Joined Ames: 1992
Position: Project Superintendent, Southwest
For Steve Martin and Ames, the second time was the charm.
Ames entered the Utah market with the Intermountain Power Plant project in Delta in 1982, and Steve graduated from high school the same year. Steve soon applied to work for Ames in Utah but was turned down. He took other construction jobs and attended college instead.
By 1992, Ames was expanding rapidly in Utah and Nevada. Steve applied again, and this time he was hired by Les Steffes to work at Kennecott. He’s been with Ames ever since.
Steve did a little of everything over the years, including driving a side dump truck and operating equipment. A couple years after joining Ames, he was one of two operators to travel with an Ames team to Uzbekistan to support a Newmont Gold mining project—Ames’ first international job. He recalls the poverty in the mining city of Zarafshan following the collapse of communism and says there were “no frills” about the living conditions. When the man camp ran out of room, Steve and other Ames folks were put up in apartments two miles away. They walked the distance every day because in the city of 80,000 people, there were only two cars—Mercedes that belonged to the Russian mafia.
“It was neat to go over there, but I kissed the ground when I got back.”
Steve has enjoyed seeing Ames get bigger and more diversified over the years. At the same time, he’s glad he got to be a part of Ames while the founding family members were still involved in the day-to-day work of the company.
“There were so many challenging jobs, but Ames is always behind you, and they had trust in you.”
Steve is planning to get out of the heat of the southwest and enjoy retirement in Montana, where he is originally from.