Nebraska Proud
Vice President Operations Ryan Felton is fueling McCarthy’s continued growth and impact as a homegrown community builder.
Ryan Felton routinely trades the climate-controlled confines of his office for the kinetic pulse of a high-energy jobsite. Despite the daily demands of his operational leadership position, he makes it a point to connect with teams in the field at least one day each week.
It’s like therapy for me. Early on in my career, I realized I loved being out in the field, working with the craft professionals and seeing the skill that it takes to put the work in place. Now, I get the best of both worlds.
Vice President Operations
Part of the Nebraska leadership team for nearly two decades, Felton has been carving McCarthy's path across the Cornhusker State. He’s the operational backbone of an Omaha-based team that has grown from a handful of partners working out of a cramped storefront office to 100+ partners delivering diverse, complex construction jobs.
On any given day, Felton balances a wide range of responsibilities—from overseeing project performance and managing risk to helping shape the Nebraska business unit’s strategy and ensure a steady pipeline of future work.
At the center of it all is a clear focus on developing people and serving clients. “This is primarily a service industry,” he says. “Our job is to support our clients and each other—and to do it at a high level.”
No matter how packed his schedule becomes, Felton makes time to stand alongside the construction teams delivering the work.
That’s still my favorite part of the job. Getting out on the projects, working with the teams and seeing the work in place—that’s what makes everything real.
Vice President Operations
Felton with other McCarthy employees volunteering at the Omaha Food Bank
Team McCarthy at the 2025 American Heart Association Heart Walk
Felton presenting at a McCarthy-hosted United Hispanic Contractors Association event
Felton and McCarthy team members at our inaugural Sip & Support fundraiser last year, supporting women in architecture, engineering, and construction
Native Son
Felton took the scenic route to Omaha. Born in Greeley, Colorado, he moved with his family to the Caribbean island of Grenada at age 4—as both parents embarked on a career transition from laboratory technicians to practicing physicians.
After completing a two-year preparatory medical school program, his folks enrolled at Creighton University School of Medicine and relocated the family to Omaha.
Felton took to the city quickly, discovering his love of sports and knack for building skateboard ramps, treehouses and forts — a harbinger of his future vocation.
During his sophomore year of high school, Felton’s parents completed their residencies and made plans to settle in Wyoming to practice medicine.
Rather than uprooting his life to join them, Felton moved in with a friend's family to complete his junior and senior years in Omaha. “When I look at my own 17-year-old son, it's crazy to think I did that," he admits, “but I knew that Omaha was where I wanted to be.”
After graduation, Felton headed to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with plans to follow in his parents’ footsteps and pursue a medical career.
But his first semester of pre-med coursework convinced him to rethink that trajectory.
The next semester, he took an introductory construction course that settled the matter. “I love building and working with people,” he says. “That's what I wanted to do.”
Felton shifted his major to construction management…and never looked back.
Degree in hand, he joined another large general contractor in 2001 and contributed to jobs in Colorado Springs and Denver before relocating to Grand Island, Nebraska. There, he helped manage a hospital project for what is now CommonSpirit Health—a client McCarthy has served for more than 20 years.
In 2007, Felton signed on with McCarthy’s fledgling Omaha team to work on a major hospital expansion program for the former Alegent Health system (now CHI Health, part of Common Spirit Health).
CHI Health Immanuel Medical Center Family Clinic
CHI Health Regional Cancer Center at St. Francis
CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center - Bergan Mercy
CHI Health Ambulatory Building at Creighton University Medical Center
Into the Storm
As he continued laying the groundwork for a permanent Omaha office, a disaster 420 miles away pulled Felton into one of the most high-stakes projects of his career.
In May 2011, an EF5 tornado leveled much of Joplin, Missouri, including the community’s primary hospital. Longtime client Mercy enlisted McCarthy to lead a design-build team overseeing an 890,000-square-foot replacement facility—Mercy Hospital Joplin—in record time.
Felton served as project director on that landmark job, leading a team that included more than 30 McCarthy partners and over 1,000 craft professionals.
It was 36 months of pure adrenaline. We were the shining star in that community. What the team built was truly something special.
Vice President Operations
To meet the ambitious project schedule, Felton pioneered a functional team structure, breaking the work into dedicated teams overseeing the hospital, central utility plant, medical office building and site work. This organizational model continues to inform how large McCarthy projects across the country are managed.
The Joplin project garnered a string of national honors, including the ASHE Vista Award, the ENR Best Healthcare Project Award, and the company’s internal Melvin and Roger Awards.
Back Home Again
Felton spent the next three years helping to grow the newly opened Kansas City office before moving home to serve as operations leader of the Nebraska business unit. In late 2025, his operational purview expanded to include McCarthy’s Colorado business unit.
“Looking back, it's amazing that our dream of growing and scaling a business in Omaha has become a reality,” he says, crediting current Central Region CEO Ryan Sawall and current Business Unit Leader Kris Montgomery for their steady leadership.
What I'm most proud of is that we've truly become a community builder, with great people, a collaborative culture and an increasingly diverse group of clients.
Vice President Operations
Get to Know Ryan Felton
- Ryan met his wife, Stacie, on their first day of college at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. They have three children—Porter (17), Roma (15) and Harris (10)—and celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2025.
- An industry fellow and adjunct professor in the Durham Science Architecture, Engineering, and Construction programs at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Omaha, Ryan also chairs the curriculum committee for the University of Nebraska Construction Industry Advisory Council.
- He’s a long-time advocate and volunteer for the American Heart Association.
- A diehard Nebraska Cornhusker fan across all sports, Ryan is a fixture at the annual College World Series in Omaha.
- In his downtime, Ryan gravitates toward snowmobiling and snowboarding in the winter, and fly fishing, hiking and golfing in the summer. He and his family regularly retreat to the Wyoming mountains where many of his extended family members reside.
