Darwin graduated from the Technical Drafting program at Northwest Kansas Vocational Technical School in 1970 and wanted a job at a Denver firm but the experience requirement was too high for a graduate right out of school. So he thought he’d grab a couple of years at Rhoads Construction Company, which was looking for a draftsman. Fast forward 38 years. “I was a draftsman, an estimator, a project manager and corporate executive, and never worked a day in the field.”

He talks about his first significant Hutton project: “Our first Construction Management at Risk project that was in the public sector. This was an outpatient clinic addition to the Northwest Kansas Regional Medical Center built in the early 1990s, and it changed my way of thinking. But the outpatient concept didn’t catch on with most owners in Western Kansas until many years later.”

Darwin’s a Rotary, Chamber of Commerce and country club member, which makes up most of his networking outside the Garden City office. He also stays in contact with Kansas AGC as a past president. The McClung family is a little too far-flung for Darwin’s preferences, covering about every corner of Kansas, but “we’re close in the important ways. My sons Ryan and Justin, and their wives Windy and Mandee and our crop of grandkids don’t live in Garden City, but they are always in our thoughts.” When not at the Hutton office, Darwin’s preoccupations turn to golf and travel.