While at Purdue, Coffey was voted and awarded “Senior of the Year” out of 375 students by his peers and professors in the construction department. Purdue is where he learned the value of hands-on experience. Taking what he had learned at Purdue, Coffey managed multi-million- to-billion-dollar projects while at Gilbane Building Co. and Fluor Corp. His learned expertise at some of the world’s largest engineering and construction companies helped him to hone his skills to become recognized for his insight in the construction and engineering industry. This success gave him the impetus to strike out on his own, founding TEC Management Consultants Inc. in 1988.
TEC Management Consultants Inc. is an industry leader in the field of real estate development, construction and engineering. But he didn’t stop there. Coffey’s hard work and effort have been locally recognized by being awarded the 2012 Minority Construction Firm of the Year by the mayor of Los Angeles. He also received the 2012 Supplier of the Year through the Southern California Minority Supplier Development Council. Coffey is an in-demand motivational speaker, and in 2010 he started the S.T.E.P.U.P. Program (Student Training Entrepreneur Program for Unlimited Potential) in Richmond, Indiana, to provide summer jobs and entrepreneur training for students.
This was originally written for the Distinguished Technology Alumni Awards in 2013.