Gilbane Builds Chicago
Gilbane brings more than 150 years of Gilbane company leadership and proven expertise across the country to our work in Chicago, a city we have called home for more than four decades. We live here; we work here; we build here. We are creating economic opportunity and forging meaningful relationships – one hospital, one school, and one community-based project at a time. But it's not just the buildings that set Gilbane Chicago apart—it's the people. In our new profile series, Gilbane Builds Chicago, we look behind the curtain and share stories from the talented and diverse team that make it possible for us to build more than buildings.
Meet Santos Herrera, Senior Project Executive
Best of Both Worlds: Santos Herrera Combines Construction Know-How with Scientific Expertise
“You have to stay ahead of it. What's on the horizon in five years, 10 years, 20 years?”
When Senior Project Executive Santos Herrera talks shop with a life sciences client at Gilbane, he’s not just bringing 30 years of construction experience.
He’s also got the technical credentials to back up those decades of job site prowess.
Santos has degrees in biology and chemistry from St. Edward’s University, and for many years thought his career path would lead him to medicine. His grandmother had been diagnosed with diabetes when he was in high school, and the experience inspired him to learn more about the condition. Studying and treating the disease seemed like an interesting path forward, and that was his north star as he pursued a degree in the sciences.
After graduation, though, Santos discovered that he could pursue life sciences in an unconventional way.
“When I got out of school, there were not a lot of opportunities in the medical field based on what I wanted to do,” he said, “but semiconductor companies were booming. A large construction company in the U.S. reached out to say they were gaining traction in life sciences and needed someone with my background.”
Santos performed analytical testing for the semiconductor industry, testing air and wastewater and ensuring that clean rooms met the high standards of evaluators. From there, he worked across the life sciences, including advanced manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, to set up laboratories and production facilities, combining his scientific knowledge with his growing expertise in constructing these environments.
But construction wasn’t an entirely new experience for Santos. His father owned a construction business, and he grew up helping during the summer. He always loved the team-oriented dynamics of a job site.
“I enjoyed seeing my father's collaboration with the different contractors and his workers. I liked the energy,” he said.
Serving as a project executive in the life sciences sector is the best of both worlds.
“Where I landed was almost 50/50,” he said. “I’m still dealing with construction, but at the same time, it’s more related to the medical industry.”
At Gilbane, Santos doesn’t exclusively work in life sciences, but it’s the part of his portfolio he loves most. He still reads as much as he can from medical journals and articles about where the sector is headed, bringing that context to his projects and clients.
“I think many people tend to shy away when they hear ‘life sciences’ and ‘advanced manufacturing’ because of the complex nature. It is complex, but complexity is in every project, and that’s all part of what I consider my role in managing a project,” he said. “You have to stay ahead of it. What’s on the horizon in five years, 10 years, 20 years?”
For Santos, that horizon looks like even more work that combines his construction know-how and scientific expertise, as Gilbane continues to grow its life sciences portfolio in the Midwest.
