Sun Devil 100: How GCON founders built a Southwest powerhouse

TEMPE, Ariz. - GCON founders Gabriel Gavriilidis and Michael Godbehere are Sun Devil 100 leaders.

What they're saying:

"ASU is the pipeline for our staffing," Gavriilidis said.

Mike Godbehere, the CEO of GCON, reflected on the company's origins.

"GCON was formed and founded 23 years ago. I'm an Arizona native, and we met in high school, always had our friendship," Godbehere said.

The pair had been dreaming of starting their own company for years before GCON became a reality.

"Once we started it, it started getting a lot of momentum and talked to my wife, and we got together and decided to chase the dream of being an entrepreneur," Godbehere said.

Big picture view:

The company has expanded a lot over the years.

"GCON is a Southwest-based commercial general contractor. We are active in 13 states, primarily in the Southwest, from Texas to Washington. Primarily, we are doing technology projects from semiconductor or mission-critical projects for a lot of suppliers in that market, but in the state of Arizona for a general contractor, we work with K-12 do a lot of aviation work and just general building," Godbehere said.

Dig deeper:

Their connection to their Alma mater, ASU, has also gotten stronger.

"I'm obviously a graduate. My son's a graduate from last week, got a whole family of Sun Devils, a great program led by industry folks I've gone to school with that continue to work in the industry real-life experience on what it takes to work in the construction industry, and it's right in our backyard and the way we're growing and people continue to move into Arizona a major pipeline for us to staff these projects and grow our company," Gavriilidis said.

What's next:

As Sun Devil 100 leaders, they help to mentor and provide opportunities for ASU students. Their goal is to keep paying it forward.

"My brother, sister and I all went to ASU. We are all the first in our family to graduate with a college degree, and it's always been a strong connection for us – construction program school of engineering has really positioned for the success I've achieved in life," Godbehere said.