Dan Wargolet is the Operations Manager in our Milwaukee Division. He has been with JP Cullen since April 2010 and is in charge of helping our project teams run successful projects while training and developing our site engineers, superintendents, project managers and foreman.
What sparked your interest in the construction industry?
I realized towards the end of college that I didn’t want to be a typical mechanical engineer and design in front of a computer all day. My interest in construction didn’t begin until I started my first co-op with Pieper Electric. The job was my first real opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes of the construction industry. I was able to be involved with the people side of the business and interact with management which gave me a new perspective of what the industry was all about.
What did you want to be growing up?
Growing up, I always wanted to be an architect.
What is your proudest achievement?
My proudest achievement is my family. Other than that, I would have to say I’m most proud of my college basketball career at UW-Platteville. While on the team, I got to play for Bo Ryan and we won 2 national championships! I’m able to combine both family and basketball today, while coaching both of my daughter’s basketball teams.
What do you like best about working at JP Cullen?
My favorite part about working at JP Cullen is the people and the flexibility to do my job.
Who has been the most inspirational to you in your career?
The most inspirational person in my career has been Norm Doll. He was the President at Pieper Electric while I was there, and he stood out as someone that I aspired to be like in my career.
If you could have a super power, what would it be?
My superpower would be to shake hands with others and absorb all their knowledge. Dan Swanson, VP of Estimating at JP Cullen and Mark Cullen would be two individuals that come to mind that I would want to use my superpower on.
What is something people wouldn’t expect about you?
Some people know that I played college basketball, but what people don’t know is that I taught Scott Burroughs, Operations Manager at JP Cullen everything he knows about basketball. We played on the same team at UW-Platteville for 3 years and have now worked for JP Cullen now for 10 years.
If you could sit down to dinner with five people, who would you invite?
John Wooden, Steven Covey, Tom Hanks, George Patton and Mike Kryzewski.
