Merit Matters

Claudia Johnson came to the United States at 14 as a refugee, and has been impacting her community for the better ever since. Her career as a nurse, including time at Western State Hospital, identified her passion for the underserved, and those individuals that the commonplace healthcare system was having difficulty helping. She has channeled that passion into building an enhanced services facility in Lakewood, Wa. Her facility will support individuals struggling within the mental health system to become self sufficient and independent, showing them they’ve had the power to do so all along. Her goal is to fill the gap that currently exists in our community within the mental health field. Merit is honored to be building her facility and help facilitate her cause!

Audrey Birklid sits down with Merit Principal, Tammy Birklid, to discuss all things Merit. They duo go over how the last 65 years has shaped how Merit does business today, as well as look forward to the Merit of the future. Tune in for our first podcast of 2022, our kick off to celebrating 65 years of Merit!

This month on our Merit Matters podcast we are doing a mini series on gratitude. At Merit, we believe gratitude plays a crucial role in our workplace, at home and as a whole. Merit's Principal, Tammy Birklid, recently sat down with some of our team members to discuss how they find ways to implement gratitude into their work and personal lives, and what benefits they see from doing so.

On this episode, our Equipment Manager, Miles Langer, joins Tammy to discuss how he finds ways to cultivate a culture of gratitude within the workplace and in his personal life by getting to know people on a personal level and creating a family oriented environment. Tammy also shares the importance of having gratitude from both leaders and employees.

This month on our Merit Matters podcast we are doing a mini series on gratitude. At Merit, we believe gratitude plays a crucial role in our workplace, at home and as a whole. Merit's Principal, Tammy Birklid, recently sat down with some of our team members to discuss how they find ways to implement gratitude into their work and personal lives, and what benefits they see from doing so.

On this episode, Adam Coleman, Project Manager at Merit, joins Tammy and shares what he's been thankful for this past year as well as hard lessons he's learned that have made a positive impact on his life. Tammy also elaborates on why she believes gratitude plays a pivotal role in workplace productivity. 

This month on our Merit Matters podcast we are doing a mini series on gratitude. At Merit, we believe gratitude plays a crucial role in our workplace, at home and as a whole. Merit's Principal, Tammy Birklid, recently sat down with some of our team members to discuss how they find ways to implement gratitude into their work and personal lives, and what benefits they see from doing so. 

In this episode we have Merit's Controller, Danielle Welch. Danielle has been with Merit for almost 10 years. Together, Tammy and Danielle discuss how they've found gratitude throughout the years at Merit through the good and challenging times. 

"Collaboration early on is the best way to be innovative as a group. It allows you to think through constructability issues that I may not see because I am not on site swinging a hammer."

We had the pleasure of speaking with Josh Gobel of TAS in our most recent podcast. Tammy and Josh discussed the benefits to Team-Build and how it is both of their preferred methods of project delivery. It optimizes the product for the Owner and makes everyone's jobs easier. Josh is one of our favorite architects we've worked with, give this a listen and you will understand why!

As part of our mission, we value being able to feature local organizations on our podcast that are impacting the lives of our community members. In honor of September being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we interviewed Kristen Bishop, from Mary Bridge Children's Hospital.

Kristen has been a Certified Child Life Specialist at Mary Bridge Children’s since 2012. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Child Life. She has the deep honor and privilege of serving pediatric patients and their families. Listen in to hear how she helps to empower and encourage people in the midst of some of the most difficult healthcare circumstances. As a part of her role, Kristen also trains and supports students whose goal is to become future child life specialists.

To help aid her mission to bring light to these families lives, she has a Facility Dog named Olaf. Olaf works alongside her to bring motivation and comfort to patients. Kristen believes she has the best job in the entire world and looks forward to many years of serving the community in this capacity.

On this episode of Merit Matters, one of our Superintendents, Matt Wyble, sits down with Tammy to discuss leadership and his journey that brought him to where he is today. We recently had a a campaign titled #ChallengeAccepted that Matt played a large part in creating. He first heard the phrase while listening to his child's TV show and loved the idea of having a challenge accepted mindset when it came to challenges. When Matt brought this to Tammy, she ran with it.

To honor Matt's involvement we wanted to share this interview, where he and Tammy take a deep dive into Matt's career, and who he views as amazing leaders. Listen in to hear how he went from not even knowing how to swing a hammer, to becoming a seasoned Carpenter. Matt talks about building buildings, but really how he is building himself. 

We conclude our #ChallengeAccepted series with a part two from former Merit Owner, Len Zarelli. Tammy and Len discuss the different project challenges as well as managing personnel. They dive into when Tammy took ownership, the weight of that role, and how the duo took that on together. 

Tune in as we listen to two of the most important leaders in Merit history walk down memory lane, and share their growth along the way.

Katie Musgrave is the Philanthropy Director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound. Throughout this episode, Katie and Tammy talk about the challenges brought on by Covid, and how the Katie tackled them in her role at the Boys and Girls Club. From shifting to working at home all day, to finding ways to still serve their community through that time, there's no denying Covid was a challenge. 

Merit has been a dedicated supporter of the Boys and Girls Club throughout the years and we are honored to pair up with them through our Challenge Accepted Campaign. Katie has been committed throughout this entire process and we are excited to share her take on #ChallengeAccepted. Her willingness to be candid about a friend's struggle with cancer was brave, and will undoubtedly bring hope to many.