Kaufman Lynn Construction, Inc.

Chris Long has over 25 years experience in both estimating and construction management of multimillion-dollar projects in a variety of market sectors, including education, hospitality, office, retail and multifamily.

During his tenure with Kaufman Lynn Construction, he has overseen several projects for key clients, including Florida Atlantic University and Broward College and has led Kaufman Lynn Construction’s commitment to enhancing overall service excellence. Chris joined Kaufman Lynn Construction from Balfour Beatty Construction, where he was Operations Director. His previous responsibilities included project management of all education-related projects located throughout the Southeast region of Florida, managing an annual revenue in excess of $50M per year.

As COO Chris provides company-wide leadership, strategy, and management oversight. He leads the operations of the company, reviewing, refining and monitoring all policies, procedures, and systems to achieve consistent operational excellence.

Derek Wolfhope has expertise in site development construction including both heavy site contractors, and community developers, with an interest in expanding management experience into the commercial sector. His experience includes managing all site development construction activities including site plan design, entitlement and permitting, budget development and management, schedule development and management, project start-up, negotiation of contracts and scopes, coordination of contractors, public utilities design and coordination, municipality acceptance and final turn-over of project. Maintains continuous involvement at every point in the construction process and is responsible to all subcontractors, engineers, owners, and municipalities.

Elaine is responsible for the planning, development and implementation of Kaufman Lynn’s integrated marketing activities including branding, graphic design, advertising, public relations, proposal development, internal communications, media relations, web development and social media. She leads a team of marketing professionals who ensure that effective, coordinated integrated strategies are in place to support the goals of this fast-growing, multi-regional construction company, while enhancing image and brand value in all markets.

Prior to joining Kaufman Lynn, Elaine was a member of the marketing and communications team at Florida Power & Light Company and previously was director of corporate communications with Lockheed Martin Corporation for more than a decade.

Elaine has been an active member of the Public Relations Society of America since 2000 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications and Journalism from James Madison University in Virginia.

“As our portfolio continues to grow beyond south Florida, it is necessary for us to continue to identify opportunities to improve, innovate and deliver excellence in what we do for each other and our clients.  Bolstering our brand and strengthening the quality of our messaging goes hand in hand with our operational focus,” said Kaufman Lynn Construction Chief Executive Officer Mike Kaufman.

Frank White is a seasoned construction executive and accomplished bilingual business professional with a proven record of success managing over $1.6 billion in projects. In 2018 he was named President of KL, responsible for leading the day-to-day operations of the full-service construction company.

His portfolio includes office, retail, medical, airport, K-12 and historical projects with an expanded resume of commercial multifamily projects. He has successfully directed, from conceptual site planning and budgeting, through design, to turnover and occupancy, over 20,000 multifamily units including apartments, townhome communities, and condominium/mixed-use retail projects throughout Florida using such construction methods as tunnel form, conventional masonry and concrete, wood framing and prefabricated concrete panels.

Frank is responsible for providing the leadership and guidance of the entire life cycle of all construction projects. Accountable for the business development, constructability analysis, budgeting, planning, estimating, purchasing, scheduling, cost management, project management, quality control and ensuring positive client, subcontractor, and KL staff relations. From site selection to turnover and delivery to management, he will lead the project team to create and deliver a financially successful and quality project for KL’s clients.

Garret Southern is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience in the construction industry. He started with Kaufman Lynn as a Project Manager and quickly moved up the ranks as one of our leaders.

He graduated from University of Florida with a degree in Building Construction and continued a legacy of a career in construction started by his grandfather two generations ago. Prior to joining Kaufman Lynn he worked for Balfour Beatty and was responsible for several projects at Florida Atlantic University, including the Innovation Village dorms, as well as projects for Palm Beach State College, City of Miramar and various office tower projects.

In his role, Jeff Zalkin seeks to expand Kaufman Lynn’s reach within the public, institutional, and nonprofit sectors.

Prior to joining the team at KL, Jeff has held positions with Balfour Beatty Construction focusing on Southeast and Southwest Florida, and most recently worked at Pirtle Construction focusing on South and Central Florida. Jeff has been involved in the selection and construction of projects such as the FAU Football Stadium, Miramar Police Headquarters, UCF Colbourn Hall and the MDCPS MAST Academy on Key Biscayne.

Jeff is a former president of the Society of Marketing Professional Services and the Design-Build Institute of America South Florida Chapter. He earned his bachelor’s degree in advertising from the University of Florida, his master’s degree in business administration from Florida International University and a Certificate of Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. He currently holds a LEED accreditation.

Joshua M. Atlas, Esq. brings over 15 years of legal and construction experience and serves as KL’s chief legal officer responsible for the company’s legal affairs in Florida, North Carolina, and Texas.

Atlas, who is Board Certified in Construction Law by the Florida Bar, was most recently a partner in the West Palm Beach office of Saul, Ewing, Arnstein & Lehr, LLP, and served as the Vice Chair of the firm’s Construction Practice Group. Throughout his career, Atlas has represented contractors and developers in both litigation and transactional matters, including trying construction claims in state and federal court and negotiating complex construction and design agreements for residential and commercial projects. Atlas received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School.

Michael Kaufman founded Kaufman Lynn Construction in 1989 with three employees, including himself. Since then, he has grown his company into one of the largest and most successful construction companies in South Florida with operations in North Carolina and Texas.

He has worked on and managed projects ranging from retail interiors and renovation projects to public safety buildings, retirement communities and corporate complexes. As CEO, Michael is focused on the company’s regional growth, client satisfaction and the company brand.

Michael is a member of many construction industry related organizations including the Construction Association of South Florida and the Florida East Coast Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). As a testament to his business acumen, Michael was a Finalist for the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Florida Award in 2012, 2013, and 2015. He was awarded the 2009 Excalibur Award – Palm Beach County Small Business Leader of the Year by the Sun Sentinel and a Lifetime Achievement Award and 2008 Ultimate CEO for Palm Beach County from the South Florida Business Journal. He has been listed on Florida Trend magazine’s Florida 500 list and was named a 2020 Power Leader by the South Florida Business Journal.  Over the past 10 years, Kaufman Lynn Construction has received numerous Craftsmanship Awards from the Construction Association of South Florida, a dozen Golden Eagle awards for Quality Construction from Associated Builders and Contractors, awards from the Design Build Institute of America and a national award from ENR magazine as a “Best of the Best” top projects in the United States for the historic restoration of the Freedom Tower in Miami.

Michael serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, and is a board member of the FAU Foundation, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, The Executive Quorum and as a Trustee of the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce.  He is a member of the United Way Tocqueville Society, the Florida Council of 100, and Broward Workshop.  He donates his time and support to several industry, community and nonprofit organizations including the George Snow Scholarship Fund.

Neil Carson brings over 20 years experience of developing a multitude of residential and commercial projects. He is a seasoned multifamily development executive with a tremendous depth of industry knowledge and deal-making creativity.

Neil has a track record of proven success developing projects in the multifamily, mixed-use, senior living, retail, single-family residential, country club and hospitality sectors. At Kaufman Lynn Construction, Neil is responsible for conducting new business opportunity assessments and identifying new trends in multifamily construction and development. He reports directly to the CEO and works closely with our entire construction team including pre-construction services, operations, and finance. Neil regularly interfaces with the team to manage and plan the various efforts needed to support each stage of a construction project including strategic planning, estimating, bidding, contracting, all the way to project completion. Our clients leverage Neil’s experience and industry relationships as a successful development executive with a large national developer to assist their efforts in the areas of land acquisition, project debt and equity funding, land/project due diligence (including entitlement/permitting issues) and thorough market/product analysis.

Sam Doggart has over 30 years of experience in healthcare, educational, commercial and institutional construction throughout Florida.

Sam joined Kaufman Lynn Construction from M.J. Harris, Inc. where he was Vice President of Operations for the state of Florida. He previously was a senior vice president at Skanska Building USA, Inc and Vice President of Operations at Walbridge Aldinger overseeing an average of over $200 million in revenue annually.

In his previous role as Vice President and Managing Director of Healthcare, Sam recruited and led a team of healthcare construction professionals and provided oversight and direction to each on-site project team emphasizing overall accountability, quality, scheduling for timely completions, project organization, and financial reporting.

As EVP, Preconstruction he manages the estimating department and coordinates closely with the business development and operations teams to assure continuity and accuracy of cost estimates and construction budgets.

For more than 40 years Stephen has worked as the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for various large commercial construction and real estate development companies; and the President of a luxury residential builder. He has been integrally involved with every facet of these businesses. Stephen is an experienced professional with strong expertise in the construction and real estate industries in the areas of operational and financial management, accounting and taxation, financial job cost reporting, operational and capital budgeting, finance, acquisitions and treasury management. He was the South Florida Business Journal’s 2009 CFO of the Year.

As part of the Kaufman Lynn executive team, Stephen provides company-wide leadership and advises the CEO on overall strategic direction and recommendations on key business decisions. Stephen works across KL’s business units to drive best-in-class financial reporting and performance while systematically enhancing the Company’s accounting, operations, and reporting platforms.

Doug Simms has nearly 30 years of accounting and financial management experience, including 20 years in the construction industry. He started in 1994 as a controller for C.F. Jordan Construction in El Paso, Texas. Four years later, he moved to Florida to join Balfour Beatty Construction, then known as Centex Rooney, where he advanced from Controller to Vice President of Finance and ultimately to CFO. During his fifteen-year tenure at Balfour Beatty Construction, he managed a finance and accounting staff of up to 26, and managed risk programs for projects in Florida, California, North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, Hawaii, Bahamas, and Trinidad. As a member of the executive team, his focus was on maintaining internal controls as the division grew from $250M to $800M.

Most recently, he established an annual budgeting process, segment reporting, and reorganized the accounting department at Golden Sands General Contractors in anticipation of doubling revenue.

As CFO, Doug is responsible for all aspects of the accounting and financial functions of Kaufman Lynn Construction including developing and maintaining effective accounting, financial and treasury systems as well as maintaining the relationships with the accounting firm, law firms, financial institutions, lenders, and bonding company.