Professional Experience

Derek Hunderman has spent 25 years leading organizations through growth, turnaround, post-acquisition integration, and market collapse across construction, manufacturing, and commercial real estate. His career is built on a simple belief: leaders determine outcomes. Everything else follows from that.

Most recently, Derek served as COO of Wolverine Construction, a 200-person commercial construction firm operating across industrial, healthcare, multi-unit residential, and commercial sectors. He designed and implemented a company-wide business operating system, built a leadership team capable of real accountability, and guided a full brand refresh that reinforced an already-strong 85%+ client retention rate.

Prior to Wolverine, Derek was Director of Sales and Operations at Feyen Zylstra, where he led a $40M+ division through financial stabilization and delivered COVID-19 critical infrastructure for major healthcare clients. As President of CopperRock Construction, he built the strategic and operational foundation of an early-stage company from scratch. At Kerkstra Precast, he led a management team against a $50M operating budget, introduced Lean Principles across the organization, and doubled budgeted net profit through new accounting systems, revamped quality and safety programs, and smarter talent acquisition. Earlier, as Managing Partner at Colliers International, he led the firm through the worst market downturn in its history and achieved the highest return on revenue in company history during that period.

Consulting Experience

At Pondera, Derek’s primary client service areas are Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, Team Alignment and Effectiveness, and Succession Planning. His deep operational background gives him a distinctive lens as a coach: he has sat in the COO and President seat across multiple industries, which means he understands the real pressures leaders face and meets them there.

Derek works with business owners, senior executives, and leadership teams who are ready to grow their capacity and impact. His coaching approach is direct, practical, and grounded in what actually moves organizations forward. He specializes in helping leaders build self-awareness, clarify expectations, and develop the kind of accountability culture that produces sustainable results. He brings particular expertise in working with leaders in capital-invested and privately held companies in construction, manufacturing, and related industries.