA Superintendent of the Year Award

Snyder Construction Group is proud to announce the Springfield chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded its 2022 Superintendent of the Year award to Clay Alexander. Clay was recognized by his peers at the Salute to Design and Construction banquet in November.

Join us in celebrating Clay’s accomplishments!

Clay Was Recognized by His Peers and Students

Clay has been with Snyder Construction Group since 2013, and this award was the perfect way to complete his first decade with our firm. His major accomplishment in 2022 was overseeing the multisite project for the Hollister R-V School District.

Director of Operations Donnie Volentine said, “He has always brought a great personality and outlook to every project. Today’s projects are very tight with schedules, manpower, and material shortages. And Clay is able to successfully deal with that on a day-to-day basis.”

Donnie teased that as long as we gave Clay a free lunch every day in the school cafeteria, he did a great job for us.

Director of Field Operations Fred Lamonte praised Clay’s “grit, determination, and organization. It’s been an honor to see him work with our youth and younger superintendents. [This award] is well-deserved. We’re proud of you and look forward to many more.”

Senior Project Manager Ryan Thomassen noted, “Clay Alexander represents an old-school superintendent with a warm, tender heart. Never one to miss free candy at the receptionist's desk, I feel like he almost became part of the school district. They knew him on a first-name basis, and he knew all of them on a first-name basis. He always had the right words and became good friends with those folks down there. I think that helped build the relationship, not only for him personally but for us as a company. Hopefully, we will have many more projects because of Clay’s dedication to this project.”

Many students made thank-you notes and signs celebrating Clay and Snyder Construction Group. Eighth grader Isabella C. said the new music room was amazing and had so much light and storage space.

Project Scope in Hollister, Missouri

AIA has more than 200 members and associate members in Southwest Missouri. The group recognized Clay for his work and dedication to the Hollister R-V School District.

Snyder Construction Group renovated and expanded 6,000 square feet of space at three sites, providing a new music and choir room, a STEAM lab, areas for school administration, sidewalks, benches, and a new main entry canopy and signage.

The renovation work also included finish and electrical upgrades at the elementary school and the creation of grade-level pods. The scope of the addition included a new training center at the District Administration site, which also provides space for Board meetings, staff training, and community outreach.

Dr. Sean Woods, Assistant Superintendent of the Hollister R-V School District, lauded Clay by saying, “I have worked with many job superintendents over the last two decades. I have worked on small jobs (under $100,000) and large jobs (over $3,000,000), and no one has taken the extra time, extra care, and extra attention

to detail as I have seen out of Mr. Clay Alexander. He consistently runs a schedule that is tight but flexible enough to allow for the safety and well-being of students and staff at the school. He takes the extra care to ensure the site is always tidy and well-kept to ensure efficient operations while keeping the job moving forward. Clay’s

attention to detail resolved many issues before they were issues at all. Perhaps what I was most fond of was his passion to do a good job for the sake of taking care of our learning environment, so the only impact on our children was that of a positive one.”

Celebrating Clay

In addition to the Snyder Construction Group team, Clay’s wife and kids celebrated the 2022 AIA Superintendent of the Year award at the annual Salute to Design and Construction banquet.

President Dusty Emmert praised Clay, “I look back over the last nine years at some of the projects that you’ve been involved with. After each one of those projects had been done, the clients have been extremely happy with your performance. We’re so thankful that you’re a part of our team.”

Congratulations, Clay! We’re so very proud of you!