Tina Sanchez fondly remembers the focal point of her education. She was a typical Jacksonville, Florida, junior high school student with murky aspirations. Then Mr. Gerding came into her academic life.

The ninth-grade math teacher brought out the best in Sanchez, who is now a Regional Director of Design for Haskell and one of three Q1 2026 Living the Values Award winners.

“It kind of just happened,” Sanchez said. “I wasn’t interested in math. But Mr. Gerding made Algebra fun – like working a puzzle, and I loved being able to solve it. If I could find Mr. Gerding today, I would let him know. He had a system in place for seating in his classroom where those with the highest grades sat in the very front. He turned it into a competition, and that motivated me.”

Sanchez sped up the academic ladder from there as the first person in her family to attend college. She earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of North Florida in 1998 and immediately joined Haskell.

“Tina remains fully engaged in the needs of our design team across the Eastern United States, ensuring that every team member is supported, empowered and given the opportunity to do the

best work of their careers,” Senior Electrical Associate Yovannia Gamez wrote in her nomination. “She is a true advocate for all Haskell employees – regardless of discipline, department, or location – and consistently champions an environment of collaboration and respect.”

The Living the Values Award goes to team members who consistently display Haskell’s core values of Team, Excellence, Service and Trust.

“Haskell’s motto is that we build things that matter,” Sanchez said. “Whether it be healthcare, education, data centers or industrial type buildings, everything touches the community, and I love the synergistic team efforts that go into that.”

Sanchez cites two proton therapy builds – one in San Diego and another in downtown Baltimore – as examples of challenging and rewarding projects where she was a part of the team. Those projects came about 14 years into her 28-year professional career.

“These buildings, because of what they house, were challenging,” Sanchez said. “They had 16-foot concrete walls, and we had to model our conduits to have at least two 90-degree bends to protect against neutron leakage (radiation escape). That was some crazy work we went through; we don’t ordinarily have to do electrical modelling to that extent. I went to the site several times to coordinate with utility providers in downtown Baltimore, where we had to deal with old existing underground infrastructure. We had no hiccups, and it turned out to be one of the most beautiful projects I have been involved with.”

Another challenging and one of Haskell’s most successful EPC jobs was the HP Hood P14 project in Winchester, Virginia, where she led the team as Project Design Director. That project was recently recognized as Construction Project of the Year for a mid-size project. About the same time, she received the Engdahl Award, given annually for leadership and design excellence.

Sanchez’s busy work schedule doesn’t outpace her off-work slate. She is a former Haskell United Way co-chair and ACE Mentor and participates in Big Brothers Big Sisters and various fundraising and charity events.

“I’m extremely humbled by receiving this honor,” she said. “Now I need to get off my rear end and nominate some people who are overdue to get this honor. We have a lot of people who impact communities and should win this award. We’ll never run out of people.”

Mr. Gerding would surely be proud.