Current Award Recipient

Charles F. Kettering Award – Employer

Daniel Vornhagen, Danis Building Construction Company

Daniel Vornhagen is the Pre-Construction Manager at Danis Building Construction Company in Miamisburg, Ohio. He has served the company for over 30 years and wears many hats within the organization as Director of Co-Op Program, Training Coordinator, and Talent & Acquisition for Entry Level Project Engineers.  Daniel has been involved with the coaching and mentoring of over (275) co-op students the past 15 years and manages the complete life cycle of the 70+ co-ops, which spans across 3 states on a yearly basis.

He developed the Co-Op Challenge to incorporate the following:

• Day of Appreciation / Recognition for Young Professionals.
• Opportunity meet one another, learn to work as a team, foster new resources and most importantly friendships.
• Our Co-Op Program is the Foundation of our company’s success.
• Our People are what makes Danis a great company and co-op Students are the future of our company. 
• Strengthen relationships with our University partners.
• Danis is unique its ability to self-perform. Learn processes and resources involved– labor, materials, equipment –  to ultimately become better managers.

At the most recent event, there were 175 people in attendance, including 11 institution representatives, and 46 students from Ohio, Florida, and the Carolinas.

In addition to Daniel’s commitments at Danis, he serves in multiple roles with associations dedicated to work-based learning. Daniel is involved with the Ohio Cooperative Education Association and presents on a variety of topics to engage career services professionals and industry representatives in key discussions on the state’s workforce needs. Daniel is the Industry Representative on the ASEE CEED Board and has launched a series of virtual townhalls for employers across the nation to discuss hiring trends and challenges. Also, Daniel is an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Cincinnati for the Architectural Engineering, Civil Engineering and Construction Management Department. He is one of the senior capstone instructors for the Construction Management program.