Nato Flores ('79 Mechanical Engineering)

Nato Flores

President & Majority Owner, Tower General Contractors Incorporated

BS Mechanical Engineering, Cal Poly Pomona, 1979

As a high school student, Nato Flores, an immigrant from Mexico, participated in an afterschool program at the Rockwell International Corporation plant in Downey. He was awarded a $4,400 scholarship through the program, which he used to attend Cal Poly Pomona. Despite his passion for mechanical engineering, Nato struggled in his first quarter at Cal Poly Pomona, the math curriculum a challenge for the student who had barely passed Algebra I and Algebra II in high school.

“I decided right then and there that I wanted to stay and finish, if for no better reason than my father would not have to explain to friends and family that his son had to drop out of college,” he says.

Success in college was achieved by following these five steps: recognize a problem that needs correcting, get organized, understand your environment, get help and go to experts when you need to.

In 1985, Nato and fellow Cal Poly Pomona alumnus Bob Freeman started Tower General Contractors Incorporated, a company that specializes in projects for clients in the educational, healthcare/biomedical, entertainment, retail, industrial, government and defense industries. Tower General Contractors has built many landmark projects such as the Laborers Union International Heaquarters in Los Angeles, the Seismic Upgrades and Renovation of the LAX Theme Building, the Huntington Hospital Emergency Department Expansion, and the Columbia Memorial Space Shuttle Center in Downey, located on the site where Nato attended the Rockwell afterschool program.