“Once you get construction in your blood, you can’t get it out,” Herschleb says. The Marshall, WI, native worked for several companies over the next decade, gaining tremendous experience across all aspects of construction, and was quickly recognized as a leader. “I was put in charge of people and moved to foreman ahead of guys who had been there a while,” he recalls. At one job – adding a second story to the iconic State Street Brats in Madison — he realized at age 26 that he was managing crews of workers decades older. And he got to that point not because of formal training reading blueprints or a degree in construction management — he credits common sense and the ability to figure things out (and maybe being good at math helped).

“This is still true today. That makes us who we are,” he said. “Having a different viewpoint, and coming up from the bottom, gives me a different perspective. I will listen to anybody who has an idea. The people actually doing the work usually have the best ideas.”

Herschleb gained additional experience as a project manager building hotels and in one stretch opened six of them in six weeks, and 30 over a few years. At age 35, married with a new house and three small children, he was approached by a successful (colleague) who wanted to partner with Herschleb to start a new construction firm. In June 2006, the firm opened for business in an exposed basement in Edgerton, WI. One year later they hired a part-time receptionist/bookkeeper. “2006 was the worst time to start a construction company,” with property values and related costs at an all-time high, and a recession around the corner. “We used to hope that the lights would turn on and the phone still worked when we got to the office. There were some months when we literally had pennies in our checking account.”

“It’s so hard starting out, like establishing credit. I’ve never let off the gas pedal of treating it like we were just starting out,” he says. “Working for other companies that failed – it’s when they got fat and relaxed that the wheels really fell off.” What has stood the test of time, Herschleb says, is “being good people, and doing the right thing. No matter how hard that might be, or how frustrating. It’s never wrong to do the right thing.”

He knew MCC would survive when it finished a Cambria Suites hotel in Roanoke, VA, with five hours to spare before the owners would have lost $1 million in TIF funding. They had taken over a “crazy” project from a huge general contractor, and the pressure to complete the job on time was immense. “The TV cameras were there, and it was really tense,” he recalls. “But once we had finished, I just looked around and said ‘holy crap, we just did that!’ I knew then that we could play with the big boys and could do whatever we put our minds to.”

“I feel really good about the people we have,” he says. Open and transparent communication and collaboration among all employees is paramount, as is ensuring MCC provides an engaging environment, such as hosting quarterly offsite employee events.

In addition to running a successful construction firm, Herschleb is an accomplished football coach, as wide receivers and special teams coach for Columbus High School, the 2022 state champions. Community service is fundamental to success, he says, and MCC employees actively support their communities in many ways. “There’s a lot of similarities between construction and football: teamwork, and knowing the play you’re running is like having the blueprints in construction. We need everybody to be on the same page to play football, or to have a successful project.” Just as important as the state championship or successful project completion is how they were accomplished, and helping players and employees succeed. “Obviously you can never take away a state championship, but not everyone is an “A” athlete. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but taking kids who are “C” athletes and coaching them to a “B” athlete, and seeing them have that one catch they’re going to talk about the rest of their lives, that’s success.”