Hitting a recession job market with a fresh architecture degree in hand, Abner got creative. He took his experience interning at an architecture firm that designed cell towers, and went to work expediting permits for the real estate procurement arm of a telecom carrier. There, Abner witnessed firsthand the importance of well-coordinated drawing sets, and became a passionate advocate for BIM. He’s worked on large scale projects with rigorous clash detection and coordination efforts. At TEECOM, he takes advantage of in-house continuing education to hone his BIM skills.

Abner’s been to seven countries, and lived in Florence for a year. He loves learning about other cultures, but the real draw for him is the cuisine. “Traveling specifically to eat is pretty high up on the list of things I love doing,” he says. One example: he went to Nashville not for the music, but the food. There, he enjoyed the dry-rub hot chicken and barbecue ribs — the spicier the better.

At least three times a week, you’ll find Abner shooting hoops. Growing up in Chicago in the 90s, he says he was seven years old when the Bulls began their second three-peat, and his dad worked for a company that had box seats at the games. In fact, when Abner was born, his dad was playing in a basketball tournament. Basketball is part of his DNA now.

Wilderness Retreat

When it’s time to completely disconnect from tech, Abner hits the trails. Roughing it is refreshing. Once, he and a friend were backpacking in the wilderness and two bear cubs ran across their path and climbed a nearby tree. Knowing that the mama bear couldn’t be far behind, Abner and his friend froze. After twenty minutes of waiting, they decided to run for it, and sprinted through that section of trail. “We ran for like half an hour,” Abner says. “Fortunately, at the end of the run there was a lake to jump into!”