Luke Spalj

Luke was born and raised in the construction business. He worked as a youth in the family owned and operated Spalj Construction Company in central Minnesota. He knew he wanted to get a degree in civil engineering, and he was considering University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, N. Dakota State and Michigan Tech. The decision was easy: he longed for the "northern Minnesota feel" and that narrowed it down. His brother went to NDSU so he decided to be different and chose Michigan Tech. He never regretted it. "I enjoyed life in the Keweenaw. I brought my snowmobile up and my buddy was a forestry major and one of his professors let us keep our sleds at his place. I can remember one winter; the snow was so high it reached the second floor of the barn where we kept them."

After graduating, Luke joined the family business and was grateful for his Michigan Tech civil engineering education in the classroom of Ed Haltenhoff, member of the Michigan Construction Hall of Fame. "He was a great instructor. He provided us real world construction management experience which was invaluable to my career."

Luke worked at Spalj Construction until its sale to Quanta Services a leading specialized contracting services company in 1997. He continued to work for Quanta Services and eventually became the president of its telecommunication and specialty services division, until 2004. From 2004 to 2017, Luke was the chairman of Rice Lake Construction Group. Currently, he is the CEO of Water Resources Group, one of the nation’s largest firms in the country that serves the water
treatment and utility markets. He also serves as a director of Highwater Ethanol and Charp’s Pipeline, LLC. He is an owner and a director of Deerwood Bancorp of Deerwood, Minnesota, since 1997.

A career highlight was getting to ring the opening bell on the NYSE for Quanta Services. He is a member of the Michigan Tech College of Engineering Advisory Board, which gives him the opportunity to give back to the university. He advises young Michigan Tech alumni to "Work hard, and do not be afraid to ask questions. Solve problems and make your business be successful, wherever you are working."

Updated December 2021