Sargent: On Track Podcast

Hosted by Sargent

Business Management

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Episodes

336

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Keeping Sargent employee-owners informed about what's going on within the company, industry, and ESOP world.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 22, 202654 min

Cianbro, One of Maine's Original ESOPs | S7E37

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, guest host and Business Development Director Glenn Adams is joined by Cianbro's Corporate Director of Operational Human Resources Dan Coffey and Retirement Benefits and Organizational Development Manager Rachel Ervin in the Flywheel Studio for a special Employee Ownership Month conversation. Cianbro began its transition to employee ownership in 1979, when the founding brothers chose to pass the company on to the people who helped build it. Dan and Rachel talk about how ownership shows up in the field, from crews caring for tools as they would in their own garage to a safety culture where everyone is expected to speak up for each other. They also share how Cianbro educates team members about the ESOP and why veteran employee-owners are often the best advocates for new hires. If you liked this week’s episode and are interested in becoming an Employee-Owner at Sargent, please visit our careers page on the Sargent website. https://sargent.us/apply/ If you have an episode suggestion, please send your idea to: sbennage@sargent.us

October 15, 202650 min

J.S. McCarthy Packaging + Print’s ESOP Story & PRICE-IS-RIGHT | S7E36

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, guest host Business Development Director Glenn Adams is joined by Vice President and General Counsel Amy Tardiff and Chief Financial Officer Matt "Matty" Tardiff of J.S. McCarthy Packaging + Print for another National Employee Ownership Month conversation. The sibling pair explain how their Augusta-based family business became 100% employee-owned in 2019, a move with some history behind it. Along the way, they share how employee-owners have driven real improvements in safety and rework rates, and what they would tell other companies considering an ESOP. If you liked this week’s episode and are interested in becoming an Employee-Owner at Sargent, please visit our careers page on the Sargent website. https://sargent.us/apply/ If you have an episode suggestion, please send your idea to: sbennage@sargent.us

October 8, 202642 min

The Harkins Builders ESOP Story & PRICE-IS-RIGHT CONTINUES! | S7E35

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined remotely by Project Executive Peter Schaaf of Harkins Builders during National Employee Ownership Month. Peter explains how Harkins, founded in 1965 by Thomas Harkins, became an ESOP after former president Blaise Cook, who started with the company as a laborer, set up the plan in 2002 to secure the company's succession and give employees a real path to retirement. Harkins became 100% employee-owned in 2014. Peter and Eric talk about how Harkins keeps its employee-owners informed about the ESOP, what the phrase "protect the ESOP" means in the field and the office, and how ownership has built a culture where long-tenured people choose to stay on and teach the next generation of builders. If you liked this week’s episode and are interested in becoming an Employee-Owner at Sargent, please visit our careers page on the Sargent website. https://sargent.us/apply/ If you have an episode suggestion, please send your idea to: sbennage@sargent.us

October 1, 202638 min

DeBlois Electric's ESOP Story & PRICE-IS-RIGHT CONTINUES | S7E34

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, Business Development Director Glenn Adams guest-hosts and is joined by DeBlois Electric CEO Mitch DeBlois and President Steve Morin in the Flywheel Studio for a conversation about employee ownership, just ahead of Employee Ownership Month in October. Mitch shares how the Lewiston, Maine company grew from a small, mostly residential shop started by his father in 1967 into a commercial electrical contractor of about 80 people. The two walk through their decision to become an ESOP rather than sell, which was driven by a desire to take care of the people who helped build the company. If you liked this week’s episode and are interested in becoming an Employee-Owner at Sargent, please visit our careers page on the Sargent website. https://sargent.us/apply/ If you have an episode suggestion, please send your idea to: sbennage@sargent.us

September 24, 202623 min

Kicking Off Employee Ownership Month With a Chance to Win Big! | S7E33

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by VP of Finance & CFO Tasha Gardner in the Flywheel Studio to kick off National Employee Ownership Month! They share recent project wins across New England and a strong outlook for 2027, then talk about why Sargent celebrates employee ownership twice a year. Eric closes with a reminder that the real strength of employee ownership comes from people taking the ownership piece seriously every day, and that the only way to keep it is by giving it away. If you liked this week’s episode and are interested in becoming an Employee-Owner at Sargent, please visit our careers page on the Sargent website. https://sargent.us/apply/ If you have an episode suggestion, please send your idea to: sbennage@sargent.us

September 17, 202651 min

Sargent at 100: Steve Perry From Grade Stakes to Business Development | S7E32

Steve Perry showed up at Sargent the Monday after his University of Maine graduation in 1975. By 6:30 that morning, he was out in the field pounding grade stakes. He retired 46 years later as the company's head of business development. In between, he worked his way through the estimating office under Dale Jellison, helped run a satellite office in New Hampshire, and eventually became one of the central figures in how Sargent evaluated, priced, and won work. He was there for the foreign ownership years, the Mid-Atlantic expansion with BFI, the rebuy in 2005, and the ESOP transition in 2013. In this episode, Steve talks about the shift from highways into utilities and then into renewable energy, and how Sargent was designing and building wind projects in 3D CAD before most of the competition even knew what was going on out in those woods. He's candid about what the foreign ownership years felt like from inside the estimating office, what the rebuy meant for the people who had stayed, and why he thinks the company's real edge has always been the ability to spot what's coming and get positioned before the market catches up. Forty-six years. One company. Steve saw all of it. If you liked this week’s episode and are interested in becoming an Employee-Owner at Sargent, please visit our careers page on the Sargent website. https://sargent.us/apply/ If you have an episode suggestion, please send your idea to: sbennage@sargent.us

September 3, 202640 min

New Drone Cuts Survey Time by 75% | S7E31

In this episode of the On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Project Manager Scott Bartlett, Project Manager Ryan Cullen, and Project Executive Bernard Lupini in the Flywheel Studio to talk about the WingtraRAY, a new drone the Mid-Atlantic region picked up this year. The group breaks down how the drone covers ground far faster than the old quadcopter drone. Bartlett, Cullen, and Lupini talk through how that faster data helps coordinate daily work with foremen and superintendents, keeps GCs and subs on the same page, and gives project executives more solid numbers for billing and forecasting on large-scale earthwork. WingtraRAY Video: https://youtu.be/cKYpSy7LdBI If you liked this week’s episode and are interested in becoming an Employee-Owner at Sargent, please visit our careers page on the Sargent website. https://sargent.us/apply/ If you have an episode suggestion, please send your idea to: sbennage@sargent.us

August 20, 202639 min

Sargent at 100: Tim Folster on 40 Years Through the Changes | S7E30

Tim Folster started at Sargent in 1979, fresh out of college and assigned to a road crew in Kenduskeag. He retired 40 years later, having worked as a foreman, general superintendent, and head of operations through many major chapters the company has lived through. In this episode, Tim covers a lot of ground. He talks about the early days of H.E. Sargent, what it was like to work under Jim Sargent during the growth years, and what the company felt like before and after the sale to foreign ownership in 1988. He's candid about what that era did to the company and what it meant when Herb R. Sargent bought H.E. Sargent in 2005. You'll also hear Tim on the expansion into the Mid-Atlantic, the wind farm years, the early days of the ESOP, and what he thinks carries a company through the bad stretches as much as the good ones. Forty years puts you in the room for a lot. If you liked this week’s episode and are interested in becoming an Employee-Owner at Sargent, please visit our careers page on the Sargent website. https://sargent.us/apply/ If you have an episode suggestion, please send your idea to: sbennage@sargent.us

August 6, 202650 min

From SCA to Leadership | S7E29

In this episode of the Sargent: On Track Podcast, President & CEO Eric Ritchie is joined by Workforce Advancement Manager Pete Parizo in the Flywheel Studio, along with three guests joining remotely: Senior Foreman Alex Morgan, Junior Superintendent Jacson Blais, and Dozer Operator Chandler Plante. The conversation centers on the paths these three employee-owners took from the Sargent Construction Academy (SCA) into leadership roles. Each former student shares what drew them to Sargent, often through family connections to the company, and describes their experiences going through the Academy between 2016 and 2019. They talk about their first days on the job, the mentors who helped them grow, and the moment each of them stepped into more responsibility on their crews. The conversation shifts into leadership, with Pete Perrizo noting that leadership isn't tied to title; it's something everyone practices every day, for better or worse. If you liked this week’s episode and are interested in becoming an Employee-Owner at Sargent, please visit our careers page on the Sargent website. https://sargent.us/apply/ If you have an episode suggestion, please send your idea to: sbennage@sargent.us

July 23, 202624 min

Sargent at 100: George Thomas 40 Years at Sargent | S7E28

In this episode of the Sargent On Track Podcast’s Sargent 100 interview series, Sebastian sits down with George Thomas, whose 40 years of service began in 1972 as a field office clerk and evolved into a career spanning accounting, finance, and leadership. George reflects on the company’s interstate highway years, the first steps into out-of-state work, and the values and work ethic that made Sargent stand out. He also shares his candid perspective on the sale of H.E. Sargent to overseas companies, his “famous phone call” that brought him back to Maine with Sargent & Sargent, and what it took behind the scenes to earn confidence during a pivotal chapter in the company’s story. If you liked this week’s episode and are interested in becoming an Employee-Owner at Sargent, please visit our careers page on the Sargent website. https://sargent.us/apply/ If you have an episode suggestion, please send your idea to: sbennage@sargent.us