Tag Archives: Arizona construction

Kitchell executive elected vice president of healthcare engineering association

The Central Arizona Society for Healthcare Engineering (CASHE) has elected Steve Whitworth, project director for Kitchell’s Healthcare Division, to the board as vice president. CASHE is a non-profit organization with a mission to develop knowledge and expertise in hospital engineering and related disciplines.

“It is a great honor to be elected to the CASHE board, to foster collaboration between our healthcare industry clients and peers. We all benefit from more advanced healthcare facilities in our community, both personally and professionally, and it’s rewarding to be able to make an impact on something so important,” Whitworth said.  

Previously Whitworth served as head of the Education Committee where he developed the education curriculum for 2009 and arranged for speakers at each monthly session. 

CASHE members come from a wide range of disciplines including facilities maintenance and operations; plant engineering; clinical and biomedical engineering; technology management; planning, design and construction; safety; and security management. Whitworth joins the CASHE board with newly elected president Nick Dalba, secretary Bill Sheeley, treasurer Chris Jacobson as well as three new members-at-large and several committee chairs. 

Other Kitchell CASHE members include Ryan Hook, Dave Lane, Dick Crowley (who is a former chair of the sponsorship committee), and Michael Wolfe.

Kitchell promotes healthcare construction executive

After having his hand in the construction of hundreds of hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout the southwest, Dan Pierce has been promoted to senior vice president at Kitchell.

“Dan is the consummate leader with a unique blend of humor, intellect and resolve,” said Kitchell Contractors President Mike Rock. “He knows how to develop great teams, sharing his entrepreneurial energy when necessary but also, as is the case with all great managers, he knows when to step aside.”

Pierce joined Kitchell 30 years ago, right out of college, as a project engineer. Since his first project, St. Luke’s Hospital in Phoenix, he has advanced through the company from project manager through vice president, Healthcare Division, and has been directly involved in thousands of projects.

Pierce has demonstrated strong and steady leadership throughout his tenure at Kitchell and has been instrumental in building the company’s healthcare division, nurturing the medical technology planning division, Facilities Development Inc., and expanding the Virtual Construction group.

“We depend on Dan to ask the tough questions and to address challenges from all perspectives – nothing slips by him. This characteristic, along with his decades-long experience at Kitchell, makes him a tremendous asset to the company and I look forward to working alongside him for many more years to come,” Rock said.

As senior vice president, Pierce will bring lessons-learned and success strategies honed building the company’s health care division to the rest of the company.

With a bachelor’s degree in construction from Arizona State University, Pierce is involved in many organizations including the American Society for Healthcare Engineering, Healthcare Forum, Healthcare Administrators Forum, and the American Hospital and Health Association.  He is an ASHE Certified Healthcare Builder and member of the Leadership Development Forum of the Arizona Building Alliance.  Pierce played a lead role in helping establish the construction management program and its curriculum at Northern Arizona University.  From 2000 to 2005, Pierce was a board member of the Foundation for Blind Children in Phoenix.