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Digital Edition2026 Theo Award Winner: Foundation Building Materials
Growth is the goal for most organizations. But growth at the pace Foundation Building Materials (FBM) has experienced it comes with a specific and immediate challenge: how do you maintain consistency, accountability, and a culture of care across dozens of newly acquired locations, each with its own history, its own habits, and its own way of doing things?
In just 14 months, FBM expanded from 359 to 439 locations nationwide — a nearly 22% increase in footprint, driven by four major acquisitions. Each new company that joined the organization brought its own workers’ compensation practices, safety expectations, and claim-handling norms.
Without a unifying framework, the risks were real: inconsistent injury reporting, uneven support for injured workers, and gaps in compliance that could compound quickly across hundreds of locations.
The risk management team’s answer was a deliberate, scalable approach they call The Foundation Way.
White Glove Service, at Scale
The Foundation Way isn’t primarily a compliance framework — it’s a service philosophy.
“Whenever we have employees that are injured, whether it be medical only or indemnity, we always reach out to them via text message or by phone, letting them know we are sorry for their injury and that we are here to answer any questions and walk them through the process,” said Anna Kakuta, a key member of FBM’s risk management team.
That personal outreach, she said, has been one of the most powerful tools in the program’s arsenal — and one of the most effective at keeping litigation rates low.
“I know sometimes it may seem time consuming,” she said, “but it has really helped us reduce our litigation rate. Our litigation rate is very, very low given the amount of employees we have and the amount of claims we have.”
The emphasis on direct communication reflects something the team understands clearly: for many of FBM’s frontline employees, a workers’ compensation claim is uncharted territory.
Anna Kakuta, Work Comp Sr. Manager, FBM
“Some of our employees don’t have a high school education, and this world of workers’ comp is new to them,” Kakuta said. “This is a life-altering situation. We want to make sure that any questions they have are answered, and that they know they have somebody to go to.”
Building the Infrastructure for Consistency
Delivering that level of care across hundreds of locations — including newly acquired ones still learning FBM’s systems — requires more than good intentions. It requires disciplined infrastructure.
The risk management team runs Zoom trainings with new branch managers and regional safety coordinators immediately upon acquisition, walking them through the tools, the expectations, and the reasoning behind the approach. The goal is alignment from day one — so that a worker injured at a location that joined the organization last month receives the same quality of support as one at a longstanding FBM branch.
FBM’s partnership with CorVel has been central to making that work.
“We are very hands on — we’re not just your regular employer,” Kakuta said. “I have worked behind a desk adjusting claims, and so has our VP of Risk Management. We bring that experience to our adjusters and collaborate with them on the importance of calling our employees, especially indemnity employees, and explaining the workers’ comp process — how benefits work, the rate they’ll receive, when they’ll be paid.”
CorVel’s nurse triage hotline has been another significant asset, intercepting potential claims early and routing injured workers to the right level of care — keeping many from escalating to full claims at all. When urgency demands it, CorVel dispatches a nurse case manager directly to the hospital, without waiting for the formal claim to be filed.
“That collaboration has helped out immensely,” Kakuta said.
A Program Built to Keep Growing
On the safety side, FBM has implemented targeted initiatives around its highest-exposure operational risks — boom truck safety protocols including mandatory load-securing measures, and vehicle-mounted cameras across the fleet to support driver coaching and accountability.
Early operational feedback on both fronts is encouraging. Deliveries are more controlled. Coaching conversations are more informed. And across the organization, branch managers and regional leaders have greater clarity about what’s expected — and why.
The program doesn’t yet have years of claims data to point to. FBM’s growth has been too recent and too rapid for long-term trend lines to fully emerge. But the early indicators are pointed in the right direction, and the organizational infrastructure is now in place to sustain and scale what’s been built.
“Foundation Building Materials stood out as a Theo Award candidate for its ability to successfully integrate rapid growth into a unified, disciplined risk management program,” said Jason Wheeler, CorVel Vice President of National Sales & Account Management.
“Under Heidi Bastien’s leadership, the organization strengthened consistency in claims management, improved operational visibility, and embedded safety as a core organizational value across its expanding footprint. CorVel is proud to partner in these efforts, working collaboratively to enhance claims outcomes, streamline communication, and support a safer, more resilient organization as it continues to grow. This combination of a scalable strategy, a collaborative partnership, and a commitment to employee well-being makes Foundation Building Materials highly deserving of this award.”
As acquisitions continue — and at FBM, they will — the Foundation Way is designed to travel with them. New locations don’t have to figure out the workers’ comp program on their own. They step into a system built for exactly this kind of growth.
“The strategy is working,” Kakuta said simply. “And as we take on more acquisitions, we know there’s the possibility of more claims — so we’ll bring on more people to help us, and keep building from there.” &
The Theo Award celebrates its sophomore year, honoring 28 workers’ compensation programs for their excellence and service to workers across the nation. To learn more about the award and amazing qualities each winner possesses, visit here.
