Senior Leadership

As Chief Executive Officer, Jeffrey (Jeff) Hansen works with stakeholders to ensure awareness of the overall strategic direction and financial health of the company. Specifically, Jeff is responsible for driving the integrity and sustainability of the business by building a culture of leadership excellence and accountability. Jeff believes in fostering a progressive business environment through innovation, creativity and growth to maximize the organization’s performance and effectiveness.

Jeff leads AP’s national footprint of border-to-border and coast-to-coast capabilities to deliver an exceptional product and building experience to its customers. Jeff has held financial leadership positions in family-owned entrepreneurial companies with operations in construction, real estate development and property management. Jeff is a certified public accountant.

Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Northern Iowa.

As Mountain States President, John directs all operational activities in our Colorado and Wyoming offices and is responsible for strategic planning, risk management, and operational decisions. He began his field career with AP in 1992. As he progressed through various roles, including project engineer, superintendent, and senior superintendent, Herrera’s career trajectory was shaped by a blend of hands-on experience and learning the intricacies of construction documentation processes.

A life event led him to transition into an office capacity, where he honed his skills and ascended to increasing leadership roles. John’s success is grounded in perseverance, continuous learning, and embracing both successes and setbacks. He emphasizes the importance of pushing beyond comfort zones, being receptive to feedback, and maintaining resilience during challenging times.

John believes in giving back to our communities. He is serving as a Board Member for Construction Education Foundation (CEF), Board Director for Five Star Education Foundation and serves as a representative for AP at the Adams County Regional Economic Partnership. He is also involved in workforce development programs and is passionate about growing our community’s next generation of construction personnel. In his AP role, John encourages the support of career development programs emphasizing our participation in high school, college, and apprenticeship programs as both recruiters and mentors. Additionally, John advocates for internal training programs including leadership development, strength finding, and process improvement training.

John is an approachable leader with an open-door policy. You will often find John engaged in conversation with employees in the shared kitchen, routinely meeting with clients, and often on project sites continuing conversations with our field staff and subcontractors.

As Regional President of AP’s Gulf States region, Will Pender has over 17 years of construction industry experience and is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the AP Gulf States Region, assuming responsibility for all operational activities, business performance, risk management and client relations. Will believes that the key to being successful in business and leadership is the genuine relationships and friendships built. He reminds himself of this every day with the quote, “People want to work with people they like, know and trust.”

With a strong foundation in operations, Will has generated over $1B in revenue throughout his career. These project types ranged from high rise multi-family projects and historic worship facilities to the emerging market of online retail automated distribution. He is a business leader with a deep knowledge of operations, markets, financial reporting, and economic forecasting. Some of his favorite projects throughout his career offered challenges ranging from shortened schedules or complicated sites, in which colleagues bonded and developed together as a team.

Will is passionate about teaching and helping others grow both personally and professionally. At any given time, he is actively mentoring two or more individuals. In addition, Will presents an AIA accredited course on business development and client relations once a month to various firms throughout the A/E/C industry.

Will holds a bachelor of arts from Indiana University, currently serves on the Salvation Army ARC Board of Directors and is actively involved on the Advisory Board for the Urban Land Institute.

As Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Cara Peterson is responsible for AP’s corporate legal strategy, including legal processes, policy compliance, and contract management and resolution. She is a key leader of AP’s legal team, providing strategic guidance to help the organization effectively resolve disputes and proactively mitigate potential business risks.

Cara brings 25 years of private practice and in-house experience to her role, including 15 years working in the construction industry. Her legal expertise in litigation, employment, corporate, transactional and risk management makes her a strong partner and leader for AP and its clients. Cara is an active member of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution with the American Arbitration Association.

Cara holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership Management from the College of St. Benedict, a master’s degree in Public Administration from Hamline University and a J.D. from Hamline University School of Law.

Molly Weiss serves as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for AP, providing overall leadership of the human resources team and function across the company. As the senior executive in charge of HR and communications, she is responsible for succession planning, recruitment and retention, performance management, training and professional development, companywide corporate communications, organizational development and total rewards.

With more than 20 years of human resources and management experience and ten years in the construction industry, Molly has a proven track record of leading and aligning teams to drive positive outcomes. She works closely with executive leadership and internal teams to develop strategies and programs that support our company goals, business priorities, mission and values. She also works to build strong working relationships with key partners and establish meaningful connections and understanding among internal stakeholders.

Molly has a bachelors’ degree from St. Cloud State University and a master’s from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. She has participated in a variety of leadership development and professional certification programs and is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.