John Burt
Co-Owner, Senior Welder/Fabricator, Blacksmith
John was raised in both Colorado and Texas. As a young man he got his start in welding and fabrication in Texas while helping maintain the family ranch.
His heart has always called him back to Colorado where he'd spent his childhood. In 2013, he took a teaching position at Buena Vista High School in the Industrial Arts Program where he taught welding, woodworking and drafting for seven years.
John has a passion for working with kids. He has dedicated his life to teaching and mentoring and continues to work with young people who are interested in making welding or woodworking their career.
John enjoys working with clients to find creative and functional solutions to meet their needs. He has spent decades refining his skills and expanding his knowledge of both metal and woodworking. The dedication to his craftsmanship shows in every project.
When not in the shop, John can be found outside enjoying the beauty of Colorado while whitewater padding, snowboarding, snowmobiling, riding four wheelers, hiking, walking the pups, exploring and testing his personal motto:
"What could possibly go wrong?"
Becky Encizo
Co-Owner, Project Manager
Becky is the co-founder of Arkansas Valley Welding and Fabrication. She comes from a corporate healthcare background. For many years prior to starting AVW&F, she focused on quality assurance and performance improvement processes in healthcare settings.
Becky was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama and moved to Colorado in 2015 to be close to the mountains. She enjoys time spent outdoors with John snowboarding, riding ATVs, hiking, rafting, and snowmobiling. These days, even though she has zero welding skills,
Becky spends the majority of her time in the shop helping John and other staff bring projects to completion. She especially enjoys time spent interacting with customers and helping them design the perfect product for their needs.
Anna Gabriel
Designer, Welder
Anna wears several hats around the shop including designer, mathematician, and welder. She is responsible for all CAD design work, including preparing files for CNC plasma cutting, producing 3D renderings, and running simulations to ensure the structural integrity of our products. She is proficient in Fusion 360, Inkscape, CAD, and Solidworks and performs all the complicated calculations necessary for our more technical projects.
Anna family moved to Buena Vista when she was in the 8th grade. She discovered her passion for welding and metal working while taking four years of high school metal shop classes from John Burt. Anna is in her senior year at the School of Mines and will graduate with her degree in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in math.
When Anna is not working on design projects she loves nothing more than being in the shop welding.
Who we are
We seek to be the very best welding and fabrication service in Buena Vista and the surrounding valley. With over 25 years of experience and our in-house or on-site services, our mission is to help ensure our clients the highest quality work, from art to custom brackets, we do it all.