Featuring dane lind, project Manager assistant
Recently at a jobsite in Tucson, Project Manager Assistant Dane Lind observed as crews carefully set a series of precast slabs into place over a canal. Piece by piece, the structure came together in a kind of quiet choreography—cranes lifting, crews guiding, everything aligning exactly as designed. For Dane, it was something more familiar, but no less satisfying.
“I still enjoy seeing it all come together,” he says. “That’s one of the things that’s kept me in this industry all these years—you can actually see what you’ve worked on. You can drive on it. You can point to it and say, ‘I had something to do with that.’”
Dane grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and attended a hands-on high school where drafting, wood, metal, and welding shop classes were central to the curriculum.
“It was a high school with a school board made up of farmers,” Dane recalls. “They believed students should learn trades, so if they took over the family farm, they’d know what to do.”
After graduation, he moved through a series of practical jobs, including work at a crop-dusting operation and a furniture company. It was at the furniture company that his interest in drafting began to take shape.
“While I was working there, they asked if I wanted to become a lumber grader,” Dane says. “At the time there were very few certified lumber graders in the United States, but it wasn’t something that interested me. They asked what I would be interested in, and I said that I really liked drafting. They moved me into the drafting department to start drawing parts for furniture.”
A call from his former high school drafting teacher soon led to an opportunity at a local architectural precast company, which marked the start of his career in the industry.
He entered the precast industry in 1978 with Precast Concrete Specialties (PCS) in Omro, Wisconsin. In January 1982, Dane moved to Casa Grande, Arizona, where he joined a newly opened PCS branch serving Phoenix and Tucson and became the office’s first draftsman. He remained with PCS until May 1985, when he took on a brief six-month stint with Tpac. Later that year, in November, he returned to Wisconsin for family reasons, spending 12 months with Bublitz Inc., a prestressed/precast plant in Green Bay. In November 1986, he relocated back to Arizona and has remained with Tpac ever since. Over the years, his responsibilities evolved from drafting into quality control, purchasing, and project oversight—well before formal project management roles were defined.
Dane’s work has touched some of the region’s most recognizable projects, from Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to major sports venues like Honda Center, Chase Field, and the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. He later expanded his experience working with general contractors on large infrastructure efforts, including highway and bridge projects across the western U.S..
Today, as a Project Manager Assistant, Dane focuses primarily on DOT work—bridges, girders, and deck slabs—while also serving as a steady resource for others on the team.
It’s a role that suits him. Across decades in the industry, Dane has become known for his adaptability—stepping in wherever needed, whether that means reviewing drawings, tracking materials, supporting project teams, or mentoring newer employees.
“When someone needs to fill a gap, I’m usually that guy,” he says.
Outside of work, Dane keeps busy in quieter ways—spending time at home, working on projects around the house, and heading north to a remote property tucked miles down a dirt road. Earlier in life, he rebuilt engines and transmissions; these days, he sticks to the essentials, but the instinct to work with his hands hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s the same instinct that’s guided his career from the beginning: a willingness to learn, to adapt, and to stay close to the work itself. After nearly five decades in the industry, it’s still what keeps him coming back each day.