In 1986, Curt Sr, Curt Jr, and Mark Beeler started a construction company in Wisconsin with a simple but powerful premise: do what’s right, take care of people, and build something worth being proud of. Forty years later, that premise hasn’t changed. What has changed is the scale of our work, the expertise of our team, and the generation of family members now carrying that legacy forward.
At the heart of Beeler Construction today are three owners whose combined leadership shapes everything we do: President Dave Beeler, Chief Financial Officer Kim (Beeler) Peterson, and Chief Information Officer Chad Beeler. As family members, they grew up connected to this company long before they ever held a title in it. Their leadership story isn’t one of perfect alignment or identical thinking; instead, their complementary styles are the reason Beeler has not just survived 40 years in the commercial construction industry but thrived.
Where the Story Starts
Every family business carries the legacy of its origins. For Dave, Kim, and Chad, that legacy is something each of them feels clearly and takes very seriously.
For Kim, the responsibility is deeply personal. “Being part of a family-owned business means the work is personal,” she says. “It’s not just a company — it’s a legacy and a responsibility. The Beeler name represents our family, our reputation, and the way we treat people.” With 30 years of experience in management and ownership roles at Beeler, Kim has made it her mission to protect the principles the company was founded on while helping it modernize and scale for the next generation. “Sometimes I hold onto that foundation so tightly it can be to a fault,” she admits, “but it’s because I’m invested in preserving what makes Beeler, Beeler.”
Dave approaches that same foundation with a builder’s instinct, not just preserving what was passed down but actively seeking ways to extend it. His path to the presidency wound through masonry, carpentry, and small business ownership before arriving at the executive table, and that ground-level experience shapes how he leads to this day.
“Being part of a family-owned business means honoring the hard work and sacrifice that brought us to where we are today, while recognizing that it’s our responsibility to take it even further for the next generation,” he reflects. “It also means viewing our employees as an extension of our family — supporting them not just professionally, but personally when needed.”
Chad brings a perspective shaped by stewardship and long-term thinking. “I view it as a privilege, not a right,” he says of family ownership. “Being part of a family business means making decisions today that honor our past and create opportunities for the future.” This sentiment is shared by all three owners and captures the profound sense of responsibility not just to the business but to the trust placed in them by the generation before and the generation to come.
Three Different Leaders, One Shared Direction
Spend time with Dave, Kim, and Chad, and one thing becomes clear quickly. They are not the same leader. And that, it turns out, is exactly what makes Beeler’s leadership so effective.
Dave leads from a place of deep investment in people. “My leadership style is centered on helping others succeed,” he explains. “I define success not by what I accomplish myself, but by what I can help others accomplish.” He brings a high tolerance for risk, a bias toward bold decisions, and an unwavering belief that his job is to give the Beeler team the tools, clarity, and space they need to take ownership of their work and build their own reputations.
Kim is focused on the values and communication that hold an organization together through growth and change. As Dave builds the vision, Kim ensures that communication to the organization creates alignment. Her deep expertise in construction finance and legal operations, combined with three decades of watching this business evolve, gives her a perspective that is both protective and strategic.
“Reputation, trust, and transparency are the principles I feel most responsible for preserving,” she says. “Trust takes years to build and moments to lose.”
Chad’s leadership style bridges between the two. He describes his own style as that of a “balanced Executor and Guide”. He is focused on structure, clarity, and execution, while deeply committed to developing the people around him. “Dave operates as the Visionary, constantly pushing toward what’s next, while Kim protects and reinforces the foundation the company was built on,” Chad explains. “My role typically falls in between — turning ideas into actionable plans and helping people execute them well.” With a background in architectural engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and more than 18 years of industry experience, Chad bridges the gap between vision and operation, between tradition and the technology driving construction forward.
Together, the three describe a leadership dynamic that isn’t coincidental. It is the result of years of learning how to lead alongside each other.
“Our strengths create a well-rounded leadership team,” Chad says. “We cover vision, stability, and execution.”
Dave adds the broader view: “Some of us operate with a higher risk tolerance and are comfortable making bold moves, while others take a more analytical approach and carefully weigh the risks. Some decisions are driven primarily by profits and cash flow, while others are centered on people and culture. Together, that balance helps us make well-rounded decisions that consider both the numbers and the people behind them.” Kim puts it most directly: “The shared foundation keeps us aligned, and the different perspectives help us keep evolving.”
The Honest Part
Leading alongside family, Dave, Kim, and Chad will each tell you, is not without its challenges. Business decisions carry an emotional weight that doesn’t clock out at the end of the day, and maintaining real alignment, not just surface-level agreement, requires a level of communication, humility, and sustained effort that most organizational structures never have to reckon with.
“The hardest part is maintaining alignment at all times,” Dave says. “It requires communication, humility, and a willingness to listen.” Kim echoes it from her own vantage point. “Business decisions can feel personal, even when they shouldn’t. You have to work harder at communication, boundaries, and respect because the relationships matter outside of work too.”
But ask any of them whether they’d trade it, and the answer is the same.
“The part I wouldn’t trade is the trust and shared commitment,” Kim says. “We care about this company in a different way because it’s tied to our family and our name. Alignment creates a sense of loyalty and purpose that’s hard to replicate.” Dave describes it with characteristic directness. “There’s something powerful about taking something that was already great and working together to make it even better.” And for Chad, the reward is found in watching a family-built company mature and grow into a place “where future generations feel proud to work.”
What Forty Years Really Builds
Beeler Construction has spent four decades navigating complex commercial projects across healthcare, industrial, retail, senior living, and beyond. The company has expanded its geographic reach, deepened its technical capabilities, and earned a reputation for exceeding customer expectations with the kind of care that only people who treat every project as if their name were on it provide.
At Beeler, it is.
That’s the thing about family ownership that doesn’t show up in a project portfolio or a capability statement. It’s why our clients come back. It’s why our team talks about trust, reputation, and doing what’s right, not as aspirational values, but as the standard by which every decision gets made. When the name on the door is your own, and the legacy at stake is your family’s, then accountability runs deeper, relationships are more authentic, and the commitment to getting it right is something every client feels from the first conversation to the final walkthrough.
Ask each of them what principle has guided Beeler through forty years of growth, change, and challenge, and the answer is the same. Do what’s right and be a good person. Simple as that sounds, it is the thread that runs through every decision, every relationship, and every project the company has ever built.