Ignacio Herrera
Vice President / Design & Construction
- 23 years of experience
- 9 years at KDC
Ignacio Herrera
Vice President / Design & Construction
It happened when Ignacio Herrera began working on Toyota’s North American headquarters campus in Plano, Texas. As part of the design and construction team for the 2-million-square-foot, he learned about kaizen, which means “continuous improvement” in Japanese, and describes a philosophy of change for the better throughout all aspects of life.
Believing kaizen represented his approach to life, Ignacio embraced the Japanese philosophy and lets it guide him. “For me, kaizen means that as life progresses, things are always changing, which creates constant opportunities to grow and improve,” he says.
Ignacio has nearly two decades worth of project management experience including design consulting, pre-construction and construction services, client relations, budgeting, and scheduling, as well as handling LEED and diversity program activities.
Working at KDC really is my dream job because of the opportunities to learn from the best. It’s a privilege to be surrounded by so much talent and competitive knowledge.
After joining KDC in 2015 as a project manager of design and construction, Ignacio worked almost exclusively on the Toyota project, which consists of seven office buildings, one high-bay research and development facility, four parking structures, and a nine-MW photovoltaic system. From there he moved on to help manage the completion of a new 14,000-square-foot facility for the non-profit Dallas 24 Hour Club; and simultaneously to Epic, a 290,000-square-foot office building within a mixed-use project that consists of a residential tower and a boutique hotel in the trendy Dallas neighborhood of Deep Ellum.
For Ignacio, the best parts of his job are interacting with different people, working as part of a team, and the constant challenge of the vast construction process. “Working at KDC really is my dream job because of the opportunities to learn from the best,” he says. “It’s a privilege to be surrounded by so much talent and competitive knowledge.”
Ignacio grew up in Mexico, and while attending a Jesuit high school, he decided to pursue an engineering career. He followed family tradition and attended Texas A&M University where he attended construction management classes and received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (Ignacio is a 4th generation civil engineer).
After graduating, Ignacio joined global engineering firm Halff where he focused on hydrology and hydraulics modeling. (Hydrology is the study of water over time, and hydraulic modeling simulates the water flow of creeks and rivers and uses existing geometry to determine flood plains). He expanded his knowledge of hydrology at CEDEX-Madrid in Spain where he obtained a Masters of Engineering in the subject. He also has an MBA in Finance from Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.
Though it may seem as if Ignacio has invested all his time in school or work, he found the time to travel and to start a family. He’s visited 30 countries including exotic locales such as Croatia, Finland, and Morocco. Argentina tops his list of places he wants to visit.
Ignacio and his wife, Michelle, are parents to a young son.
