John Baker came to Buena Vista in the summer of 1983, between his freshman and sophomore year of high school. He worked part-time for the family firm, CW Suter Services. His task: To help install heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in the new 2.5-acre underground campus center, Siebens Forum.

“I remember it being a great building space as we installed the HVAC system and did all the work underground,” John says from his office at CW Suter Services in Sioux City. “I learned a lot about the business by working for the company as a high school student.”

Soon, John would enroll at Buena Vista, arriving as a freshman in the fall of 1986. He took business classes in the Siebens School of Business, located in the state-of-the-art site he had a hand in bringing online. John majored in marketing, but his wasn’t always a Dean’s List experience, he says with a laugh.

“I remember Dr. Sandra Madsen taking me aside once during my freshman year,” he says. “She’d given a test, and I hadn’t prepared as I should have. She looked right at me and said: ‘Listen, you are bright; you maybe didn’t study a lot in high school. This is different. I want you to study and then I will allow you this one time to retake the test.”

John studied. He retook the exam and performed better. Much better. To this day, he can’t recall what class from which the anecdote arises. The teachable moment? He’ll never forget it.

“I think about that conversation with Dr. Madsen and the lesson she gave me at age 18: ‘You cannot beat preparation,’” he says.

John went on to earn a master’s degree. He worked with his father to grow CW Suter Services, which ultimately expanded to sites in Spencer, Spirit Lake and Yankton, S.D., while always enhancing the sheet metal fabrication shop in Sioux City, a commercial plumbing and piping division, and a residential plumbing side.

John and CW Suter Services employees would return to Buena Vista for capital projects such as the Lamberti Recreation Center and the Estelle Siebens Science Center, which opened in 2001 and 2004, respectively.

And 40 years following the opening of Siebens Forum, John Baker and his company returned to design and install heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems at BVU’s new apartment-style residence hall, a beautiful 4-story site that’s now home to 222 Beaver undergraduate students. CW Suter Services managed that project as a business owned by its 252 employees, a transition and source of pride that took place in 2023.

Buena Vista, too, remains a source of pride for the 1990 BVU graduate-turned-CEO/President.

“It’s been a lot of fun having my vantage point and seeing how our employees and our family-oriented company have played a small role in the growth and progress at Buena Vista University,” John says. “Siebens Forum was – and still is – one of the best academic and student centers in the Midwest. The Science Center and the Lamberti Recreation Center helped BVU and its students achieve in so many ways.

“It’s great to see the new apartment-style residence hall continue on our commitment to deliver the best experience possible for all of our students,” he says. “As a Buena Vista graduate and a member of the CW Suter Services team, I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”