New AGC President Les Snyder follows family into construction – his lifetime adventure
BY ROBBIE ANDREU
Being the grandson of Les Snyder, and the son of Les Snyder Jr., Les Snyder III knew from an early age the career path he would be choosing.
Construction.
There was never any doubt. He always knew. “I sure did,” he said.
It was in his blood. In his bones. In his DNA. Definitely in his DNA.
This all started with the first, or shall we say, the original Les Snyder, who after returning home from World War I, took a job as a draftsman for J&L Steel in Pittsburgh and eventually rose to senior executive.
His son, Les Snyder Jr., followed in his footsteps into the construction arena. After graduating with a civil engineering degree from the University of Pittsburgh, he worked his way through the construction industry as a superintendent and project manager, specializing in marine construction.
On one of his projects, he took his son with him one day – and that experience sealed the deal for Les III. He walked away with a passion for construction and a plan for his future.
“This was my big awakening,” Snyder said. “I was only 12 or 13 years old. I was on a barge and then went inside a cofferdam. He took a picture of me wearing this life vest that was three times my size, and I was wearing a hard hat. That is sort of the epitome of there was never anything else I would think of doing.
“I distinctly remember my high school girlfriend’s father. He was a superintendent of schools for a big district. He asked me, ‘So, what are you going to do in your career?’ I said, ‘I’m going to be a president of a large construction company.’ I’ve been blessed to reach that goal.”
Snyder knew what he wanted way back when, knew what his future would hold, and it all came to fruition.
Elevating the Construction Game
No disrespect to those in the family before him, but the third- generation Snyder has taken his construction game to a whole new level.
He is a long-time industry leader who has overseen many major projects across the United States. Now, as the Executive Vice President of Infrastructure Construction for Brightline West in Las Vegas, he’s taking on one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the country – a privately owned high-speed passenger rail connecting Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
At the same time, Snyder is taking on another new and important role in the industry: president of AGC of America.
“There are not enough words for me to express the honor I see in this one,” he said. “One of the credos that I’ve been raised with is there is no greater honor than being recognized by your peers. It’s the biggest (honor) of my career. It’s the biggest of my life right now.
“This organization has had a huge effect on my life and a huge effect on my family – all in a positive manner. Friendships have been reached through different industry activities and taking
on many challenges over the years. There’s no greater honor, and I’m humbled to become the president. It’s the pinnacle of my career – giving back to an industry I deeply love.”
Snyder has had a long working relationship with AGC, dating back to the early 1990s.
“My first AGC of America meeting was in 1993,” he said. “It was like being in the dugout of the World Series with some of the greatest construction leaders ever. I still distinctly remember that meeting in Lake George, New York. All the folks you read about as construction leaders and engineers, they were there, face-to-face, shaking my hand.
“I was pretty much one of the younger ones. It impressed me enough to maintain and keep going.”
An Eye on the Future
As he takes over as AGC President, Snyder and the industry are facing some obvious – and big – challenges.
Snyder said the construction industry is inundated with government legislation that impacts how business is done, often creating potential obstacles that can be difficult to overcome. Other challenges involve recovering from the pandemic, the state of the economy, the U.S. debt, and the war in Ukraine, which impacts the energy sector.
“But all of that is dwarfed by our challenges with workforce and talent development,” he said.
“This is the greatest challenge we have.”
There are plenty of available jobs and opportunities available in construction at this time. But recruiting enough candidates to fill out the workforce continues to be problematic.
Snyder said he’s hopeful – with an eye to the future. The industry must better connect with the next generations.
“The great news about this industry — and the way I’ve always approached it — is this can be the great adventure of your life,” he said. “There is no other industry, and I mean no other industry, that provides the opportunity for you, the candidate, to pick and choose what you want to do.
“We have activities in the field to manage construction. We have the ability to project manage. We have the technical side, which is going to be big. I’m a strong believer in AI and robotics. These are going to really go far in meeting our workforce challenges with this upcoming generation. They know how to make that happen.”
AGC for All
Snyder has a theme for his AGC presidency: AGC for All. A big part of that includes a strong emphasis on the future of the industry and the generations to come.
“It has a lot to do with how we bring in the new generations,” he said. “There’s a pretty sizable divide generationally, not just in the construction industry, but across the board. We really have this challenge of knowledge transfer and doing it much quicker than what we came up with in our careers.
“The beauty of the next generations coming in is they are eager to learn as much as they can, and we have to trust them through their talents with technology and everything. The other piece of this is the great issue of diversity and inclusion that we need to fold in and pay more attention to.
“It’s great to see what we’re doing in the association. There are ways to do more. It’s up to us to work with upcoming generations to make it AGC for All.”
Selling future generations on the notion that a job in construction is an adventure seems doable. It certainly does to Snyder, whose career has been, and continues to be, quite an adventure, with no end in sight, especially as the high-speed rail project gets underway.
For the young kid who always knew what his career path was going to be, the industry has not let him down. It has taken him all across the country to take on many challenges that have turned out successful and satisfying.
“I call it an adventure,” he said. “I’ve worked on hospitals, on power plants. I’ve worked on projects at Cape Canaveral for the space industry, and even opening a company to build an auto plant in Mexico. You name it.”
Snyder’s favorite project/adventure is a Disney adventure. “If I had to pick a favorite, it was designing and building Disney’s Castaway Cay, which was taking an uninhabited island in the Bahamas and transforming it into their cruise ship day stop,” he said.
Family First
For Snyder, the construction industry turned out to be what he always thought it would be – a great adventure. And all along the way, family has been a big part of it. His father and grandfather. His wife Denise and two daughters, Sara and Jenna.
His father was one of his mentors, especially by an early example he set.
“He started at engineering school in 1942 at Pitt,” Snyder said. “He finished 12 years later. He had a little interruption for tours of duty in World War II and the Korean War. He instilled in me that persistence is one of those great traits that pull you through. Who else would have thought of doing that?”
His wife and daughters showed him how strong support from home can make even the most difficult challenges conquerable. “We have always been a very close family. We have experienced and learned so much together. As Sara and Jenna entered college, I had the realization and told them, ‘There is a time when the teacher becomes the student.’ I’ve learned so much from both of them regarding the thinking and beliefs of their generation, the importance of standing for greater diversity for the future, and how these two wonderful ladies lead in breaking barriers posed to women. I’m so very proud of them.”
His 38th wedding anniversary is coming up this year.
“(My wife) has been with me and picked up and moved and actually interrupted her own career, moving on and going to different projects,” Snyder said. “She’s been by my side, and we’ve been getting through challenges together. That’s been a principle strength of our marriage.”