Pantex Proud: Steven Kemp
Thousands of dedicated Pantex citizens like Steven Kemp work every day to support the Pantex mission. Take three minutes to learn about who he is, what he does, and why he is proud to be a Pantexan.
When Construction Manager Steven Kemp started framing houses at 15, he knew he wanted to be involved in construction for the rest of his life…and he hasn’t done anything else since.
“You get to step back every day and see how you’ve progressed and you get to see what you are building and giving to the owner. Some jobs you have to wait until the end to see what you have done. I have always known this is what I was going to do, but I didn’t know it would take me as far as it has.”
Prior to joining Pantex in 2019, Kemp was a commercial construction superintendent who was a part of building schools, hospitals, and other industrial structures. Here, he is part of the line-item projects group and works primarily on the High Explosives Science and Engineering Facility. He oversees the contract scope, schedule, and budget, and ensures that the contractor delivers what is agreed upon and the owner gets what they paid for. Building relationships is key to a successful project.
“Someone told me early on to really work on relationships with other departments and to make contacts. On huge line-item projects, you need something every day. You may have to interrupt someone who doesn’t have time, and if you have a good relationship with them, they will probably make time.”
Those inter-departmental relationships not only help Steven with day-to-day issues but also keep work going at Pantex. Without that camaraderie, the work stops.
“We have some pretty tight requirements on-site and we continuously have to communicate with the project engineers and the architecture firm who designed the building. We will pull together the whole team and we will go through and figure out what we can do to move that task forward while the paperwork is being processed to save time. Because I have access to all these people, we can come to an agreement to get the job done quicker and safer.”
Everyone offers value to our tasks. Why must we be open to learning and hearing from others?
I don’t believe that there is any room on projects to be closed minded. There are people with a lot of experience and diversity in backgrounds. I have over 25 years of experience, and I’ve learned a lot from so many people out here.
What advice do you offer someone who has made a mistake in his or her job? How should they be accountable for that issue?
You’re not working if you’re not messing up. There is a reason that you learn more from valleys than hilltops. If you just started and everything came together, you wouldn’t learn much. You own that mistake, store it in your mind, and make sure it never happens again.
How has teamwork allowed you to grow as an employee?
I have received accolades during my time at Pantex, but none of them are possible without my construction management and project management team. I don’t think any of us can perform any of these tasks without each other. We all bring different strengths to the projects, and without each other we would not be successful. There are a lot of minds put together to work on these unique facilities.
Who in your life has inspired you the most and why?
My dad has always been the person who inspired me most. He was everything you needed him to be when you needed it. I watched him get up every day and go to work. As kids we didn’t have a lot, but he worked all the time, with a daily job and then side jobs. He was always my biggest fan, too. Without question, he just always seemed to know what I needed.