Leadership Change at KAST Construction
KAST Construction Names New CEO as $702.5M Florida Firm Completes Ownership Handoff
Longtime chief Mike Neal steps back following transition involving eight senior executive partners. Nearly four years after Neal offered eight senior executives the opportunity to buy into KAST Construction, the West Palm Beach, Fla.-based contractor is completing its leadership handoff.
Sean Ouellette, KAST's president and chief operating officer, will succeed Neal as CEO in December, the company announced. The move follows an internal succession plan that Neal says began in early 2023. KAST publicly announced the eight executives' admission to its ownership group that June. The eight partners will hold full ownership of the company after the transition; KAST did not disclose the transaction's value.
"I've already retired twice," says Neal, 70, who spoke with ENR after accepting the 2026 Southeast Legacy Award. Since he joined KAST in 2010, its annual revenue has grown from about $50 million to $702.5 million in 2025. He notes the timing leaves him room to pursue other interests.
He points to KAST’s three Florida offices in West Palm Beach, Miami and Tampa as the reason the company is ready.
"They can manage their own business, build their own relationships, and they have a great group of people supporting them,” he says.
Neal adds, "I wanted this to be a really good transition. We’re right where we need to be."
Neal and his existing partners ruled out an outside CEO from the start, wanting to preserve continuity and show employees they could advance into the company's top positions. KAST has also identified another generation of leaders who could eventually succeed the current partners.
Ouellette, a 26-year industry veteran, joined KAST in 2016 to launch its Tampa office. He became COO in 2023 and president in October 2025.
As COO, Ouellette spent two and a half years modernizing accounting, human resources, IT, operations and preconstruction. “He had the energy and passion to just immerse himself in that,” Neal says.
Ouellette notes that while KAST had invested heavily in project teams, rapid growth left its back-office systems in need of support.
“Sometimes you've got to take a tactical pause and look in the mirror and say, ‘OK, where are weak spots and what do we need to do?’” he says.
Ouellette is one of the eight partners, who include the top two leaders in each main office: Michael MacDonald and Sean Martin in West Palm Beach, Modesto Millo and Neil Levy in Miami, and Kristine Retetagos and Alex Cervera in Tampa. Jim Rhinehart, who leads market diversification, rounds out the group.
Under this structure, Neal says, a customer building in Miami works with an office led by two shareholders, which reinforces discipline in choosing projects.
“It’s gotta be the right work,” he says. “The right margins, the right contract, the right risk profile for our company, not too big, not too small.”
All three offices report to Ouellette, who regularly reviews their deals and operations.
Ouellette emphasizes the importance of employees: "You realize very quickly that the only asset that you have as a company is the people that are out there representing you every day."
The ownership shift has also changed how the partners work together. Ouellette explains, “We all worked at the company for many years and were friendly with each other. But we had not worked as partners. The longer transition gave us time to learn to lead together, which a quicker, more transactional handoff would not have allowed.”
“Now that the inside of the business is shored up and strong, we can go look forward,” Ouellette says.
Beyond Orlando, where KAST recently signed a lease for an office and is building out a local team, the company is also exploring opportunities in Southwest Florida, including Napl