Rockford Construction announced the appointment of Steven Frederickson as vice president, overseeing its health care division.
Frederickson will be responsible for building and maintaining relationships with health care clients and will oversee Rockford’s construction projects within the health care sector.
As health care institutions face new challenges after COVID-19, Rockford’s health care team under Frederickson will focus not just on the construction of health care facilities but also on new innovations that support creative models for research and development, more effective patient experiences and better health outcomes.
“When people need to go to the hospital, they are in their most vulnerable state, so I feel it’s an awesome responsibility to create a space that heals people,” Frederickson said. “I feel you can’t just build what’s on the drawings. Most builders are solely focused on cost and efficiency, and that runs completely counter to the healing environment.”
Frederickson brings more than 27 years of national experience in construction, design, development and program management with a unique approach to health care.
In joining Rockford Construction Frederickson has come back home to Michigan after working with Rock Creek Companies in Washington, D.C., where he served as president of the company. Previously, he served as president and chief operating officer of the Christman Company.
Frederickson has led projects with budgets ranging from $1 million to $750 million, including St. Mary’s Hospital master plan, Spectrum Health Cancer Center and Patient Tower, Medical Health System master plan and Michigan State University College of Health and Human Services.
“In addition to his vast industry experience, Steve brings with him a unique approach to health care design, construction and development,” said Mike VanGessel, CEO of Rockford Construction. “Michigan has become a destination for world-class patient care and innovative research. With ongoing projects like the MSU Grand Rapids Innovation Park, we feel this is the perfect time to welcome Steve to the team to lead our work in this critical industry.”
Frederickson said his passion for health care came during his first hospital renovation for what is now McLaren Greater Lansing in 1993. He got to know the chief nursing officer, and she inspired him to care about the professionals and patients his company was building for.
“In our health care system, you put up a temporary wall, and it gets artwork, painted, topiary … we insulate it from sound transmission. It doesn’t look like a construction zone because we’re looking at it from the patient and the family and the nurses’ and doctors’ side of it because when they’re at their most vulnerable, and they feel like they’re in a construction zone, that just raises their anxiety,” he said.
At Christman Company, he started a program called Nurse for a Day, where he would have the field leadership gown up and spend time with nurses before they put up the temporary wall and could understand operations from the health care provider’s point of view.
Frederickson holds a Bachelor of Science in construction engineering and management from Ferris State University.
