The Founders Award

Each year we honor employees who consistently go above and beyond the day-to-day expectations and deliver exceptional performance on the job, amongst their peers, and in the community. The Founders Award was created to provide the name and physical recognition for those whom this award is bestowed upon yearly. We chose the name Founders Award as it reaches back to a time when the two original owners of Coakley & Williams Construction (CWC), Neil Coakley and Fred Williams, had established and handed out this same award to their employees when our company was first established by them in 1961. Neil and Fred, through their vision and commitment to building a brand and a company, put forth the ideals we hold true to today.

This year we recognize two individuals who epitomize our corporate values of service, mentorship, commitment, success, and trust just to name a few.

Abou Haidara

Our first honoree is CWC IT Manager, Abou Haidara. Abou epitomizes the qualities we wish to promote in our company: unparalleled customer service, complete dedication to his craft, unfailingly pleasant and courteous to all he meets, highly competent, and creative and forward-thinking.

Abou has a passion for learning, he is constantly looking for solutions to our operational demands and helps us work most efficiently. He has embraced the impact he is having working with the field teams to improve their efficiencies through the use of technology and has thoroughly enjoyed working with the field teams. Abou has made jobsite visits a priority to better assess the IT needs and to learn more about what we do. Abou’s pointed involvement in resolving our onsite technology demands has been tremendous in helping us grow and build our relationships with all project stakeholders. Join us in celebrating Abou as a 2019 Founders Award recipient. Thank you, Abou, for all that you do for all of us.

Barbara Price

Our second honoree is CWC Project Manager, Barbara Price. She is a cheerleader inside and outside of CWC. Barbara leads and participates in OSHA training, participates in various committees to improve our work environment and is always willing to help. A couple comments made by CWC team members is that Barbara is “trustworthy“ and “has a positive can-do attitude”.

Outside of CWC, Barbara is active in CREW DC serving on various committees and the most important example is her work with the Phelps High School in DC. This high school has an Architecture, Construction and Engineering program. These students, in addition to their standard program, take part in programs about the AEC industry. She is on the advisory board and future-ready committee. With this school, Barbara has developed an intern program students use on our CWC projects. Congratulations, Barbara!

Learn more about our team: