Soon-to-be-Northern Iowa grad set for full-time CANCO role

CEDAR FALLS — Carl A. Nelson & Company is pleased to announce that upon her graduation from the University of Northern Iowa in December 2025, intern Hailey Nie will join the firm full-time as a project engineer. Hailey will begin her new role in January 2026, fresh from earning her bachelor's degree in Construction Management.

She will be assigned to CANCO's north office, joining a team of project managers and engineers who lead a range of project types, from industrial to education, healthcare and more.

Hailey is a native of Jesup, Iowa. She enrolled at UNI after graduating in 2022 from Jesup High School, where her interest in construction began with a hands-on experience helping expand the baseball equipment shed at the school.

"I liked seeing the project from start to finish," said Hailey. After enrolling at Northern Iowa as an open major, Hailey chose construction management as a career path despite having no family connection to the industry, or any personal history beyond that one class. The alternative consideration was something in the health sciences, perhaps in a lab setting. Her lone construction experience swayed her decision.

Going to work for CANCO part-time in early 2024, and a series of internships through the present day, helped expose her to a range of project types, and exposed her to mentors in the office and in the field. In addition to work in the office, Hailey also has had a chance to work on job sites, pitching in with a construction management project at Grundy Center Community School District in 2024. She is interning in the office full-time again this summer, and will return to a part-time role in the fall before graduating and starting her career.

Hailey said she considered other options before choosing to stick with CANCO. A big part of convincing her she'd already found the right company was the relationships she saw among her co-workers, including those in the main office in Burlington, Iowa. She knew that kind of feeling would be harder to come by in a bigger, more impersonal firm.

Once she gets on the job full-time, Hailey said she looks forward to working her way up to a project manager role. While she especially enjoyed working on the school project, she's also interested in commercial and industrial projects. Hailey already is gaining experience at reviewing drawings, coordinating subcontractors and cost estimating.

"I think it's been a really good experience," she said of her CANCO internships. "I've definitely learned a lot."

Jamie Stanley, vice president of operations for Carl A. Nelson & Company's Cedar Falls office, said Hailey already is having an impact.

"Hailey contributes significantly to Team CANCO," he said. "She is hard-working, skilled, and highly detailed in her work. Together, we look forward to continued growth, development, and achievement."

Hailey heads into her final semester at Northern Iowa — she will graduate in 3 1/2 years — with a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average, and as a member of the UNI Construction Management Club. Away from school and budding career, Hailey enjoys travel and time outdoors, including bicycle rides and kayaking, with family and friends.

Hailey Nie started with Carl A. Nelson & Company as a part-time intern in early 2024, and has remained with the firm. In January 2026, after her graduation in Construction Management from the University of Northern Iowa, she will join CANCO full-time as a project engineer. CANCO