Senior project manager of JE Dunn Construction has a passion for his

In high school, Jose Amaya won a first place award for building a model of his home in Caracas, Venezuela. From that point on I wanted to be in the construction industry, he said. Amaya is a senior project manager for JE Dunn Construction in Colorado Springs.

I'm pretty new to the Colorado Springs area, but I was in Denver for five years, Amaya said. Before moving to Denver, Amaya worked with JE Dunn at the home office in Kansas City. I liked Kansas City when I lived there. I love to snowboard, so Colorado is the best. He has been with the company for 10 years.

Amaya was transferred to Denver from Kansas City to work on a five- year, $305 million bond project for Denver Public Schools. When the project was completed in, he and his family moved to Colorado Springs. I'm in the Colorado Springs office doing what the company calls cross training into the JE Dunn health care division, Amaya said. He is currently working with Memorial Hospital on its construction projects.

Amaya, who is 43, came to the United States from Venezuela in 1982 to attend college at the University of South Alabama. He graduated in 1986 with a degree in civil engineering. While in college, Amaya met his wife. We met, fell in love and decided to make the United States our home, he said. Amaya and his wife have two children, Monica who is 10 and Jose Jr. who is 8.

Working in construction is just one of Amaya's passions. He travels at least once a year to various destinations including Venezuela and Panama, where his wife is from originally. I like other places to visit, but I always come back to the United States, he said. Amaya lived with his family in London for his last three years of elementary school. That was where I learned English, he said. When I see British movies I think 'I can't believe I used to talk like that!' Amaya also likes to work up an adrenaline rush by snowboarding, surfing and riding his Harley on weekends.

Seeing a finished product is also an adrenaline rush in and of itself. In addition to Kansas City, Denver and Colorado Springs, Amaya has worked in Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans. He has worked on everything from schools and office buildings to prisons and federal buildings.

When you complete a new school, and it is the first day of school, parents bring their children and they're all smiling and happy to be in a new building, Amaya said. His favorite aspect of working in the construction industry is the promise of new clients and projects. The chairman of the board, Mr. Dunn, has a saying that I always remember - 'There is only one thing that we build better than buildings, and that is building relationships.'

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