Back in the Game

On his morning runs through Gretna, Nebraska, Brad Schwaninger doesn’t take a single stride for granted. 

Just five years ago, the simple act of running—let alone completing half-marathons and full marathons—seemed entirely out of reach.

The early warning signs were easy to dismiss. Schwaninger had always been healthy, so when he started getting sick more often than usual in 2020, he assumed he just needed to get back in shape. Meanwhile, his wife, Rosie, a hospital physician, was working grueling hours as COVID-19 cases surged, and the couple had four kids at home. That fall, he made the difficult decision to step down from his role as preconstruction director to support his family and focus on his health.

The following spring, medical tests revealed an unexpected diagnosis: end-stage liver disease brought on by a hereditary condition known as hemochromatosis. In June 2021, doctors told Schwaninger he had about two months to live without a new liver.

A couple of weeks after joining the transplant list, he received a donor organ. The transplant not only saved his life; it fundamentally shifted how he approaches each day.

Following a full recovery, he rejoined McCarthy’s Omaha office in May 2026 as preconstruction director. Returning to the job felt like a homecoming as he reconnected with his McCarthy partners and longtime clients.

On the Front End of Projects

As preconstruction director, Schwaninger helps guide clients during the earliest phases of building and infrastructure projects: from initial pursuit through early design and planning.

“What I enjoy most is filling in the gaps early on,” he explains. “We usually start with a general program and get to build this project on paper conceptually. While design is still in the early stages, we help define the scope so we can put together an accurate budget and make sure there are no surprises as the design evolves.”

Working alongside his Omaha precon partners Dan Hennings, Kelsey Mallett and Sable Lambley, Schwaninger helps align owner ambitions with realistic budgets.

Early Foundations

Raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, Schwaninger was the first in his family to work in the construction industry. 

He initially thought he might become a physical therapist, but while attending the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, he took a job in commercial framing and drywall to earn some extra money. “On my first day, the foreman told me to go scrap track and studs, and I had no idea what he was talking about,” he recalls. “But it was rewarding being in a field where you could see the results of your work at the end of the day, and I enjoyed learning about construction.”

As a result, Schwaninger changed his major to construction management, though he wasn't yet sure of the direction his career would take. That clarity came during an internship with another drywall contractor, where he took on much of the estimating work and truly enjoyed it.

After earning a construction management degree in 1998, he joined a large national contractor’s preconstruction team in Omaha and spent 19 years there, rising to a director-level role. 

In late 2017, a McCarthy contact texted Schwaninger to gauge his interest in a new role. He joined the Omaha office as its first full-time dedicated preconstruction professional in March 2018. “Once I got to know some of the people in this office and saw what the culture was like, it didn’t take a whole lot to convince me to get on board,” Schwaninger says.

He welcomed the opportunity to return to a more hands-on role after serving primarily in a managerial position. “I was ready for a different challenge, he says, “and it was kind of neat to return to the nuts and bolts of estimating.”

The Value of Perspective

Following his recovery, Schwaninger took up long-distance running, eventually achieving a level of fitness he hadn’t experienced since his early twenties.

Schwaninger doesn’t pretend his health experience was easy, but he says it gave him something valuable: perspective.

“Walking away in 2020 was tough, but being able to return to McCarthy—and seeing how much our Nebraska business unit has expanded—has been amazing,” he says. “When you go through an experience like that, your perspective shifts. You don’t dread early morning runs or complex challenges at work. You feel fortunate that you have that opportunity.”

Early in his career, Schwaninger bristled whenever he heard the word “opportunity.” “I felt like people always used it in a negative way,” he says. “I’d think, ‘They want me to do something that nobody else wants to do.’”

He sees it much differently today.