Francisco Castellon
Francisco Castellon has a philosophy that guides his daily routine:
“I’m laying a foundation of people, not just pipe.”
Francisco, also known as “Paco,” has been with William A. Hazel for 23 years. He’s currently a Pipe Foreman, leading a crew that installs sewer/sanitary, storm sewer, and drinking water pipe.
Before coming to work here, Francisco worked in construction, and as a bartender in a couple of restaurants, but he wanted something more stable.
“One of my cousins worked for William A. Hazel back then, he called me up and told me a position was available.” He had a wife and a young toddler to support, and faced one other significant barrier to gaining secure employment:
“I didn’t speak English very well back then,” he said. “These guys still gave me a chance, and now I’m a foreman. I’m forever grateful to God first, then to the company.”
As he moved up into leadership roles, he started thinking about how to help other employees in the same way he’d been helped.
“Every day I say, ‘Good morning’ to my guys, like I was raised. I want to make a personal connection with the people I’m leading, and even my supervisor. I want to be the one to ask, ‘How’s your family?’ and mean it.”
It’s become such a routine among his crew that sometimes they’ll come up to him at lunch and say, “Oh, I forgot to say, ‘Good morning!’”
“I want to make sure I’m teaching everyone in the crew,” he said, “and make sure everyone can do different stuff. That’s a benefit for the company and for me, so we have a lot of people in the same crew to do different work.”
And as a result? Two guys went to other companies to work as pipe foremen! “They’re over there shooting elevations, reading plans, doing all the construction things. One is even working for county government in Maryland!”
He beamed with pride.
When he’s not working, his favorite thing to do is spend time with his wife of 27 years, Jolanda. “She makes fun of me for it,” he laughed. “But I love to go shopping with her, or just take a drive through the countryside, looking at nature. You can understand why we don’t get to spend a lot of time together on the weekends.”
That’s because Francisco is also a pastor.
He’s been with a local Spanish-speaking Pentecostal church for 17 years. However, in the past three years, he has taken classes, and stepped up into leadership.
He & Jolanda have three children: Michael, age 24, Nelson, age 21, and Rachel, age 16. Michael even worked with Francisco on the site for a while, but only on a temporary basis. He’s studying engineering now, and his dad couldn’t be more proud.
There’s only one thing he would change.
“Ten or fifteen years ago, there were 40 pipe crews. Thirty-nine of them were led by Americans, and I was the only Hispanic.” Francisco hopes to show other Hispanic men that they too, can work their way up into management roles.
“They [William A. Hazel] give opportunities to the ones who want to step up to the next level,” he said. “Someday, I would love to look around a gathering of company foremen, and see other Hispanic guys there.”