After 34 years as chief executive of Matt Construction, Steven Matt is passing the baton to Brian Saenger, who has been chief executive of downtown real estate development firm The Ratkovich Co. for four years.

Matt, who will remain in his role as chairman, co-founded the firm in 1991 alongside his late father Paul Matt and uncle Al Matt.

Headquartered in Santa Fe Springs, Matt Construction has a made a name for itself through local projects including redesigning The Petersen Automotive Museum, renovating the Hollywood Bowl Stage and Shell and building the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.

After conducting a national search, the Matt Construction team selected Saenger due to his “wisdom, character, integrity and ability to think strategically about our future and take Matt (Construction) to the next level,” Steven Matt said in a statement.

Another selling point was Saenger’s previous experience stepping up as chief executive at a family-founded firm, when he took over for Wayne Ratkovich in 2020.

“(Brian’s) experience as a CEO leading a family company, as a real estate developer and as a real estate attorney gives us an expertise that we don’t have in our C-Suite that will help our clients build great projects,” Matt said.

Prior to succeeding Ratkovich as chief executive, Saenger was chief operating officer for four years and vice president of acquisitions for six years. During his tenure, he brought in more than $1.5 billion of equity and debt for the firm and led $500 million in acquisitions.

‘Evolution, not revolution’

Saenger hopes to emulate his previous experience filling the shoes of leadership foundational to a company.

“My approach is simple: It’s evolution, not revolution,” Saenger said. “Matt has a great team of capable builders already, and my goal is to support that team as they seek to evolve and grow their business across product types and geographies.”

Saenger first connected with Matt Construction during its transformation of the Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose hangar at Playa Vista – which resided on property owned by The Ratkovich Co. – into Google’s L.A. headquarters.

Saenger said he will look back fondly on his years at The Ratkovich Co. but is excited for the next chapter, noting that listening will be crucial to integrating into a legacy company.

“Part of that process is going to be essentially a listening tour to meet the balance of the team members that I have not yet met, and listening to what their thoughts are about the strengths and challenges facing the company, and taking that feedback and working with the executive team to move the company forward and make it stronger and better,” Saenger said.

In addition to this role change, Matt Construction also recently promoted Jason Mosier – who had been a senior vice president – to chief commercial officer and executive vice president.