DPR Construction (DPR), one of the nation’s leading technical builders focused on highly complex and sustainable projects, announces Mark Whitson as regional manager for the Raleigh-Durham region. Starting in 2001 as a self-perform work (SPW) carpenter, Whitson has built his career at DPR and is using his management and leadership expertise to bolster the expanding 100-plus employee operation.

“One of our aspirations is to hire, inspire, develop and grow the best people,” said Doug Woods, co-founder and leader of DPR’s Management Committee. “Mark’s history with DPR gives him a unique understanding of our business and our company culture – carefully designed and built to offer individuals the freedom and flexibility to take care of our customers and deliver great projects.”

Early in Whitson’s career, he was involved with an internal group for young leaders, which encouraged new ideas and fresh perspectives. “Having my voice heard only a few years out of college was pretty amazing and it made me feel empowered to do great things,” Whitson recalls.

Trained as a civil engineer with a construction focus, Whitson interviewed through DPR’s College Recruiting program from Purdue University. Whitson’s first assignment was to be a part of DPR’s (SPW) Drywall crew, “SPW opened my eyes to what we could do as a company.” said Whitson. “It helped form my focus and passion for self-perform work.” After his time with SPW, Whitson took on a project engineer role and began a $6 million fast-tracked data center project.

“All the projects in my career have served a higher purpose - from hospitals that provide great patient care to life science facilities that produce or develop products that change the way the world treats illness,” said Whitson. “I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on such significant projects for world-changing customers. I am looking forward to taking all that I’ve learned on my projects and applying that to our business as a regional manager.”

The Raleigh-Durham office first opened in 2008 to better serve existing customers in the areas surrounding Raleigh-Durham and neighboring states, including United Therapeutics, EMC, Facebook, American Red Cross, Duke University, and BiogenIdec. According to Whitson, a big focus for the region this year is to hire and develop a strong base of technical builders with specific market expertise to meet the growing demand for services on projects large and small. For example, the office recently added five healthcare-focused builders, each with decades of local experience.

“These new additions will help strengthen and supplement DPR’s local healthcare expertise helping us continue to deliver the same quality of service our life science and mission critical customers have come to expect from us,” said Whitson.

Additionally, the Raleigh-Durham office has also become an integral and indispensable ally to local communities, including DPR’s continued support of the John Avery Boys & Girls Club of Durham (JABGC), a non-profit that inspires and enables the youth of the Durham area to reach their full potential. DPR won the 2012 JABGC Outstanding Corporate Sponsor award and makes annual contributions to the organization through the DPR Foundation, as well as volunteers an average of 350 community initiative hours per year.

About DPR Construction

DPR Construction is a forward-thinking national general contractor and construction manager specializing in technically complex and sustainable projects for the advanced technology/mission critical, life sciences, healthcare, higher education and corporate office markets. Founded in 1990, DPR is a privately held, employee-owned company that has grown to a multi-billion-dollar organization with offices around the country, making it one of the largest general contractors in the nation and a great story of entrepreneurial success. It is currently ranked No. 10 on FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. For more information, visit http://www.dpr.com.