BuildIT’s Founders Day 2025 Gala Reception was dedicated to the First Responders and Recovery Teams from the devastating 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires. From across the City and County of Los Angeles, California, the United States, Canada and Mexico, First Responders worked tirelessly to extinguish the catastrophic flames. Once the flames were out, the recovery process began with the assistance of many public agencies on the local, regional, state, and national levels. The healing has barely begun and the road back will be long. At the Gala Reception and during our Gala Dinner & Awards Program, BuildIT honored the public and private sector businesses who have, and are, making an impact. 

One of the public agencies that has worked tirelessly within the fabric of the response/recovery teams has been Caltrans. Our Chair of the Gala Reception was Ramon Hopkins, who is Chief, Division of Construction for Caltrans.

In 1992, Ramon (Ray) Hopkins graduated from the University of Arizona and began his engineering career in the United States Marine Corps as a Combat Engineer Officer. He joined Caltrans in 1998 as a Design Engineer. Soon after, he transferred to Construction and began working as a Resident Engineer and later as a Construction Engineer. In December 2020, Ray was selected as the Chief, Division of Construction, for the California Department of Transportation. In this role he is responsible for providing statewide policies, procedures, and guidance for highway construction throughout California. He leads the HQ Construction team in support of roughly $14.1-Billion dollars of ongoing construction projects on the State Highway System.