Women in Construction: Cristina Gutierrez’s Path from Intern to Superintendent at RO

Cristina Gutierrez started at Rogers-O’Brien as an intern in 2016. In March, she became a superintendent. She is the first woman at RO to make the full climb from intern to super, and the only woman currently holding the title.

Cristina never planned a career in construction. She just wanted to graduate high school early.

Loading up on electives her sophomore year, she got bumped into woodshop, the only class still open. She was not thrilled.

“I was not happy about it. And then after a week, I was like, ‘oh, this is fun’,” Cristina said.

When it came time to pick a college major, the pieces connected: construction, math, engineering. She enrolled at Texas A&M Commerce (now East Texas A&M) on scholarship and graduated with a degree in construction engineering in 2017.

An internship that stuck

At a student construction association meeting at A&M Commerce, Cristina met Cary Hughes, an alum of the program and now RO’s Senior Vice President in Dallas. She asked him about an internship. Cary hired her on the spot.

“She stood out because of her confidence and genuine interest in construction. She came highly recommended by her professors as a student with potential. She had the drive and attitude we were looking for in interns, which made it an easy decision to bring her on,” Cary Hughes, Senior Vice President, Dallas.

Her first assignment was CoreLogic, where one of her project managers was Billy Large, now RO’s Project Director for Mission Critical. Billy noticed the same thing Cary had.

“Cristina did not conduct herself like an intern. She jumped in and worked like she was already a full-time employee. She had a knack for asking the right questions to get her tasks done, and she was efficient. She got along well with the RO staff on site and with our trade partners,” Billy Large,  Project Director, Mission Critical.

When the summer ended, Cristina stayed on part-time through her senior year. She was on site at HarborChase Southlake, an assisted living project, the weekend she graduated.

“I was at work Friday. I graduated Saturday. I went back to work Monday.”

Cristina walked from her last class into TCO inspections on a building headed for the finish line.

Learning the work

Cristina came up on smaller jobs with lean teams, which meant more responsibility earlier. On her first post-internship project, she was the only project engineer (PE) and that setup shaped how she thinks about the industry.

“The construction industry is really big, but it’s also very small. I got put on a job recently with the mason foreman from my first project. I hadn’t seen him in ten years. He said, ‘Oh, I showed her what this is.’ It builds trust. They know I know what I’m doing because they’re the ones who showed me.”

Her advice to new PEs is short and specific:

• Ask questions in the field, not just in the office.
• Accept help when it’s offered. Take it as training.
• Stay humble. You’re equal players.
• Don’t have shame. Walk up to the guys and ask what they’re doing and why.

That instinct to ask why is something Shane Kuhlman noticed early. Kuhlman, now a senior superintendent, had Cristina on his team as an office engineer, then quality manager and became her mentor. When the RO mentorship program paired people up, she asked for him by name.

“Cristina was dependable, detail-oriented, and eager to understand not just how things were done, but why they were done that way. She embraced feedback, viewed challenges as learning opportunities, and consistently applied what she learned,” Shane Kuhlman,  Senior Superintendent.

The part they worked on together was confidence. Early on, Kuhlman pushed her to speak up in the field and trust what she already knew.

The career path

After CoreLogic and Harbor Chase, Cristina moved to Highland Park Presbyterian Church as quality manager. That role is the one she talks about with real affection.

“The coordination of the QM role is so much fun. The drawings, the mock-ups, the final product. If the design isn’t right, you sit down with the architect and engineers and figure it out together. I loved it.”

“She told me during her first internship that she wanted to be a superintendent. I thought she’d lean toward the project manager role over time. She never deviated. That kind of focus isn’t something you see every day, and it showed me she was serious about building a career in the field,” Hughes said.

Along the way, Cristina’s work has earned recognition outside of RO. She was named the Construction Worker of the Year – Woman by the Regional Hispanic Contractors Associations.

Bringing the team with her

Ask Cristina what matters most about how she runs work, and the answer is communication.

Cristina is bilingual, and she uses it every day on site. She credits it as one of the biggest reasons she has been able to lead her crews the way she has.

“A lot of these guys spent years learning English. They’re bilingual now. Put the effort in and learn some Spanish too. You’ll both be embarrassed together, so it’s fine.”

On site, Cristina pulls her PEs and QMs into field conversations in Spanish on purpose, so they can catch words, ask questions, and build their own relationships with the foremen. It’s a habit she’s kept up since she was a QM.

“It got rid of a lot of miscommunication. It built relationships with my trades. A ‘how are you’ in their own language goes a long way with these guys. It earned me a lot of respect.”

That respect doesn’t always show up on day one. When Cristina walks onto a site mid-project, she still gets tested. She looks younger than most supers. She’s a woman on a crew of men. New trades will route their first questions to her PEs and QMs before coming to her. Cristina doesn’t take it personally. She just waits.

“They’ll go to the guys first, and the guys won’t have the answer. Then they come to me. After one or two times, they come to me directly. I’ve never had to fight a trade about respecting me as a super.”

Kuhlman saw the same thing from the outside. He says the moment he knew Cristina would make superintendent was watching her earn the foremen’s respect.

“When she spoke, people listened, not because of her title, but because she had established credibility through her knowledge, preparation, and professionalism. She learned how to be assertive while remaining respectful.” Kuhlman said.

Cristina credits the mentors who redirected trades back to her when she was coming up. Now she does the same for the PEs and QMs on her team.

What the promotion means

To learn more about internships at RO, visit r-o.com/internships.