Chris Hawkins is President and CEO of Hawkins Construction Company, a fourth-generation Midwest leader in heavy civil, transportation, and industrial construction. He graduated from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in 2004 and earned his law degree from Creighton University in 2007. Chris started his career at Hawkins as a laborer in high school and later served as General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer before assuming his current role in 2021.

Active in the construction industry, Chris served as President of the AGC Nebraska Chapter in 2014. He is a board member of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, which named him its 2021 Trailblazer of the Year.

Chris played a central role in building the Lincoln South Beltway, Nebraska’s largest ever highway project. Working with state leadership, he helped develop a first-of-its-kind build-finance model that allowed the project to advance years ahead of its original schedule. Despite historic market disruption in 2020, financing and construction remained on budget, ultimately opening 6 months early.

Under Chris’ leadership, Hawkins has successfully developed alternative delivery expertise, including CM/GC and design-build methods. Additionally, Hawkins started multiple new businesses including Infrawise, specializing in infrastructure management and Raven Materials, a hot-mix asphalt producer. He has led the company’s merger and acquisition efforts and pushed Hawkins to invest in materials research and construction technology, including patented equipment to manufacture Carbonated Aggregate™, developed by Hawkins's sister company Talon Innovations.

Intensely competitive, Chris’ work at Hawkins has focused on innovation, workforce training and engagement, expanding the company’s footprint, and modernizing project delivery. As a fourth-generation leader of Hawkins, Chris places particular emphasis on the company’s long-term leadership development, succession planning, and durable growth as an independent family business for future generations.

Chris serves as Chairman of the Nebraska Game and Parks Foundation and on the boards of Bellevue University, the Greater Omaha Chamber, and the Westside Foundation. He also supports numerous civic and youth organizations, including Boys & Girls Clubs and Offutt Air Force Base as an Honorary Commander.

Chris and his wife, Kayla, live in Omaha and have four sons, Jack, Colin, Hunter and Ben. In his free time, he enjoys golf, hunting, skiing, traveling, reading history, and rooting on his favorite sports teams.