PODCAST · business
Merit Matters
by Merit Construction
Brought to you by Merit Construction, Merit Matters expands on our vision of building the future of our communities. Together, we explore the world of construction with industry leading experts, while highlighting current events and community engagement throughout the Pacific Northwest. Join us to learn more about what’s building in your community.
Episodes
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Mindset of the Modern Dad
Tammy sits down with Co-Founder and Owner of DadGang.co (and former Merit employee!), Ejay O'Donnell. With over 1 million hats sold and a viral online community of everyday dads, DadGang has grown from a simple idea into a nationally recognized brand built on connection, fatherhood, and...
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Mindful Matters in Design and Construction
In this episode of Merit Matters, host Tammy Birklid of Merit Construction sits down with Josh Gobel, Partner at Carve Architects, to discuss mindfulness in construction and design. Josh shares how intentional, people-focused design goes beyond aesthetics to create spaces that truly serve their...
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Merit Wrapped 2025
As we wrap up 2025, Tammy and Kasey take a look back at the year. We recap our Built for Growth Campaign, our new branding, the wins and challenges of the year, and preview some exciting things for 2026. Grab a coffee and take a listen!
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Built for Growth - Community Meets Construction with Autumn Gressett
The City of Federal Way Parks Department is Built for Growth! Tammy and Autumn discuss exciting projects happening in the city, what is on the horizon for the community, and how the city is partnering with contractors like Merit to support the growth.
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Built for Growth - Renovating a Living Church
Tammy sits down with the Dana Leavitt, Chair of the BuildingRenovation Team for United Churches of Olympia to talk about their church renovation project currently underway. They discuss the construction process of renovating a 70-year old "living Church" while upholding the values of the United...
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Audrey Fueston - Empowering Women in the Workplace -
Tammy sits down with Audrey Fueston, former in-house attorney at Merit and current Associate Attorney for Geosyntec Consultants to discuss her career journey, lessons learned, and the unique challenges and opportunities women face in the workplace.
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Built for Growth - Merit Matters 2.0 with Tammy Birklid
To kick off 2025, Kasey and Tammy sit down to discuss the past 5 years of Merit under Tammy's leadership, what is in store for 2025, and introduce Merit's newest campaign - Built for Growth!
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Alyssa Sullivan - All In
In closing out our all in podcasts, Tammy interviews Alyssa Sullivan, of Sullivan painting. They dive into Alyssa unexpectedly, and suddenly, taking on the role of Acting President. Throughout, the pair discuss what it means to be all in, and how to remain committed even through challenging times.
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Scott Seelye - All In
In our first podcast highlighting our all in campaign, Tammy sits down with someone she considers to be all in, in every area of his life. Scott Seelye has been with Merit over a decade. Listen along as he and Tammy discuss what all in means to him, and the journey he took to becoming the…
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Emerald City Enhanced Services: A New Approach to Mental Health.
Claudia Johnson came to the United States at 14 as a refugee, and has been impacting her community for the better ever since. Her career as a nurse, including time at Western State Hospital, identified her passion for the underserved, and those individuals that the commonplace healthcare system…
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Reinventing Business - 65 years of Merit
Audrey Birklid sits down with Merit Principal, Tammy Birklid, to discuss all things Merit. They duo go over how the last 65 years has shaped how Merit does business today, as well as look forward to the Merit of the future. Tune in for our first podcast of 2022, our kick off to celebrating 65…
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Gratitude Mini Series with Miles Langer, Equipment Manager at Merit Construction
This month on our Merit Matters podcast we are doing a mini series on gratitude. At Merit, we believe gratitude plays a crucial role in our workplace, at home and as a whole. Merit's Principal, Tammy Birklid, recently sat down with some of our team members to discuss how they find ways to…
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Gratitude Mini Series with Adam Coleman, Project Manager at Merit
This month on our Merit Matters podcast we are doing a mini series on gratitude. At Merit, we believe gratitude plays a crucial role in our workplace, at home and as a whole. Merit's Principal, Tammy Birklid, recently sat down with some of our team members to discuss how they find ways to…
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Gratitude Mini Series with Danielle Welch, Controller at Merit
This month on our Merit Matters podcast we are doing a mini series on gratitude. At Merit, we believe gratitude plays a crucial role in our workplace, at home and as a whole. Merit's Principal, Tammy Birklid, recently sat down with some of our team members to discuss how they find ways to…
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Team-Build - Delivering A Project through Trust and Collaboration
"Collaboration early on is the best way to be innovative as a group. It allows you to think through constructability issues that I may not see because I am not on site swinging a hammer." We had the pleasure of speaking with Josh Gobel of TAS in our most recent podcast. Tammy and Josh discussed…
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Impacting our Local Community with Kristen Bishop of Mary Bridge Children's Hospital
As part of our mission, we value being able to feature local organizations on our podcast that are impacting the lives of our community members. In honor of September being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we interviewed Kristen Bishop, from Mary Bridge Children's Hospital. Kristen has been a...
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The Man Behind The Idea - Wrapping Up Challenge Accepted
On this episode of Merit Matters, one of our Superintendents, Matt Wyble, sits down with Tammy to discuss leadership and his journey that brought him to where he is today. We recently had a a campaign titled #ChallengeAccepted that Matt played a large part in creating. He first heard the phrase...
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Challenge Accepted — A History of Overcoming Challenges Pt. 2 with Len Zarelli
We conclude our #ChallengeAccepted series with a part two from former Merit Owner, Len Zarelli. Tammy and Len discuss the different project challenges as well as managing personnel. They dive into when Tammy took ownership, the weight of that role, and how the duo took that on together. Tune in…
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Challenge Accepted — Overcoming Covid with Katie Musgrave
Katie Musgrave is the Philanthropy Director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound. Throughout this episode, Katie and Tammy talk about the challenges brought on by Covid, and how the Katie tackled them in her role at the Boys and Girls Club. From shifting to working at home all day, to...
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Challenge Accepted — A History of Overcoming Challenges with Len Zarelli
This episode brings a very special guest, Len Zarelli. Len is the former Principal of Merit. With over 30 years of experience and almost 15 of them spent with Tammy, the duo had no problem coming up with challenges they had faced together. Listen along as they tackle contracts, communication with...
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Challenge Accepted — Focusing on Your Why Through Challenges with Lorraine Glynn of BCRA
On this episode of Merit Matters we speak with Lorraine Glynn, a Project Architect for BCRA. Lorraine has over 10 years of professional experience. While she has a large variety of project types she has worked on, her current focus is in the behavioral healthcare sector. Lorraine graduated with…
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New Hire, Familiar Face
On this episode of Merit Matters, we sit down with Merit’s newest team member, Audrey Birklid. Audrey comes to us with her Law Degree, and her Bachelor’s in Communication. You may notice the last name, and yes, she is our Principal Tammy’s favorite daughter. We discuss how she landed here at…
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Cultivating Safety Culture - Prioritizing our People
On this episode of Merit Matters, we met with our safety team to discuss their roles and what working safe means to them. We hear an authentic conversation between co-workers about the real dangers involved with construction, and why it is critical we do everything we can to limit them. One of…
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Leadership & Human Engineering with Gary Polain of Ozmosis Leadership
Special guest, Gary Polain, Founder and Principal of Ozmosis Leadership, sits down with Tammy Birklid to discuss how his early career as a Mechanical Engineer led him to a passion for helping others succeed in what he calls "Human Engineering" — Forging long-term relationships with prime movers…
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A Legacy That Lives on with Kelly and Nate of the Rachel Lynn Henley Foundation — Merit Construction
If you could leave a legacy for future generations, what would it look like? At the beginning of this year, we had the privilege of building a project with the Rachel Lynn Henley Foundation for a very deserving young lady. Following the completion of the project, Nate Henley and Kelly Lauricella,...
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Meet The Newest Member of Our Team, Jared Johnson
Meet our newest team member, Jared Johnson. Jared comes to the construction industry with 10 years of local program and project management experience and will be joining our Senior Estimator, Scott Seelye, in the Estimating Department. Client relationships are a top priority and in his role as an...
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Build What Matters — A Breath of Fresh Air with Josh Dunn of Premier Media Group
This week on the Merit Matters podcast, Tammy sits down with Josh Dunn, Founder and CEO of the local publishing company, Premier Media Group. Josh is the creative leader behind Premier Media's award winning publications including 425, 425 Business, South Sound and South Sound Business magazines.…
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Build What Matters — Leaving a Legacy with Andrew Browne of Browne Family Vineyards
On our latest Merit Matters episode, we sit down with Andrew Browne, Precept Wine CEO and Founder of Browne Family Vineyards. Browne shares how he got started in the wine industry, lessons he's learned, and the type of legacy he wants to leave for his family and community; all of which were…
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Build What Matters — Enriching Lives Through the Outdoors With Geoff Lawrence of The Mountaineers
Meet our client The Tacoma Mountaineers and special guest Geoff Lawrence, Volunteer, Former Board President and Former Tacoma Branch Chair of The Mountaineers. Geoff is an outdoor enthusiast and although he loves the world-class instruction from The Mountaineers, what got him hooked years ago was...
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Build What Matters — Expanding with Intention and Purpose with Joe Moyer of Skookum Archers
Special guest and Merit's new client, Joe Moyer, President of Skookum Archers, shares how one of the largest and oldest archery clubs in Washington state is expanding to further serve our community with intention and purpose. Listen in to find out how this local club is making it possible for all...
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Build What Matters — Initiating Positive Change in Local Communities with Jeff McInnis of Safe Streets
This month on our Merit Matters virtual series we are highlighting conversations around our latest campaign, "Build What Matters." Today we are featuring special guest, Jeff McInnis, a Member of the Board of Directors from Safe Streets. Jeff shares why he is passionate about Safe Streets, what...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Brought to you by Merit Construction, Merit Matters expands on our vision of building the future of our communities. Together, we explore the world of construction with industry leading experts, while highlighting current events and community engagement throughout the Pacific Northwest. Join us to learn more about what’s building in your community.
HOSTED BY
Merit Construction
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Merit Matters have?
Merit Matters currently has 31 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Merit Matters about?
Brought to you by Merit Construction, Merit Matters expands on our vision of building the future of our communities. Together, we explore the world of construction with industry leading experts, while highlighting current events and community engagement throughout the Pacific Northwest. Join us to...
How often does Merit Matters release new episodes?
Merit Matters has 31 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Merit Matters?
You can listen to Merit Matters on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Merit Matters?
Merit Matters is created and hosted by Merit Construction.
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