Haskell Project Superintendent Charles McPherson grew up in the tiny town of Wanchese on Roanoke Island in North Carolina, where his parents were – and still are – commercial fishermen.

Beginning in middle school, McPherson spent his youth working on his parents’ boat.

“I owe them a lot,” he said. “They’re the ones who taught me about work ethic.”

By his early 20s, though, he was ready to apply that work ethic on dry land. In 2007, he decided he wanted to follow his passion for building things.

“I wanted to do construction,” he said. “I always enjoyed building things. You know, at that time, if I wasn’t working on trucks, you know, pulling engines out, putting them back together, I was making something else. I always enjoyed building things and making something new. It’s always been a passion.”

His passion collided with the Great Recession, but his persistence got him into his chosen field.

“We had a local county building that was under construction,” he said. “I pestered them until they hired me as a day laborer, and I worked my way up in that company. I was an assistant project manager, doing mostly federal work – training centers and healthcare. I traveled coast to coast.”

He made time to earn a degree in construction management at East Carolina University.

“I got smart quickly about the cost of things,” he said. “I completed 20-hour semesters and finished a four-year degree in two-and-a-half years.”

McPherson joined Haskell in 2017 after hearing from a former co-worker about the opportunities available.

His first project for Haskell was a training facility at Andrews Air Force Base, and he was the interior superintendent for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Sports Performance Center.

“That was a great learning experience,” he said. “I worked with (Vice President and Project Executive) Danny Parmenter and learned different ways to approach things and how to problem-solve.”

Most of his projects with Haskell have been in Healthcare.

“You produce a product that helps people’s quality of life,” he said. “It’s easy to see the result.”

One of his favorite projects was at BayCare Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harbor, Florida.

“It was a big project, with a parking garage, a five-story add-on and a CCU bed tower. There was something different every day.”

He’s currently a project superintendent in downtown Jacksonville, Florida, on the MD Anderson Infusion and Clinic buildout.

McPherson said he enjoys the culture of Haskell.

“I find that as a group, people at Haskell are very straightforward and caring,” he said. “Nobody is above anybody. It’s cohesive. Everyone wants to provide the best product and grow within the community.”

McPherson has volunteered to build houses for Habitat for Humanity.

“I had a lot of fun. You give people opportunities they didn’t have, and you learn about their situations.”

McPherson says that most of his spare time is spent with his wife, Leigh, and two teenage stepdaughters. When he’s not driving them to extracurricular activities, they enjoy visiting the beach and the mountains.

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