The recipient of a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Lauren Plouff serves as a project engineer at The Walsh Group in Galveston, Texas. For their work on the construction of the Biocontainment Critical Care Unit at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Lauren Plouff and the project team earned the Matthew Myles Walsh II Founder National Safety Award.
The Matthew Myles Walsh II Founder National Safety Award honors the memory of The Walsh Group’s founder, Matthew Myles Walsh. An Irish immigrant, Matthew Myles Walsh came to the United States to work as a carpenter in 1898. In the same year, he established a small carpentry business that he operated from his Chicago home.
The business subsequently developed a reputation as a respected contractor in the city and went on to stay afloat through the Great Depression. It incorporated in Illinois as The Walsh Group in 1949 and later expanded, first nationally and then into Canada.
Today, The Walsh Group remains a family business, run by third-generation brothers Dan and Matt Walsh. Celebrating its 120-year anniversary in 2018, the company has grown into one of the largest construction firms in the United States.
