Blueprint Magazine

As director of administrative services and facilities for Stout, Norma Maldonado oversees workplace environments across the firm’s 26 offices, shaping how thousands of employees experience their day-to-day work.

Over the past year, Maldonado’s most prominent initiative has been the relocation of Stout’s corporate headquarters in Chicago. The move represented a broader shift in how the firm wanted its headquarters to function in a more flexible work environment.

“The design and development phase was especially enjoyable because it gave us the freedom to take creative risks that really paid off,” Maldonado says. “Seeing colleagues genuinely excited about the space made all the effort worth it.”

Norma Maldonado – Stout - Blueprint Norma Maldonado is helping redefine how Stout’s people work and connect by leading a company-wide transformation of office spaces built for flexibility, collaboration, and long-term growth.

Chris Mattila, Director of Construction Project Management at ATC, brings more than two decades of experience across utilities, portfolio oversight, and organizational transformation.

For Mattila, long-term success depends on building leadership capacity. He currently oversees a management team of experienced leaders with the potential to advance into executive roles. His focus is on preparing them for those opportunities while creating a pipeline of future leaders among staff project managers.

“The balancing act between leadership and development is hard, but it’s necessary,” Mattila says. “My charge is to develop those leaders to be more capable of taking on more roles in the company.”

Chris Mattila – American Transmission Co. - Blueprint Chris Mattila is helping transform American Transmission Co.'s project management organization by modernizing processes, developing future leaders, and positioning ATC to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving energy landscape.

Midwest Glass has been serving Brookings, South Dakota, and the surrounding area since 1974. That kind of longevity doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when a company takes care of people, does honest work, and shows up day after day, even when no one’s watching.

Midwest Glass does roughly $4.5 million in annual revenue and handles everything from residential windows and doors to commercial storefronts, aluminum doors, curtain walls, auto glass, fabrication, and custom showers. If it involves glass, the team can most likely source, install, and repair it.

When Seth Sayler stepped into ownership, the goal wasn’t to flip the company, modernize it for the sake of modernizing, or reinvent what already worked. The goal was simple: protect the people, enhance the culture, and create a clear path to team success.

Seth Sayler – Midwest Glass - Blueprint Seth Sayler is reshaping Midwest Glass by putting people, trust, and sustainability at the center of the business, proving that long-term success starts from the inside out.