Kurt Schmitt accepting
the Pinnacle Award
for Lifetime Achievement
Kurt Schmitt of Lincoln Construction was honored during the 2017 AGC of Ohio Build Ohio awards program on November 3rd at the Hilton Columbus Easton at Easton Town Center.
In front of a crowd of more than 350 people, Kurt was surprised with the Pinnacle Award for Lifetime Achievement, only the fourth recipient of this momentous award. J. D. Flaherty of Construction Systems, a previous Pinnacle Award recipient, presented the honor to Kurt Schmitt.
Kurt served as the AGC of Ohio president in 1990 and has been and remains active in AGC at the local, state and national levels. He was the Central Ohio AGC president in 1986 and is an AGC of America Lifetime Director.
The Associated General Contractors thanks Kurt for his continued commitment and is proud to honor him with the Pinnacle Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Kurt N. Schmitt
When Kurt started with Lincoln in 1973, he immediately recognized that prevailing industry practices left much for clients to desire. What was clear then was that construction managers and contractors believe that their only function is construction. He saw that companies acted as middlemen-taking the plans from an architect and building the project per spec with little understanding of the clients' expectations.
In short, construction was the only priority-helping clients get the most from their building program was not.
Kurt knew that Lincoln could do more, and built our process around providing a better experience for our clients. He made our primary focus the development of client relationships. Kurt knew that taking the time to understand our clients' needs, challenges, and goals would allow Lincoln to be a partner, not just a builder.
Today, Lincoln provides leadership and advocacy to our clients throughout a project, while the importance of our approach to owners is demonstrated through the number of long-term client relationships that we maintain and the half-billion in work that we have accomplished.
Kurt's primary role at Lincoln is to provide guidance and vision for employees, and to ensure that our approach continues to make a meaningful difference to our clients.
In his own words: "I think a recent comment from one of our long-term clients speaks to how we contribute to our clients' success. He said: 'Kurt, you guys are more worried about our money than we are-I never thought I would say that, but it's true.'
To me, this is what building relationships is about. It's listening and learning from our clients, defining success around meeting their challenges, and then being a resource to ensure that they achieve their goals. There is nothing more exciting to me than dedicating ourselves to a client and building a level of trust that results in a twenty-year relationship. That's fun."