As the son of a General Contractor, Dennis Hacker learned how to finish concrete before learning how to specify a mix design. One could say he was born with construction in his blood. An Ohio State University graduate, Dennis enjoyed 27 years of writing specifications with Fanning Howey, almost exclusively K-12 education projects, before deciding a change was needed. He recently joined Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill as a Specifications Specialist. Joining SOM in Chicago is a fulfillment of a childhood dream. Growing up in Northern Indiana, he visited Chicago on several occasions and was enamored with much of the architecture.
Dennis has been a valuable member of CSI since 1987 and joined the Chicago chapter in October of 2019. He was encouraged to join CSI in the 80’s by a mentor. The mentor explained there was a lot of value in CSI and he would always get back more than he would give. This has been very true. As President of both the Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio chapters, he has made business relationships that have been very valuable and many have become lifetime friends
Dennis enjoys working as part of an integrated team, His most memorable was when he worked on a project where the Owner wanted to see how much they could reduce operating costs. We (the team) were able to reduce operating costs by over 40% making the Owner very happy and being part of the team effort was very satisfying. This is greatly attributed to the fact that he values being a good listener.
In his spare time, Dennis enjoys reading business management books, golfing (but he notes he isn’t winning any tournaments with his skills), and cooking.