McCarthy Building Companies Inc. recently promoted Ryan Ferguson to vice president of operations for McCarthy’s Mission Critical team based in Phoenix. Ferguson joined McCarthy four years ago as director of the Mission Critical project team, which focuses on the construction of co-location, hyperscale and data centers; operations and control centers; telecom facilities; renovations and upgrades to infrastructure systems as well as emerging critical power storage and generation facilities that dovetail with the efforts of McCarthy’s Renewable Energy team. As the team’s leader, Ferguson has chartered and developed the company’s focus and business plan for growing a Mission Critical market sector focus across the country.
As vice president of operations, Ferguson is responsible for focusing on the team’s growth strategy and supporting leadership teams on current and future Mission Critical projects. He is also responsible for team staffing, monitoring project costs and scheduling, and maintaining McCarthy’s safety culture.
Ferguson has two decades of experience in construction, carving a niche leading Mission Critical projects with 24/7 operational systems that form the backbone of the digital-based economy. His vast experience in this sector allows him to successfully evaluate and address these highly technical projects and lead teams through the preconstruction, construction and commissioning phases.
Ferguson previously served as McCarthy’s project director on the Mesa Data Center 12MW buildout; project director through the preconstruction phase for the APS HUBwest campus in Buckeye, Ariz.; and has spearheaded McCarthy’s build out and tenant fit-up for the large multiphase construction of a 176MW data center campus in Goodyear, Ariz. The award-winning campus, which contains high volumes of live electrical equipment, has been recognized for its Total Project Incident Rate (TPIR) of zero over nearly two years of construction.
In addition to Ferguson’s commitment to McCarthy’s Mission Critical work, he places a strong emphasis on industry involvement, as he aims to both share and learn best practices from others. He is a regular speaker at industry conferences, including the Big Data Southwest Conference, the National DataCenter, AI, HPC & Cloud Summit, and was recently a presenting speaker for the fourth time at the Advancing Data Center Construction Conference. Ferguson earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He is a LEED AP BD+C Accredited Professional by the U.S. Green Building Council and is a graduate of the Arizona Builders Alliance Leadership Development Forum. He is also a member of Infrastructure Masons, 7×24 Exchange International and Urban Land Institute. In his free time, Ferguson enjoys mountain biking and listening to music, as a former trumpet player.
Since 2011, McCarthy has completed more than $600 million in Mission Critical infrastructure in Arizona, for a combined volume of more than 200MW to support advanced technology and associated data collection needs. McCarthy’s national Mission Critical efforts have extended from experience and oversight gained in Arizona, as the company aims to grow this crucial market in other parts of the country.