Greg Troemel was recognized as the Department of Technology’s Distinguished Alumnus for 2019.
In 1980, Troemel attended Illinois State University on a baseball scholarship. When an elbow injury sidelined him from a professional baseball career, Greg decided to pursue a construction management degree, graduating in 1984. In 1985, he was hired by the Town of Normal as a building inspector. In 2000, he became the director of the Building and Zoning Department for the Town of Normal. Over the past 34 years, he has seen a population growth of 19,000 residents and over 5,500 new homes constructed with an estimated construction value of $2.8 billion. He has also seen the Diamond Star/Mitsubishi/Rivian auto plant construction, record off-campus student housing growth, extensive retail development along the Veterans Parkway and Main Street corridors, construction of the Heartland Community College Campus, significant expansions to the Advocate BroMenn Medical Center, and the redevelopment of the Shoppes at College Hills and Uptown Normal.
Important parts of his professional development included participation in regional, state and national code organizations as well as several local disability and accessibility organizations. A noteworthy accomplishment for the Inspection Department is the current insurance service office building code enforcement grading system rating that places the department in the top eight percent of all Illinois municipalities operating a building department.
He has remained connected to the construction management program including the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) student chapter activities, the IPOC Student Chapter, chairing the Wayne H. Zook scholarship committee, Construction Management Student Association (CMSA) events, teaching TEC322 for 13 years, participating in the Capstone 394 presentation evaluations, and participating in two successful construction management accreditation processes.
