Locations
Walbridge
Key Contacts
Owners, Principals & Senior Executives
John Rakolta III's Bio
John Rakolta lll is President and Chief Administrative Officer of Walbridge and serves on the Board of Directors.
While safety is a priority for John, as exhibited through Walbridge’s exemplary record, his forward-thinking and disciplined approach also applies to every aspect of the vast Walbridge enterprise; most notably in the areas of emerging markets and real estate development.
As the first family member to serve as president of Walbridge in nearly three decades, John is proud of his third-generation status. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father, the family’s achievements motivate him to expand upon Walbridge’s legacy. Throughout John’s tenure, he has played a major role in the company’s market diversity, growth and financial performance by leading the expansion into the hyperscale data center market and brownfield redevelopment projects. John led the organization’s expansion into West Michigan and the revitalization of the Florida operations. In addition, John is advancing his father’s lifelong commitment of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion by championing distinct initiatives within Walbridge and the community.
With transparency being integral to John’s leadership, he promotes a culture of collaboration and innovation for his teammates. This empowering environment has created an energy that resonates with employees, suppliers and customers alike.
John is dedicated to serving his community and routinely volunteers at the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, where he serves on the Board of Directors. In addition, John is on the Board of Directors of MI-Community Bancorp, and serves on the Advisory Board of Weatherford Capital, a private equity firm based in Florida.
Prior to his time at Walbridge, John worked for the Athena Group; a New York based real estate development firm. He holds a B.S. in Building Construction Management from Purdue University, an M.S. in Real Estate Finance and Investment from New York University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Executive Leadership Development program.
Mike Haller's Bio
Michael Haller, P.E., is Chief Executive Officer for Walbridge, a full-service construction company, that was founded in Detroit in 1916. In 1973, Mike joined Walbridge as a co-op intern while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Detroit.
For more than 45 years, Mike has been an integral part and led Walbridge teams in the construction of hundreds of major projects in eight different countries and thirty-five different states. From 2013-2015, he served on-site as the lead executive in the construction of a 6 million-square-foot automotive manufacturing and supplier complex in Goiana, Brazil for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Constructed in approximately 22 months, the Complex was named as the Global Best Manufacturing Project in 2015 by Engineering News-Record. It is the largest single project built by Walbridge in the shortest amount of time.
Mike participated in labor relations and negotiations with the Building and Construction Trade Unions from 1984through 2010. He has been a contractor representative on the NMAPC since 1994. Mike also served as president of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Michigan in 1997.
Other
Lauren Rakolta's Bio
How do you lead a business to become the largest woman-owned integrated facilities management company in the U.S.? Well, DFM Solutions‘ owner, President, and CEO Lauren Rakolta did it by bringing energy, passion, enthusiasm, and commitment to every relationship she builds.
Of course, all this energy has to be put in the right direction, and that’s where Lauren’s keen eye for creative thinking and differentiating solutions comes in to set her and DFMS apart from others in her field. Where most major facilities management companies outsource their work, Lauren believes in the power of performing the work in house and cultivating the kind of ethic that can only be found in a multi-generational, family-owned business. This family culture extends beyond ownership to the DFMS employees, which features many extended families among them.
Before DFMS, Lauren was a senior advisor to numerous state and national political candidates and committees, and she continues to invest herself in the community, which includes serving on the board of The State of Michigan Children’s Trust Fund, United Way of Southeast Michigan, and Great Lakes Women’s Business Council.
Randy Abdallah's Bio
Every leadership team needs a “glass half full” guy, and the eternal optimist role suits Randy Abdallah to a tee. Randy is the head of Walbridge’s Get Work unit, which means exactly what it says. He gets work (or directs business development if you prefer something a bit more formal) and does so to the tune of about $1.5 billion in sales commitments from clients every year.
Randy has more than 40 years of construction industry experience, and he’s been bringing it to bear with us since 1997, during which time he’s overseen Walbridge office openings in São Paolo, Brazil; Dubai and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Doha, Qatar.
Randy is a graduate of the Construction Engineering Technology program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, Canada and the University of Texas’s Macomb School of Business Executive Training Program, and his knowledge of the industry is constantly growing as a member of the Construction Users Round Table, Engineering & Construction Contracting, and the Engineering Society of Detroit. In 2012, he served as Chairman of the Research Committee of the Construction Industry Institute and is a recipient of the organization’s Distinguished Service Award.
Beyond being of service to the construction community, Randy believes it’s equally important to serve the greater community, as evidenced by the work he does with the United Way.
He even likes to ply his trade at home, where he often spends his free time (not that he has much) working on home improvement projects.
Tom Dyze's Bio
A certain level of risk is inherent in any construction project. Minimizing the level of risk is Tom Dyze’s job.
Tom and his group are responsible for bonding, risk management, contracts, legal services, outside vendors, procurement and trademarks.
In 2013, Tom was named a Top Corporate Counsel in metropolitan Detroit by DBusiness magazine. The magazine polled more than 15,000 private attorneys in the Detroit area.
Tom joined Walbridge in 1995 as corporate attorney and was promoted in 2000 to Vice President and General Counsel. He earned a JD degree from the University of Detroit and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan.