SAFETY, QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, INNOVATION & INTEGRITY

The Core NewsFor employees, families and friends of Corval Group, Inc.

4th Quarter FY2018 Volume 29, Issue 04

WWW.CORVALGROUP.COM®

W E B U I L D C O N F I D E N C E

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CEO Corner - October 2018

I was fortunate enough to become the CEO of NewMech, now the Corval Group, Inc. 14 years ago. This is the longest I have gone between writing articles.

First, I wanted to share some highlights from 2018:

• Corval Group – 1 Million + Hours Recordable Free

• Corval Group – 8 Million + Hours No Lost Time

• CCI – A record year for our Service & Special Project Group

• CCI – Maintenance/capital accounts with 3 refineries: Mandan, Billings and St. Paul (1st time we have had more than 1 maintenance account)

• CCI – Completed projects in 8 states.

• CCI – 1st Chilled beam project completed in Corval’s history (Totino-Grace High School, Fridley, MN)

• CB&E – 1st Crude oil dock station project in Corval’s history (Corpus Christi, TX)

• CB&E – Reliability & Maintenance has grown to 30 + personnel

• CB&E – Completed projects in 3 states

• CMS – Working on projects in 4 states

Fiscal 2019: Our focus is winning good projects with good customers and exceptionally executing them!

The holiday season is just around the corner. Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving and Christmas with your family and friends. God Bless all of those that have served and continue to serve in our military.

Thank You & Work Safe!

Paul

On The Cover...Mpls Pipefitters JATC

The final exterior product for the new addition at JATC complete with landscaping, signage, and concrete drive. JATC is well into the closeout process, and will be complete by the end of the

month.

In This Issue...Message from Paul Jordan 1

Employee Spotlight 2

1 Million Hours - Safety 4

Project Updates 5

Business Development 6

Meet the Accounting Team 7

Employee Engagement 8

Corval Foundation 9

Pre-Construction Team 10

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Rebecca Walters, Executive Administrative Assistant

This is a quarterly interview series where we ask our employees about what role in the company they play. We want to give you the ability to hear right from them, in varying roles, what gets them excited about Corval and makes them to come to work each and every day. Next up is Rebeca Walters, (a.k.a. ‘the new Pam!’) at the corporate office in St. Paul, MN.

Rebecca joined Corval in spring 2018 to provide administrative support to our executive team, while working alongside Pam Johnson as she plans her transition into retirement. Previously, Rebecca worked as the Senior Legal Administrative Assistant to the Travelers Companies’ Corporate Legal department for ten years. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music from Moorhead State University, MN.

Which is your favorite part about working for Corval?

I like staying busy! Here I am productive and a part of the working machine.

What has been your favorite project at Corval?

I like the day-to-day paperwork.

Before working at Corval, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?

I worked at BMI in Nashville tracking music usage in television shows so that songwriters could get payment for their songs. It paid terribly, but it was interesting.

How do you keep a healthy work/life balance?

I belong to the neighborhood YMCA and try to go there as often as I can. I also make sure I focus on family at home, rather than think about work when I am there.

What’s the one thing about you few people know?

I wrote and recorded an album in Nashville with my husband some years ago. KARE11 used to play one of my songs as bumper music for their morning show as part of an Independent Songwriter thing back in the 2000s. All the money I ever made selling CDs went toward our adoption. Every life phase leads to the next – there is a reason.

What is most rewarding about your job; what makes it all worthwhile?

Great balance of priority here – family first. It makes it easier to be inspired to work hard and be committed.

What are you most proud of?

We adopted our daughter from China. It took many years with some obstacles, but she has definitely made our life better.

How does a normal day look like at the office?

Catch up on email, stretch with the Engineering team, go back and respond to more email requests for subcontracts, etc., then lunch, then responding to more email requests.

What is your favorite food of all time?

Tacos.

What is your favorite movie of all time?

Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Now my daughter recites bits from it!

Who would you rather cheer for, Green Bay Packers or Minnesota Vikings?

VIKINGS

(And the glass is always full if you realize it has substance!)

Employee Spotlight

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Employee SpotlightRon Begnoche’s Summer Vacation!Ron Begnoche, Pipefitter, joined Corval Group, Inc. in December, 1988

For the past eight summers, Ron Begnoche has dedicated an entire week to cycling in the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. This non-competitive bicycle ride, more commonly known as RAGBRAI, runs for eight consecutive days across the state of Iowa. It’s known as the largest bike-touring event in the world, drawing recreational riders from across the United States and from many foreign countries.

For Ron, the RAGBRAI is a family tradition. In 2010, he finished his first RAGBRAI with his brother and son, starting in Sioux City and finishing in Dubuque. “My brother has been riding for 30 years – he was my inspiration,” says Ron, “I’ve done eight full weeks since I started riding RAGBRAI.”

This year, Ron and his family finished the ride in eight days and 552 miles. Ron shared a few photos of his most recent ride in the 2018 RAGBRAI, including the ‘tire dip’ that starts the ride and the finish line. We congratulate Ron and his family on this great achievement, well done!

To learn more about the RAGBRAI, check out their website at www.ragbrai.com.

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1 Million Hours Recordable Free

Congratulations to all Corval employees for surpassing 1 million hours without a recordable injury. This is the

second time we have reached this major milestone. The first time was in 2013. This is a huge accomplishment that we can all be proud of! There are many companies that do not see 50,000 hours recordable-free, let alone 1 million hours recordable-free.

We got here by:

• Management made it important and demonstrated their continued commitment.

• Developing Site Specific Safety Plans and Communicating it to the crew. The site-specific safety plan provides detailed project information on: Scope of work, Schedule, Client & project-specific expectations, environmental concerns, projects risks and mitigations.

• The THA helps identify and mitigate hazards for every task. The value in the THA is when we thoroughly communicate the hazards and mitigations to the crew.

• Performing Site Safety Audits through the portal alerts Project Managers and Safety of project concerns and grants us the opportunity to quickly support a project when issues arise.

• Writing Spots and sharing the situation/behavior/outcome with the observed employee creates an opportunity for praise and reinforcement of positive behavior.

• Reporting incidents and near misses allows safety to investigate and learn what happened so we can avoid repeat occurrences. APB’s are then developed to communicate our learnings to the entire company.

WE ACHIEVED THIS MILESTONE BECAUSE WE CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER AND EXECUTED WITH THESE TOOLS!

Going forward:

• Continue your personal pursuit of an incident free environment.

• No one wants to regret an injury to an employee or yourself.

• If you see something unsafe… say something! Use your Stop Work Authority!

The President and Owners support your safety conversations and encourage you to utilize all our safety tools.

Collectively we have achieved 1 Million, now let’s push this to a new milestone of 2 Million Hours Recordable Free!

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Project Updates

General Mills Purity Oats Minneapolis, MNEmployees Tom Anderson and Peter Green installed the new Unifloe grain cleaning system at the General Mills Purity Oats plant located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The equipment was moved across 1900s vintage solid wood floors and was completed during a three day shutdown.

General Mills, a customer of Corval’s for more than 20 years, was pleased with the quality and timeliness of the project completion.

Did you know that General Mills can trace its history back to the Minneapolis Milling Company, which was incorporated in 1856. In 1928 James Ford Bell merged Washburn-Crosby Mill and 28 other mills under the current name General Mills. New Unifloe Grain Cleaning System – General Mills

Andersen Windows Bayport, MN

Andersen Windows has been a Corval customer for over 40 years. Recently, Corval set four new frame welding systems in place. Each piece of equipment needed to be lifted to the second floor and assembled in their proper place. Randy Finstad was Corval’s Site Superintendent for the project. The work was completed on a weekend to avoid interrupting production.

Andersen was founded in 1903 by Danish immigrant Hans Andersen and his family in Hudson, Wisconsin. Today Andersen Corporation is an international enterprise employing more than 12,000 people at more than 20 locations. Their headquarters is in Bayport, Minnesota.

Rise Baking Company - River Falls, WisconsinRise Baking Company has been a customer of Corval’s for the past two years. Aaron Peterson is Corval’s Site Superintendent, overseeing numerous projects.

One of our more recent projects was the relocation of a bulk sugar receiver. Corval’s scope of work included removing a wall, installation of the equipment, repairing the wall and then connecting it back to the mechanical systems. All of this was completed with no interruption to production.

Rise Baking Company specializes in cookies (Best Maid and Grab ‘n’ Go), bars (Best Maid and Angela Marie’s) and artisan breads (French Baguette’s of several varieties in both take & bake and bulk sales).

Relocation of Bulk Sugar Receiver – Rise Baking

Frame Welding System on Second Floor – Andersen Windows

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Business Development

Business DevelopmentThe business development team has been hard at work cultivating opportunities for Corval to bid, nurturing relationships with our existing customers, and creating introductions with new owners and delivery partners. When BD and marketing engage with preconstruction, our sales pitch moves from “this is what the project costs” to “this is how your business can benefit from working with Corval.” The capture planning process launched a year ago is a crucial part of the pursuit.

During a recent bid, Corval took the unusual step of submitting a proposal that responded to written RFP, accompanied by an alternate approach to the project. This expanded the potential customer’s view of Corval and our capabilities, and helped to illustrate the value added by Corval’s expertise.

We want to continue building on the momentum gained in September: With our General Maintenance win at the Phillips 66 refinery in Billings, Corval is well-positioned for capital projects there and at other P66 locations throughout the U.S. The two wellhead build-outs for XTO, at Muy Wayno and Brushy Draw, extend Corval’s reach into the Permian Basin, where our lessons learned in the Bakken can be leveraged to overcome the challenges inherent to working in resource-constricted geographies.

E-mail potential project opportunities to:Biz-Leads@corvalgroup.com

Everyone at Corval has a role in winning work!

Did you know...Each year, many forests are torn down and destroyed for the resources they provide, especially paper. Trees are important for our environment because they provide habitat and food for birds and animals; their shade reduces air temperature; and they improve air quality by absorbing carbon dioxide and other harmful gases. Humans are creating congested air and damage to our ozone layer by cutting down virgin forests that would have otherwise benefited our earth for years to come. Reusing paper significantly decreases the need to cut down forests.

Shredding paper is one way to allow the paper that we use to be recycled into more paper or other useful items such as Styrofoam. Styrofoam production is naturally harmful to the earth, except when produced from shredded documents and other paper.

In the past year, Corval’s home office has saved more than 60 trees by participating in the Shred-it program.

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Meet the Accounting Team

First Row: Mia Hutchinson, Shari Dobis, Kristina Nelson, Bee Vang, Brian Kogler

Back Row: Anka Shannon, Bill Patt, Josh Leonard, Ryan Bohl, Lisa Schlecht

Not pictured: Keely Clancy, Heather Seburn, Haley Kupper

The Corporate Accounting Team can be reached via email at: ap@corvalgroup.com.

The Accounting team is comprised of two groups involved in different areas of Corval’s business. The Corporate Accounting Team is responsible for maintaining the general financial bookkeeping, reporting, payroll, and invoicing to keep and maintain daily office operations. The Project Accounting Team focuses on tracking the financial details and progress related to individual projects that Corval builds.

Bill Patt, VP/CFO, provides oversight and leadership to the accounting/finance/project accounting activities of Corval as well as the Business Technology and Human Resources teams. He is the primary contact with the company’s bank, ensuring Corval has the needed financial backing and is compliant with all agreements in force. Bill works to prepare the annual financial forecasts of the firm, maintains relationships with audit/tax/consulting firms and insurance brokerages.

Ryan Bohl, Project Accounting Manager, oversees the project accounting team that works to support PMs with project set up, billings and projections. He also provides monthly job cost financial reporting to the leadership team, and works with the BT team to ensure we are utilizing Viewpoint to its full capabilities.

Josh Leonard, Project Accounting Specialist, provides project delivery to help adequately track, report, and analyze financial results and implications while actively recommending and implementing actions to improve progress.

Brian Kogler, Project Accountant, provides project delivery to help adequately track, report, and analyze financial results and implications; actively recommending and implementing actions to improve progress.

Anka Shannon, Senior Accountant’s responsibilities include financial statement/business unit reporting, financial budgeting, account reconciliations, annual audits, union reporting, vendor/customer setups, and managing fixed assets.

Lisa Schlecht, Accounts Payable Supervisor, oversees the Accounts Payable Department, manages Concur and the company credit cards, handles incoming subcontract invoicing, and processes sales and use tax filings.

Shari Dobis, Payroll Specialist, is responsible for processing payroll across all four Corval companies.

Mia Hutchinson, Accounts Payable Associate, processes invoices for PO, Job, or GL accounts, audits credit card and personal expenses, discrepancies for AP & AR and deposits. Manages truck fleet program incl. fuel/credit cards.

Bee Vang, Payroll Associate, enters new hires and Child Support deductions, processes CBE Craft weekly payroll, terminates employees in VP, and submits Child Support/Garnishments and HSA.

Kristina Nelson, Manager, CCI Projects Support, manages the CCI Projects Support Team & assists PM’s in project controls. (Including: job costs, invoice prep, collections, certified payroll, issuing PO’s, and completing lien waivers.)

Keely Clancy, Service/Special Projects Controls Specialist, processes billing for service work and special projects work run through the Service Module. Keely works with the Service Acct Mangers to ensure our margins are met.

Heather Seburn, Project Coordinator for Service, supports Service/Special Projects groups by processing RPZ testing forms, inspection logs, invoices and certified payroll. She sets up jobs in VP, prepares proposals/bids.

Haley Kupper, Project Accountant, is responsible for entering budgets, change orders, and invoices into Viewpoint for both CCI adn CBE. She also works with PM’s to have their projects ready for financial reviews each month.

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Employee Engagement

Corval Employee/Family Picnic

Corval hosted Minnesota employees and their families at our Annual Picnic on August 25. As usual, the food was delicious, the entertainment was engaging, the door prizes were amazing, and the atmosphere was festive.

While the Novaks dominated the candy-estimating competitions, we had a good mix of winners in the running races and grand prize drawings. Mark your calendars for this not-to-be-missed annual event – next year’s picnic is being planned for Saturday, August 18 at Long Lake Pavillion!

Many thanks to Rob Chvatal for calling BINGO again this year; Tammy Eastman, Carol Roth, and Jody Wittner for their prep, set up, and check-in assistance; and of course, Donna Marsh for making it all happen.

Save the Date

Annual Holiday Party

Dec. 7th 4pm

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Corval Foundation

Corval CaresAre you aware of the charitable contributions The Corval Foundation makes to the community?

“Corval cares” is the best way to describe the vision and work of the Foundation, whose intent is to support/help children in need or parents that are struggling to support their families.

Education for children is also a focus of the Foundation, which helps to provide several scholarships each year to Corval employees’ children graduating high school.

One of the Foundation’s biggest fund raisers is the Corval Charity Golf Outing. The 2018 tournament was the 21st occurrence of this annual event. Happening in July of each year, subcontractors, suppliers, customers, partners and friends of Corval are invited to participate in and help sponsor the event, which is followed up with a social and awards program.

Some of the organizations supported by The Corval Foundation include:

• Children’s Home Society

• Lutheran Social Services

• Spare Key

• Whole Academy of Learning (*children with autism)

• Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation

• Totino-Grace High School

• United Way

• American Red Cross

• Feed My Starving Children

• Toys for Tots

“When you’re in a position to have gotten so much, the gift at this point is giving back.”

– Paul Stanley

Corval Promotes Employee Wellness by Giving Back

It’s widely known that people spend much of their time at work and the workplace has a significant impact on people’s health and well being. Shouldn’t it be important to celebrate good health among workers and create a positive environment for work? Corval thinks so too, which is why we dedicated an entire week in August to promoting employees’ health and wellness! All week long employees enjoyed a build-your-own yogurt parfait bar, fruit infused water, free lunch and presentation with local health experts, and free chair massages from local health and wellness facility, Ambiente.

Giving back to the community is another important part of wellness and Corval’s culture. A group of Corval employees and their families volunteered at Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) at the Coon Rapids, MN location. At this session, we packed meals that went to Haiti through Reciprocal Ministry International and Jamaica through Food for the Poor. Our volunteer group helped pack 32,616 meals that will feed 89 kids for a year. Thank you to all of our volunteers!

Corval will host another volunteer event in November with Habitat for Humanity. Contact areinbold@corvalgroup.com for details.

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Building Confidence in PreconstructionThe Preconstruction group’s experience and capabilities have grown substantially in recent years. Aligning team members’ backgrounds and strengths with their area of responsibility has made us more effective. Matt Collins brings electrical capabilities to Corval, from his five years of experience as an electrician. He is also working to attain Corval’s electrical license in Texas. Adam Dantzman has taken the helm on our concrete bids. Coming to Corval from major national industrial companies, both Adam and Matt are capable industrial bid captains. Joe Poser started in the field as a plumber and has grown into an industrial bid captain; he also leads the pipe estimators. Troy Powell works out of Wyoming, and although we don’t see him often, he has positively enhanced our pipe estimating capabilities with his background as a pipefitter. Preconstruction plucked Derek Dreawves out of the Quality group about a year ago, and he quickly learned the skills needed for pipe estimating. Mike Riker, our mainstay for major projects, continues to be the anchor and key mentor of the group. He is an ever-present force in our corner, covering every angle of the proposal. Sandra Hermann joined the group in 2017 and has been keeping our information, and often the team, in line.

David Secker - I grew up on the shore of Lake Michigan just outside of Green Bay. I started working in the family salvage business in my early teens later traveled with the government to England then Cheyenne WY from ‘91-97. In 1997, I went back to school and graduated from UW-Stout with a B.S. in Construction Management. The collaborative atmosphere and variety of challenges have kept me at Corval for 17 years. Outside of work, my family and I enjoy traveling and hiking. We have been to all 72 Minnesota State Parks and to 25 states. Our goal to see every state as a family.

Joe Poser - I have been with Corval Group for 16 years. I am a master plumber in the State of Minnesota. I started out in the field as a plumber and moved into the office to help bid on the Gophers Stadium and never left. I have been an estimator now for 11 years. I started out just estimating plumbing projects, then moved on to estimating all of the pipe work. I currently manage the pipe estimators in our group, and serve as bid captain for projects. My favorite project was the Fed Ex tunnels at the airport because I got to be so close to the planes taking off and landing. In my spare time I like to hunt, fish, and hang out with my wife and my daughter, Lucy. The best thing about working for Corval is the collaborative nature and our willingness to adapt, and to try new things and ways of doing business.

Mike Riker - I graduated from Mankato State University studying Construction Management with a Finance concentration. I’ve basically been in the construction industry since the late 70s. I began my career in Highway/Heavy Construction with D.H. Blattner as a field foreman. My work varied from state and federal highway to dam restoration and surface pit mining. After my earthwork career, I moved to Houston, TX and began work with M. W. Kellogg (KBR) in the construction division, primarily as field subcontract administrator and project controls, for projects such as MTBE, Ethylene, Fertilizer, DDU and an international assignment to Malaysia on a 3-train LNG expansion for Petronas. I relocated back to Minnesota, which is home to both my wife and myself. Once settled, I worked in various Estimating/PM roles in the construction of ethanol plants and industrial ammonia facilities. Since about 2013 I have been assigned to Corval’s Preconstruction (estimating) group as a senior estimator. Aside from bid captain, my specific trade functions include structural steel, equipment installation, and crane. In my spare time I hunt, fish, backpack, and dabble in distance running. Most do not know I am also a licensed pilot. I enjoy working for Corval because of the culture and the approachable nature of everyone. Titles or positions do not truly matter at the heart of conversation. No one ever said this work is easy, but you are recognized for the effort from the top down. People do matter.

Continued...

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Building Confidence in PreconstructionTroy Powell - Being born and raised in Wyoming I started out in the oil field out of high school as a roustabout. I moved on to pipefitter/welder in 1990. I came up through the ranks as lead man, foreman, General Foreman and pipe superintendent. I also worked as field and project engineer. I have been pipe estimating now for around 15 years. I have worked on many projects all around the West, from Oklahoma to the West Coast. I have worked on many different types of heavy industrial projects, including refineries, power plants, paper mills, gold mines, water treatment and soda ash plants. With more than 30 years in the pipe industry now, piping is really what I know and enjoy. In my spare time I love wildlife photography, hunting and hiking the wild mountains around Cody, WY. I also hunt with my two sons whenever possible. Both live in South Dakota now, but I’m hoping they can move to Wyoming soon so we can all enjoy what the mountains have to offer. What sold me on Corval was the family atmosphere. Unlike any other company I’ve worked for, the people all feel more like family than co-workers. It felt like home from day one, and that has not changed.

Sandra Herrmann - Originally from North Dakota, I have been with Corval for a little over a year, assisting David Secker and the Preconstruction team with day-to-day departmental administrative activities and proposals. I was exposed to the construction industry through my father, who had a small architectural practice, in North Dakota, then South Dakota. I spent time in Japan, South Dakota, North Dakota & Minnesota while attending NDSU & U of M-Minneapolis for studio art & architecture. Following college, I lived in California before returning to Minnesota. My prior work experience includes CAD support for Apple-based machining software, project management of tailored behavioral development websites at PDI in downtown Minneapolis, as well as executive support at Ecolab, General Mills, and Quality Control in Research & Analytics at FPI in Plymouth. I enjoy learning, in general: whether learning new languages or learning new job skills. The most compelling part about working for Corval is the work ethic.

Adam Dantzman - I grew up on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin (cheese head). I earned an Associate degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from CVTC before going to UW-Stout for my Bachelors in Construction with a minor in Business Administration. After college, I spent almost eight years working for an industrial contractor as a field engineer, project engineer and estimator. I was working in the Bakken for the majority of North Dakota’s recent oil boom. In the summer I enjoy canoeing, and in the winter I like snowboarding. I like to work at Corval because of our strong core values that are engrained in our culture.

Matt Collins - I am originally from Wadena, MN and attended college at Minnesota State Community and Technical College for Construction Electricity. After graduating in 2008, I started working as an electrician with TIC. I spent 5 years traveling around the country building various industrial projects. After obtaining several different electrical licenses in various states, I took a job with Cherne, where I spent the last five years estimating. I joined Corval in April 2018. My favorite part about working for Corval is the family culture and hard work ethic of my fellow estimators.

Derek Dreawves - I have been with Corval for approximately 3 ½ years but spent my first 2 years with the Corval Quality Team specializing in Fabrication. In preconstruction, I focus on piping estimating and assisting in other day-to-day preconstruction activities. In my free time I enjoy hunting, fishing, spending time with family, and watching the Minnesota Vikings.

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SAFETY, QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, INNOVATION & INTEGRITY

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Corporate Headquarters1633 Eustis StreetSt. Paul, MN 55108-1219P 651.645.0451www.corvalgroup.com

About Corval GroupEstablished in 1921 and based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Corval Group does more than simply build facilities and mechanical systems. With a fully integrated array of construction, fabrication and business solutions, Corval has been delivering bottom line results to ensure owners achieve business goals for more than 97 years. Building Confidence is more than a motto; it’s nearly a century of delivering results and saving clients millions of dollars/profit.

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