As Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor heads toward the final months of construction, two of the 800 construction workers on-site have been benefitting from Suffolk Construction’s reverse mentoring program.
Butch Shull, 73, has been in construction for 52 years. Mackie Myers earned her master’s degree from the University of Florida less than two years ago.
“It’s called reverse mentoring,” said Shull, operations manager for Suffolk Florida Gulf Coast and general superintendent for Sunseeker Resort. “So she’s mentoring me because I’m older.”
Together, they have been teamed on the $618 million construction project off U.S. 41 in Port Charlotte. The Allegiant Travel Co. resort will have 785 rooms, including 189 luxury suites, as well as 19 restaurants and bars, two pools, a spa and salon among other amenities.
The construction site also serves as the perfect place for career development as Shull and Myers work together.
“Usually, it involves a person who’s been in the field a long time and a younger individual who start to share each other’s expertise,” Shull said. “I’ve been at Suffolk for nine years, and I’ve never found anybody that’s younger here who won’t help you if you’re tied up in something and need some help. That’s a big deal to guys like me.” 
Myers, a superintendent on the site, said she’s more in tune to the Procore construction management software program, which she uses on a tablet computer. She can do in seconds on the program what might take Shull minutes.
“We’re able to call up all of our details on our site,” Myers said. “All of our architectural details. That’s something quick that I’m able to pull up on when we’re walking through something together. If he has a question of how should this look or what goes here, I can pull it up and we can go through it together.”
Construction typically has been a male-dominated field. At Suffolk, about 30% of employees are female with Myers saying the company helped her thrive in the early years of her career.
“As far as my career in construction, people like Butch – I’ve had a lot of people throughout my career who have taken an interest in me,” Myers said. “I think that has really helped develop me. Because male or female, right, we were talking about it yesterday, if you have someone you know who has your back and has your best interests at heart, especially early in your career, it makes all the difference.”
Construction of Sunseeker Resort was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Ian, but it’s on track to be finished by the end of this year.
“We’ve got about seven or eight months to finish up here, which should not be a problem for us,” Shull said. “But we’re moving right along.”
