Meet The Management Team

Team Qualifications & Bio's

Overall Team Qualifications & Size

Our team qualifications' abilities to design and construct your project are based upon cumulative decades of designing and constructing projects similar to yours.

RICOP Construction has the proven ability to handle large projects (and have won 13 American Buildings Company awards doing it.) Our deep experience provides the technical know-how; our flat organization, ability to rapidly scale and leaner size (in comparison to our competitors) makes us more nimble to adjust to client needs and demands and keep client costs down.

Management Team

Walter Beatty - President

Walt grew up in Pittsburgh. He attended the University of Pittsburgh where he pursued a major in Engineering. Walt has over 30 years of commercial construction experience. Prior to RICOP, Walt was Vice President of Amalgamated, a general contractor and developer.

While at Amalgamated, Walt oversaw the building of millions of square feet of warehouse and office space in the Columbus area. After leaving Amalgamated, Walt and a partner started RICOP Construction in 1990. Walt bought out the partner in 1991. Since then, RICOP has built for various industries, including: assisted living, auto dealerships, offices, retail, warehousing, light manufacturing, churches, hotel, higher education and schools.

RICOP eventually transitioned from some self-performance to strictly a managing general contractor. Over the years, RICOP has won 13 awards from American Building Company, a pre-engineered metal buildings company for whom we distribute. Walt brings a unique ability to get inside the customer's shoes and the customer's customers shoes, thinking through the form, fit and function of the facility. He asks questions to draw out how the building will be used, both now and in the future. Walt enjoys travelling, spending time with his family, fly fishing, and entering his 1934 Chevy Sedan in Muscle car shows.

Mark Ludwig - Vice President of Operations

Mark is a proven executive level Construction Project Manager offering a strong history of successful commercial, medical and retail project experiences with 25+ years of experience in various sectors of the construction industry

His experience includes Pre-construction services, design evaluations, project management, master planning, scheduling, value analysis, budget development/management purchasing and procurement.

Business Development responsibilities include customer relations, sales, fostering of new business relationships.

Featured Achievements and Projects

Successfully founded and directed a new Special Projects Division focusing on medical and industrial construction.
Established the corporate Safety Committee and guideline standards that monitors construction site safety and quality control based on a standardized peer review process.
Managed orientation and training of new hires and interns, conducted monthly workshops for field and management personnel to broaden technical knowledge and advance quality assurance

Notable Projects

Trinity Health - Mt. Carmel East Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, Patient Tower Renovation, 14% savings
Sinclair Community College – Dayton Ohio – Parking Structure major rebuild
Community Hospital – Springfield, Ohio, Open heart/Cath Lab Suite
Fast Track Abbott Nutrition – Columbus, Ohio – PH Neutralization Project, Deep Excavation, tight deadline
Adena Health – Chillicothe, Ohio, Replacement of twin MRI's General Motors – numerous manufacturing and assembly line projects
Techneglass – Columbus, Ohio – furnace rebuild project – shutdown, 24/7 hourly schedule control
Streets of Tanasbourne –Retail, Mixed-Use Lifestyle Development, Portland, Or, 22 acres, 12 buildings, design build.
Nationwide Insurance – 6 story Office building, Arena District, Columbus, Ohio, 128,000 sf, 11 mos.
Nationwide Insurance - Moline Plow Building Historical Restoration, Columbus, Ohio, 40 KSF

Doug Emert - Architect

Doug joined RICOP in February 2008. He received his Architectural degree from Ohio State University, is registered in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas. He has a broad range of experience, and deep experience in manufacturing facilities (many of which supplied the auto industry) and auto dealerships. Doug also has hands-on experience with residential, mixed use development, retail, hotels, and educational institutions.

Projects Doug has designed for, either under RICOP or with other firms, and includes:

Education: Paint Valley High School, Paint Valley Middle School, Delaware Middle School, Dublin Elementary School, New Albany Middle School, OSU Center for Education and Economic Development

Hotels: Springhill Suites, Country Inns, Marriott Courtyard

Manufacturing: Manifold & Phalor, PK USA, Toyota Boshoku, Neturen IT Wire, Cardington Yutaka Technologies, Sanyo, Waltex, Canam Steel and Topre.

Auto Dealerships: McCluskey Chevrolet, Acura of Dayton, Matt Castrucci Honda, Matt Castrucci Nissan, Matt Castrucci Mazda, Glockner Chevrolet, Comtide Subaru, Comtide Nissan, Comtide Mazda, Nissan North, Saturn North, Tom Gill Chevrolet, Immke Honda and Midwestern Auto Group BMW-Mini.

Mixed Use, Residential and Retail: Compass Point Development, Shell Point Development, Island House 5, Brewmasters Gate Schematics, Bexley Gateway, Plaza Properties Design Center, Bonner Retail Center, and 5/3 Bank.

Mark Frendt - VP Development

Mark's responsibility is to develop and execute the strategic marketing plan for RICOP, as well as new business development. He also is responsible for RICOP's customer satisfaction program and performance. He graduated with a Bachelor's in Business Administration from Capital University with a focus on Marketing. Mark is a profit-driven, service and results-oriented, multifaceted proven entrepreneur and management professional supported by effective mix of operations management, marketing and strategic business planning skills perfected over 20+ years within both traditional corporate and startup environments.

He consistently contributed to improved productivity, brand recognition, record sales, significant revenue growth, cost management, operational enhancement and increased profitability through focused leadership, technology innovation and capacity to identify business needs before implementing viable plans and process improvements.

Joe Potter - Senior Project Manager

Joe graduated from the Ohio State University and is RICOP's Senior Project Manager. His responsibilities include overseeing our other project managers as well as his own group of supervisors. Joe has been in the industry for over 25 years and has been a project manager or supervisor for a wide range of building projects in a wide range of industries for various contractors. He brings with him an ability to communicate openly and our customers have been pleased with his professionalism.

Colleges: Denison University, 100,000 sq ft, $5 million, build out; Kenyon College 30,000 sq ft, $650,000 new build

Retail: Kohl's (several) 120,200-500k (total) -$3 million, build outs and new builds; Sky Financial, 30,000 sq ft, $800,000; Aldi Grocery, 60,000 sq ft, multiple new builds; Specialty Golf, new build; Pataskala Bank, 20,000 sq ft, $670,000, new build

Manufacturing/Warehousing: Greif Brothers N.A. HQ, 60,000 sq ft, $4 million, new build; Lockheed, 5000 sq ft, $100,000, new build; U.S. Government, 40,000 sq ft, $1million, build out; Refrigerated Warehouse- Happy Chicken Farms, 40,000 sq ft, $2.5 million, new build; Simpson Strong Ties, 200,000 sq ft, $9 million, new build

Hotels: Microtel Hotels, 120,000 sq ft, $1.6 million, Holiday Inn Express, Dublin, Ohio. $4.8M plus new build and multiple build outs

Office/Medical Office: Midwest Oncology (radiation room/cat scan), 40,000 sq ft, $150,000, build out

Auto Dealerships: Buckeye Nissan, 50,000 build out, $1.3 million; Glockner Honda Toyota, 80,000 sq ft, $3 million, new build; King's Nissan, $120,000, build out; Clinton County Motorsports,  30,000 sq ft, build out and addition; Wilmington Auto Center, 15,000 sq ft, new build.

Anthony E. (Tony) DiBlasi - Project Manager

With more than 38 years of industry experience to RICOP, Tony previously was Director of Design and Construction Services for a national Assisted Living Home operator and a Preconstruction Project Executive of a large Ohio commercial construction company. He brings deep experience in the healthcare, eldercare, commercial, office, industrial and institutional key market sectors.

He also has vast experience not only in Construction Management but New Business Development, Site Analysis, Architect Selection, Pre-Construction, Project Budget Design, Interior Design, Plan Development and Plan Zoning Support.

Notable  Projects:

Medical: Mount Carmel Health System. Mount Carmel East Emergency Room, Tower Expansion, Columbus, Ohio $42 million Fairfield Medial Center. Additions and Renovations, Lancaster, Ohio 3.9 million

Research: Battelle Memorial Institute. West Campus Administration Building, JM3 Lab project, Building 7/Level3 Project, Columbus and West Jefferson, Ohio

Office: Boehringer, Ingelhiem, Roxane, Inc., Growing expansion project, Cafeteria project, Columbus, Ohio $8 million

Client Base: Includes regional developers (Planned Communities, Glimcher Companies), national retail groups (Lenscrafters, TJ Maxx, The Limited), fast food restaurant chains (Wendy's, KFC, Long John Silver), national restaurant groups supporting (TGIFriday's, ChiChi's, Spats and The Whaling Station), Regional Banks (Huntington National, Chase and Regional Hotel Groups (Marriott, Cross Country Inns)

Mark Hemmingsen – Project Manager

As a highly skilled commercial construction professional with 25+ years experience in all aspects of commercial building projects, Mark has scheduled and directed a total career volume of construction exceeding $310 million. He has documented exceptional problem solving abilities with a proactive approach to managing projects.

His background includes many types of buildings from ground-breaking through turnover including: Education Facilities,  Distribution Centers ,Healthcare Facilities ,Retail ,Computer Centers, Historic Restorations, Office Buildings, Exclusive Residential Estates, Hotels  and High End Fitness

Notable Projects:

Healthcare: Fairfield Medical Center – Additions and Renovations to existing hospital facility Lancaster, Ohio. Upper Valley Medical Office Building – 70,000 sq ft medical office building attached to the existing Upper Valley Hospital, Troy, Ohio.

Education: Westerville North High School – Additions and Renovations to existing high school Westerville, Ohio. Hilliard Middle School – New middle school Hilliard, Ohio.

Office: EMH and T Engineering Headquarters, 110,000 sq ft office building located in New Albany, Ohio.

Hotels: Hyatt on Capital Square – 22 story concrete hotel building located in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

The new Ronald McDonald House – 95 room hotel building to house parents of critically ill children being treated at Children’s Hospital, in Columbus, Ohio.

Mark Murphy – Project Manager

Mark is a results oriented hands-on construction and development professional with over 22 years of General Contracting / Construction Management experience and 10 years of Subcontracting experience which includes estimating and bid strategy experience for multi-million dollar projects.
He alsoworks with business development to identify and develop new customers and market segments identified in the company’s business plan goals. Mark brings extensive experience in the healthcare markets.

Notable Projects:

Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals: Community Mercy Health Partners - Springfield, Ohio
Over 75,000 sq. ft of renovations for outpatient imaging center, clinical consolidation, administration space converted to patient care, lab space for non-invasive Cardiac Care, step down wing, acute dialysis, emergency room, new surgery patient pre-op area, pharmacy and robot drug storage, cardio wellness center, sterile wash & processing line, cath labs and ICU area

Riverside Methodist Hospital Columbus, Ohio Complete renovation of 30 Oncology Patient Rooms , Dialysis Unit and Upgrade of Sterile Processing Area

Mount Carmel East Columbus, Ohio Endovascular Operating Room, Cath Lab and Post Anesthesia Care Unit Renovation& Expansion Miami Valley Hospital Dayton, Ohio Emergency Trauma Center renovation Springfield Community Hospital Springfield, Ohio Open MRI Facility and Cardio/Pulmonary Rehab Knightsbridge Senior Living Columbus, Ohio Boehringer-Ingelhiem Roxane Laboratories Columbus, Ohio Abbott Laboratory  Ross Products

Other Projects: Air Touch Cellular (Verizon Wireless) Dublin, Ohio, Ohio School Employee Retirement System Columbus, Ohio,  WPAFB Dayton, Ohio, NCR Corporate Building #31 Dayton, Ohio,  Target Stores.

Don Steen - Estimator

Don has handled the estimating responsibilities since 1999, as well as occasionally serving as a Project Manager in the field. Don's meticulous attention to detail is beneficial for reviewing plans and putting customer budgets together. He says he really enjoys working with owners in the Design/Build phases of projects.

He grew up in Lancaster, Ohio, where he currently resides. Don's favorite pastimes include spending time with his wife and kids, riding quads and restoring old muscle cars.

Kathi Nelson - Chief Financial Officer

Kathi joined RICOP in 2008 and has 16 years in the accounting profession. She oversees all accounting functions including accounts payable, accounts receivable, job costing, general ledger, cash flow management and bank reconciliation. Kathi enjoys spending time with her family.