create some excitement! trendlines · important safety and evacuation procedures in place before an...

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A L S O I N S I D E

F I R M I N D E X

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w w w . t h e z w e i g l e t t e r . c o m

M&A activity picking up

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xz SEARCH SAVVY: Don’t pigeon-hole searches. Page 7xz HR: Hiring on the horizon. Page 9xz FINANCE: What drives financial decision-making? 1

Ready to recruit

The percentage of A/E/P and environmental consulting firms with a recruiting/human resources budget has remained the same again this year, according to ZweigWhite’s 2014 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey. In fact, 32 percent of respondents to the survey in 2014, 2013, and 2012 all report that their firm has a recruiting/HR budget. In 2012, the percentage of firms with a recruiting/HR budget decreased 2 percent, from 34 percent the previous year. In 2011, this number dropped 14 percent from a five-year high of 48 percent in 2010. – Margot Suydam, Survey Manager

T H E V O I C E O F R E A S O N F O R A / E / P & E N V I R O N M E N T A L C O N S U L T I N G F I R M S

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Ayers Saint ............................................................ 9Brinjac Engineering ............................................... 4BRPH Architects – Engineers, Inc. ........................ 9CH2M HILL .......................................................... 12CRB Consulting Engineers, Inc. ........................... 9East China Architectural Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. ................................. 12English + Associates Architects, Inc. .................... 9HKS, Inc. .............................................................. 11HOEFER WYSOCKI ARCHITECTURE ..................... 9HOK ....................................................................... 3NELSON................................................................. 3Wilson Associates .............................................. 12See MARK ZWEIG, page 2

Mark Zweig

HR | FINANCES U P P L E M E N T S

Pages 9 - 12

I can’t stand it when my seven-year-old tells us how bored she is. Drives me

absolutely insane! But I’m afraid that boredom is a big problem in the A/E/P and environmental business today. Many companies have boring marketing materials. Their websites are boring. Their proposals and presentations are boring. Their workplaces are boring. Their projects are boring. And the boringness of it all is costly to the firms’ ability to sell work, recruit and retain motivated staff members, and attract outside sources of capital.

Tolerating all this boredom could be costing you big money – not to mention boring you, too. So why not make things more exciting? Here are some things you could do:

1) Jazz up your office. We went into an engineering firm office the other day. It was so bad, so stale, so boring – I was amazed. I thought I had time-travelled back 30 years to the Carter and Burgess 1100 Macon Street Annex (a converted bus garage). Although office expenses are pure overhead, a new office can really boost morale, communications and ef-ficiency. And while you are at it, get the largest sign your city and landlord will allow, and cut down those crazy large shrubs that scratch every visitor’s car in your parking lot.

Create some excitement!Eight suggestions from Mark Zweig to motivate staff, from office decor to proposal-making.

71%75%

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2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

5-Year strategic plan involves M & A

Firms currently considering buyinganother

Many companies have boring

marketing materials. Their

websites are boring. Their

proposals and presentations are

boring. Their workplaces are

boring. Their projects are

boring.

THE ZWEIG LETTER | MARCH 17, 2014, ISSUE 1047

2 © Copyright 2014. ZweigWhite. All rights reserved.

A/E BUSINESS NEWSPREZ RELEASES ARMY CORPS BUDGET: The President’s Budget for fiscal year 2015 includes $4.561 billion in gross discretionary funding for the Civil Works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which is offset in part by a proposal to cancel $28 million in unobligated carryover of funds previously appropriated.

“The fiscal 2015 Civil Works budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reflects the Administration’s priorities of supporting and improving the Nation’s economy, protecting the American people, and restoring and protecting our environment,” said Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works. ”This budget continues the Administration’s emphasis on maintaining the Nation’s coastal channels and inland waterways, reducing flood risks to the American public, and restoring large ecosystems – through targeted investments that fund the development, management, restoration, and protection of the Nation’s water, wetlands, and related resources.

“This is a performance-based budget that funds the construction of projects that provide the greatest returns on the Nation’s Civil Works investments for the economy, environment and public safety,” Darcy said. ”The budget continues to reflect the tough choices necessary to put the country on a fiscally sustainable path.”

The Army Civil Works budget funds the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of projects, and focuses on the highest performing work within three main civil works mission areas: commercial navigation, flood and coastal storm damage reduction, and aquatic ecosystem restoration. It funds programs that contribute to the protection of the nation’s waters and wetlands; the generation of low-cost renewable hydropower; the restoration of certain sites contaminated as a result of the nation’s early efforts to develop atomic weapons; and emergency preparedness and training to respond to natural disasters.

MARK ZWEIG, from page 1

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Article reprints: For high-quality reprints, including Eprints and NXTprints, please contact The YGS Group at 717-399-1900, ext. 139, or e-mail [email protected].

© Copyright 2014, ZweigWhite. All rights reserved.

2) Refresh your graphic image. Still locked in blue and grey from 1985? Maybe now is the time to make some changes. A new look on the outside connotes a new look on the inside. Good graphic design is not something everyone has in-house. You may need to get some outside expertise involved to develop some new options that look good in 2014 so you aren’t so booooooooring.

3) Redo your website. Again, we see many firms with surprisingly horrible and boring websites. If you want to look like a firm that has its stuff to-gether, you need a website that reflects how clients select A/E/P and environ-mental firms today. For many client types, that will be based on specialized knowledge of their particular industry or organization type. Yet, most firms’ sites are organized around discipline and geography. Not to mention the horrible boring project photos and bad fonts. Hmmmm…

4) Do a new proposal from scratch. Stop using the tired old material and formats and get out a clean sheet of paper instead. It should be fun! Do something all new! Answer the ques-tion of why the client should hire your firm clearly and succinctly! Cut out ev-ery single other bit of boring and unnecessary information.

5) Put some humor in a presenta-tion. Why not have a little fun? Do it in good taste, but make your presenta-tions funnier than they are. If some are afraid that this is “unprofessional” (always a boring thing to say), at least make a presentation more exciting. Videos. Interviews. Live reports from the job site. Something to make it dif-ferent, better and more memorable for those who see and hear it.

6) Add some excitement to a meet-ing. Kit Kat bars. Jugglers. Comedi-ennes. I’m not kidding about the bor-ing planning and staff meetings. They are horrible! Put some life in them.

7) Hire some new people. New people are interesting. It’s fun getting to know them and learning about their back-grounds and insights. They bring a new energy to the firm, also. Your clients may find them more exciting than your existing people, too, and you could find out that they bring you some new clients themselves.

8) Add a new service you’ve never provided. Doing new things for your current clients will keep you learning and growing. And that’s not boring! Try it. MARK ZWEIG is the chairman and CEO of ZweigWhite. Contact him with questions or comments at [email protected].

DAM FAILURE REMEMBERED: When the Big Bay Dam in Lamar County near Purvis, Miss., failed on Wednesday, March 12, 2004, it resulted in one of the largest releases of water due to a U.S. dam failure. Approximately 3.5 billion gallons of water over a quarter-mile-wide path traveled at least 17 miles downstream after what engineers determined to be internal erosion as a result of internal seepage.

Thankfully, no one was killed as a result of the failure. There was significant property damage, however, including the destruction of or damage to more than 100 homes, two churches, a fire station and a bridge. Dam safety experts attributed this outcome partially to the activation of the dam’s emergency action plan. Upon activating the plan, local emergency officials conducted door-to-door evacuations and initiated a reverse call-back system to warn residents of the situation.

“Emergency action plans are valuable tools that can help save lives by putting important safety and evacuation procedures in place before an emergency occurs,” said Lori Spragens, executive director of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO). “Everyone has a role to play in creating a future where all dams are safe, and the anniversary of the Big Bay Dam failure reminds us of the importance of understanding the risks associated with potential dam incidents and failures.”


3

Survey points to increasing numbers of companies willing to buy or be bought. Plus, cautionary tales from the field.

By CHRISTINA ZWEIGContributing editor

Sellers and buyers are likely to return to the market this year, making for an uptick in activity in the subdued

mergers and acquisitions arena for the last few years.

The revelation comes from ZweigWhite’s 2014 Merger & Ac-quisition Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms.

“We think the M&A market is going to heat up, along with the economy. Potential buyers, seeing the economy start to move and improve, will want to take action before valuations get away from them and acquisition prospects get too ex-pensive,” says Gordie Beittenmiller, CFO at HOK (St. Louis, MO), a 1,600-person global design, architecture, engineer-ing and planning firm with 24 offices. HOK earned about $440 million in revenues in 2013, almost none of which was due to M&A.

“Going forward, we will selectively consider acquisitions as a way to grow,” Beittenmiller says.

A case study. NELSON (Philadelphia, PA), a 400-per-son global design, architecture, engineering, space planning and space management firm, has grown extensively through M&As, completing over 20 deals so far, with more planned for the future. The company is a good study for those consid-ering organic versus M&A growth.

Early on, the firm focused primarily on corporate interi-ors and had primarily a relationship-driven client base. As the industry changed the company felt the pressure to have more “dots on the map,” said Ozzie Nelson, chairman and CEO.

While the company expanded greatly pre-downturn, the larger network became truly valuable in the post-recession economy.

“The strengths of growing through M&A are that you if you do this right and go in with your eyes open, you have a known commodity in terms of personnel, rate expense, etc., contrasted with growing organically, where a manager has to

hire, train, etc. When a client asks how many of a particular type of project a team has done together, a newly put togeth-er team won’t be able to say they have any experience,” Nel-son says. “Growing organically can be slow and expensive.”

Nelson offers three reasons why his firm may consider mak-ing an acquisition: “We want to broaden the company so we are ‘Big A,’ ‘Big E,’ and ‘Big I’ and strengthen ourselves in a given geographic market. (A second reason) might be to give us a new vertical or strengthen an existing vertical. A third reason might be to strengthen or expand existing services.”

From the survey. The acquisitions trend has been ris-ing in the U.S.

According to the Merger & Acquisition Survey, a quarter of firms report they’ve made an acquisition in the past five years, with the percentages of firms considering buying an-other firm increasing to 41 percent this year, a jump from 35 percent in 2013, and 30 percent in 2012.

Acquisitions were most popular in the full-service engineer-ing or E/A sector; 86 percent of firms said they would con-sider buying another firm. The Merger & Acquisition Survey also found that more than two-thirds of firms report a merg-er or acquisition is in their strategic plan for the next five years.

While the reasons to acquire a firm are numerous, firms that have done so recently say that sellers were motivated to sell for increased opportunities for staff (50 percent) or a failed ownership plan (14 percent).

A successful merger or acquisition means something differ-ent to every firm. According to the survey, at least a quarter of firms gave very high marks for their latest acquisition – a median of 5 on a scale of 1 to 6. Most often, success was re-lated to an increased market presence and successful integra-tion of two separate entities. Respondents to ZweigWhite’s survey offered numerous statements relating to their fruit-

S U R V E Y

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2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

5-Year strategic plan involves M & A

Firms currently considering buyinganother

M&A PLANS

Source: 2014 Merger & Acquisition Survey, ZweigWhite: www.zweigwhite.com/p-2189-Merger_Acquisition_Survey_2014

See M&A, page 4

M&A activity picking up

“Potential buyers, seeing the economy start to move and improve, will want to take action before valuations get away from them and acquisition prospects get too expensive.”



CALENDARPRINCIPALS ACADEMY: The Principals Academy, a crash course in all aspects of managing a professional services firm, is coming to several cities.

The program is presented by a team of speakers – including ZweigWhite founder and CEO Mark Zweig – with extensive experience working with and for A/E firms.

They have a clear understanding of what it takes to survive, and even thrive, in any economy.

The two-day agenda covers six critical areas of business management from the unique perspectives of architecture, engineering and environmental consulting firms, and is presented in tutorial and case study workshop sessions.

The Principals Academy program also includes a case study workshop session that will provide an opportunity to practice implementing these management strategies in a supervised test-case scenario.

Upcoming events include March 27 and 28 in Scottsdale, Ariz., June 12 and 13 in Pittsburgh, Pa., Oct. 16 and 17 in Los Angeles and Nov. 13 and 14 in Miami.

For more information or to register, call 800-466-6275 or log on to www.zweigwhite.com/seminars/tpa.

BECOMING A BETTER SELLER: Could every person in your firm describe your services in a succinct and persuasive way that demonstrates what sets you apart from the competition? It’s not enough to have the technical expertise to complete projects, you need seller-doers who can convey excitement and tailor the message for the audience.

That’s why ZweigWhite developed a one-day program that will help anyone who could possibly be involved in selling and who wants to be more successful and increase their value to their employers – design and technical professionals as well as marketing and business development professionals, principals, managers, architects, engineers, planners, scientists, surveyors, designers; anyone who wants to know more about selling.

Becoming a Better Seller was specifically developed to help design and technical professionals become more comfortable dealing with clients and promoting the firm and your services.

Seminars will be led by Mark Zweig, ZweigWhite CEO and chairman, or Chad Clinehens, executive vice president, ZweigWhite.

Seminar dates scheduled for 2014 include March 7 in Dallas, and April 11 in Washington, D.C.

Group discounts are available for teams of four or more attendees from the same firm. Please call 800-466-6275 or log on to www.zweigwhite.com/seminars/better_seller for details.

ful acquisitions.

Some comments: “Both entities are able to pursue and win work that in-dividually we would not,” one said. “Success because group quickly merged in with our staff and start-ed sharing opportunities. We were profitable from the beginning,” an-other respondent wrote. Lastly, “We have been able to add new disciplines to the office, including highway and bridge engineering.”

Culture shock. Acquisitions don’t always go well. When asked why firms considered a recent acqui-sition a failure, some respondents said: “We did not understand what it took to integrate sole proprietor into a corporate structure,” or, “We have not been able to grow the primary markets that the company served in municipal engineering and land de-velopment.” Others pointed to diffi-culties in “making the new company employees accept the ownership cul-ture of the company.”

It is no surprise that integrating a re-cently acquired firm is no easy task. Respondents stated some of the most difficult tasks included “inte-grating different cultures,” and “in-corporating their business model into ours and integrating them into our IT system.”

Nelson and Beittenmiller both agree that culture is one of the first and foremost challenges to any success-ful deal.

“The more of these you do, the more you appreciate culture. At the begin-ning I didn’t appreciate how impor-tant culture was,” Nelson says.

“One of the more difficult aspects of growth by acquisition is combining the cultures of two organizations. The closer the fit, the more attention given to the combination, the higher the prospects of a successful acquisi-tion,” Beittenmiller says.

Nelson adds: “Two organizations can look like they fit together like two puzzle pieces on paper but if one or both of these partners don’t want to be a part of a bigger organization or don’t want to go through pain of in-tegration, it can be very challenging – like two single people in a marriage.”

The first question any firm consid-ering M&A should ask is if both or-ganizations are really committed at the core to the same things. Due dili-gence is an important part of the pro-cess.

“Financial and legal due diligence are necessary aspects of any acqui-sition. Is the firm’s financial perfor-mance as it is represented? What is the legal structure of the firm? Per-haps more important are design and cultural due diligence. Does the ac-quired firm’s design portfolio fit with yours? Is the culture similar and com-plementary to yours?,” Beittenmiller says.

“It’s easy to fall in love with a deal on paper and because of that not ask questions… I’ve learned how to ask the tough questions,” Nelson says. These tough questions include di-rect and respectful questions coupled with detailed metrics. “If a company says, ‘We’re relationship driven,’ but they can’t keep a client to save their lives… that’s not a good sign,” Nelson says. “When the day is done you are making a bet largely on people… it’s a gut feel about how it will work with people and how customers will react to the deal.”

Nelson says that in over 20 mergers, not everything has gone as expected.

“In one of the early deals we went in saying, ‘Nothing is going to change’ but it turns out people were really unhappy with the leadership and quit right after that. It’s hard to appreci-ate and understand how effective the existing leadership is with the peo-ple,” he says.

Continued success from both par-ties also involves keeping a partner engaged after the transaction, which comes from the commitment to share risk, and also might come from earn-out components, or by allowing some autonomy to be maintained. For example, Nelson says that the re-cently acquired Brinjac Engineer-ing will remain its own brand and act as a subsidiary of NELSON.

“Because they are engineers as op-posed to interior designers, they will have some cultural differences, but we have to be integrated with shared mission and values,” he says.

M&A, from page 3


5

Experts share what to do to bounce back even stronger from downsizing, so you do it right the next time.

By LIISA SULLIVANCorrespondent

While downsizing is effective (and often necessary) for cost reduc-

tion, it often produces unintended side effects, such as damaged employee mo-rale, poor public relations, and an in-ability to bounce back when the econ-omy improves.

This may sound familiar to companies now recovering from years of reces-sion. So make sure you do it right when the next slowdown hits.

If you need to downsize, do it skill-fully – it can help a company emerge from challenging economic conditions in stronger shape. According to Bain & Company, a management consult-ing firm, when downsizing proves un-avoidable, the ultimate goal should be to eliminate nonessential company re-sources while minimizing the negative impact on the remaining organization.

Many companies downsize to:

z Reduce costs

z Right size resources relative to market demand

z Signal that the company is taking pro-active steps to adjust to changing busi-ness needs

z Take advantage of cost synergies after a merger

z Release the least-productive resources

Skillful downsizing. Bain & Company reports that successful down-sizing requires managers to:

1) Evaluate the overall impact of down-sizing. The total cost of downsizing (financial and non-financial costs) must be taken into account. Managers should calculate the present value of all costs and benefits associated with the cuts, including severance packages, lower

employee productivity due to disorder or talent loss, eventual rehiring expenses, future right-sizing costs and the lost opportunity costs associ-ated with not having the appropriate manpower to accelerate out of the downturn. Investing in

areas customers care about, while com-petitors are cutting back, helps position the company to take or sustain the lead once conditions improve. The value cre-ated from downsizing should exceed the cost of lower employee morale and potential damage to the company’s reputation.

2) Develop a smooth downsizing process. It’s crucial that managers invest ag-gressively in up front planning for the job cuts. A company typically forms a committee to determine the appropri-ate level of downsizing and creates a process that takes into account the best interests of the company and its share-holders. Other important activities are training managers to conduct layoffs and assisting former employees in their job searches.

Understand the human side. Wayne Strom, former professor of be-havioral science at Pepperdine’s Gra-ziadio School of Business and Manage-ment, and a current consultant to exec-utives and organizations, runs Break-through Consulting, which focuses on behavioral science applications for management.

Strom says that every corporate down-sizing event has certain predictable outcomes, such as feelings of betrayal, loss of trust, turf battles, and cynicism about the corporation’s future. On

the upside, downsizing can also bring about opportunities for creating new energy and enthusiasm.

He provides four ways to keep it all together, and maybe even come out ahead of the game:

z Restate your vision of the future. While addressing the mistakes of the past and the needs of the present, man-agement will enhance the probability of

employee commitment by developing a new vi-sion of the best that is possible for the organi-zation. Managers must consciously articulate this vision, solicit input, and invite employees to greater participation and empowerment. Many restructuring scenarios provide an excellent op-portunity to let go of old policies and practices that

may have contributed to the need for downsizing. Then, be ready to imple-ment the steps that will move the orga-nization forward in the new direction.

z Establish a revitalized culture that rewards individual and team ini-tiatives. If executives expect surviving employees to give their best, the com-pany will need to provide substantial evidence of new beginnings. This can be as simple as a clearly articulated vi-sion of where the company will be in five years and a significant investment in the retraining and upgrading of em-ployee skills.

z Create new alliances across de-partments and divisions. Trust is an essential element in corporate re-newal. Employees must trust the ability and integrity of senior management. If employees do not trust the competence of managers and colleagues in doing what is necessary, they may be less than enthusiastic about supporting the renewal process.

z Create a new personal work ethic. Encourage staff to be engaged and take responsibility – “I am responsible for my own future.”

Barbara Morris, president of Elevate

C H A N G E

Wayne Strom, Breakthrough Consulting.

See UPSIDE, page 8

“When cutbacks and layoffs are deemed to be necessary, this is when strong leadership strategies are most needed to guide employees past doubt and toward future success.”

The upside to the downside



BernieSiben

Is your strategic plan finished?The year is marching on and the first quarter is almost over, but it’s not too late.

By now, you should be implementing the strategies that will help you achieve your goals for the year, as identified in your strategic plan. If you want to play ‘catch-up’ and develop a strategic plan, please know that it’s never too late.

See BERNIE SIBEN, page 8

For many years, industry surveys have told us that a large percentage of A/E/P and environmental firms do

not do any kind of strategic planning, and that a similarly large percentage of firms make a plan every year, put it on a shelf or in a network folder and never look at it or even think of it again. More recent surveys confirm that this is still the case.

We are now approaching the end of the first quarter of 2014. By now, you should be implementing the strategies that will help you achieve your goals for the year, as identified in your strategic plan. If you want to play “catch-up” and develop a strategic plan, please know that it’s never too late.

Here is what I included in my firm’s first plan.

z Executive summary. One page summarizing the most im-portant goals and data contained in the plan.

z Positioning. A statement of “who” your firm “is” (since I was a new firm, it was more about “who” I wanted my firm to be).

z Internal analysis. The firm’s mission, values, typical cli-ent, capabilities, competitive advantages, and the Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats (SWOT) analysis from the firm’s perspective.

z External analysis. The SWOT analysis from the client’s perspective (including client input, if you can get it), and a discussion of market share and “mind share”.

z Competitors. Identify your competitors, including their strengths, weaknesses and target markets; identify areas where you must improve to remain competitive.

z Market analysis. Articulation of potential client types, identification of specific target clients, a plan to retain cur-rent clients, and thoughts about why a client would pay a premium for your services.

z Marketing peripherals. A review of available tools (web-site, brochures, giveaways), identification of required new tools and prioritization of development/updating tools.

z Processes. Marketing-related processes, including “Go/No Go,” proposal/SOQ templates.

z Promotional activity. Press releases and media individu-als with whom to build relationships, event planning, trade show attendance, other activities.

z Metrics. What you want to measure, processes to measure it and ideas about what to do with that information.

z Support systems. Staff, hardware and soft-ware, supplies, boilerplate, databases and mailing lists.

z Tentative budget. What you’re going to spend money on and how much; however, this should not be carved in stone as market condi-tions change and the plan is updated.

z Implementation steps. Action items, peo-ple responsible, expected results, deadlines.

I recommend that internal SWOT analysis information be solicited of all participants and sent anonymously to the facilitator, who then develops the four sections for discussion.

If the internal SWOT analysis is to be done in the planning session, I recommend that it be done twice, the first time with no principals, officers or senior managers in the room. In my experience, many wrong answers appear in the SWOT analysis when people are afraid to say what they really think for fear of retribution.

Another question I hear often is, “Who should participate in developing (or updating) our strategic plan?


7

Jeremy Clarke

Dwight Eisenhower made a statement once that bears repeating. He said: “Plans are nothing; planning is

everything.” He meant that a plan should be pliable; it should be flexible to adapt to changing circumstances. However, the fact that plans sometimes demand adjustment down the road doesn’t excuse the absence of careful planning now. That was Eisenhower’s point. Echoing that sentiment, I would say that foresight and the careful, thoughtful mapping of our plans today will help eliminate a potentially costly planning adjustment tomorrow. It’s not enough to “dig the well before you get thirsty” (as the old proverb goes) because digging in the wrong location (absence of foresight) will only make you thirstier.

For this article, I want to apply this principle to recruiting and selection. There seems to be an inordinate amount of “revising” taking place at firms with respect to a particular candidate profile they seek at the outset of a search. The search campaign usually starts with a good preferred candidate profile in place – but then, slowly, over time, the hiring team comes to the realization that what they’ve put on the menu can’t be realistically cooked in the kitchen, so to speak. Regrettably, weeks or months are spent (and a lot of money) looking unrealistically for the kind of candidate that was never going to materialize in the first place. As a result of a whole lot of well-digging, your have nothing to show for your efforts, except an elevated thirst.

So, with that principle in mind, I’d like to offer just a few encouragements that I think may help spare your shovels a bit and get on the right track EARLY toward hiring your next key employee.

1) PLAN for what you really NEED. Recruiting campaigns in-cur more delays for this reason than perhaps any other (which is why I’ve given it the #1 spot on my list). For example: Is it absolutely critical that your next mechanical engineer be a P.E.? If so, fine. But think carefully about that requirement because you may be passing up some outstanding (and per-haps better) talent if you suffer from tunnel vision here. Some-times, you simply can’t compromise on the must-haves. But keep in mind that the more MUSTS you stipulate, the fewer candidates you can court; the longer (and more costly) your search. Just ease up a little on the traditional requirements of the job in order to avail yourself to a wider array of candidates. Besides, you can still keep a sharp eye out for a P.E. along the way. I’m not talking about “settling,” by the way. In fact, opening up the search like this will probably yield you a better candidate in the long run. And wouldn’t it be regrettable if 12 months later you ended up hiring a fantastic, loyal, committed non-P.E. candidate anyway.

Don’t pigeon-hole searchesConsider the unexpected in your next candidate search and you’ll be that much closer to winning the war for talent.

2) PLAN for other viable candidate OP-TIONS. This is closely related to #1, but with a nuance: Suppose you’re looking for a design leader for a healthcare sector you want to open in a new market. You need to get boots on the ground in that market so that you can start do-ing some work you’re winning out there, right? You haven’t budgeted for someone as high as an office leader/managing principal, but you know you’ll need to hire one eventually. For now, you just want a senior designer. So, you spend the next four months pigeon-holed into looking for a 10-plus-year designer-type person but nobody’s biting because there’s simply too much risk in taking a position with a firm that is just now entering a market. Now, mind you, along the way, you’ve managed to strike up some conversations with a dozen or so excellent 15-plus-year office leader level

The search campaign usually starts with a good preferred candidate profile in place – but then, slowly, over time, the hiring team comes to the realization that what they’ve put on the menu can’t be realistically cooked in the kitchen, so to speak.

See JEREMY CLARKE, page 8



UPSIDE, from page 5

BERNIE SIBEN, from page 6

Organizations, a leadership development specialist and coach who helps individuals and organizational teams op-timize potential and achieve goals, says that strong leaders need to lead restructuring efforts.

“There’s nothing like job losses to challenge confidence in leadership,” Morris says. “When cutbacks and layoffs are deemed to be necessary, this is when strong leadership strat-egies are most needed to guide employees past doubt and to-ward future success.”

She says that the true test of an effective leader is one who can successfully steer an organization through a major shakeup while maintaining the confidence and commitment of employees. She advises that resilient leaders guide their workforces past fear and toward success by doing the follow-ing:

z Be visible and honest about expectations

z Provide opportunities for employees to take constructive action

z Keep communicating to build buy-in

z Explain challenges and solutions

z Address rumors

z Recognizes successes

z Don’t forget fun

“Given the right skills and tools, trust in the leadership, and a proper vision of what is possible, every employee can gain the sense of power and responsibility needed to create his or her own future. Under the best of circumstances, there will be a subtle, but real alignment between the ambitions of employees and those of the corporation,” Strom of Break-through Consulting says.

My simple answer is, “Anyone who has anything of value to contribute to the plan.” My preferred “invitation list” includes:

z Owners. Obviously, since it is their financial stake that is most at risk.

z Principals. Some firms give individuals the right to call themselves “principal” on projects, whether they have an own-ership position or not.

z Market sector leaders. The person who leads and coordi-nates pursuits and projects for your firm’s specific market sec-tors (transportation, water, hospitality, healthcare, etc.).

z Marketing leader (whether CMO, director, manager or “lead”). I hope there’s no explanation needed here.

z Financial leader (whether CFO, director, manager or “lead”). This person or his/her group, will be responsible for providing much of the information you need to develop this plan.

z Division managers. If your firm is organized geographically, these individuals will be different from market sector leaders, and will have partial responsibility for pursuits and projects in their geographic areas

z Office managers. These individuals will have partial respon-sibility for the pursuits and projects of their individual offices,

as well as good information on staffing and equipment.

z Senior project managers. When there are senior project managers, these individuals interact with clients on a day-to-day basis; they know what it will take to retain current clients and win new ones.

z Project managers. These individuals interact with clients on a day-to-day basis; they know what it will take to retain cur-rent clients and win new ones.

z New employees. Because they may have competitive intel-ligence on the competition or may have suggestions based on previous employer processes.

z Future leaders. This is a great (and subtle) way to recognize individuals you have identified as the firm’s future leaders; showing them their importance by including them in this ac-tivity can be a great help in retention.

You can develop something as simple or as complicated as you want, depending on the time you want to devote to the effort and the complexity of implementation that makes you comfortable. The important thing is to develop a plan!

BERNIE SIBEN, CPSM, is principal consultant of The Siben Consult, LLC, in Austin, TX, providing strategic and marketing services to AEC and environmental firms nationwide. Contact him at 559-901-9596 [email protected].

candidates (who happen to be the seller-doer types), but didn’t think twice about courting them for the position because you’ve got blinders on! They’re too senior – they’ll expect a higher salary. But the fact is, they can do the work too…. AND sell the practice. And, in all likelihood they’ll be able to hire the necessary design staff you need in the market because they’re so well networked. See? Plan for viable options at the begin-ning of the campaign and give yourself room to recognize/consider the different options the market reveals to you. You’ll capture better talent and save A LOT of time – count on it.

3) Plan to “calibrate” the whole hiring team. Last but not least, everyone on your hiring team should know the profile options on the table – just to be sure you’re all on the same

page. Nothing is as detrimental to a hiring campaign as a frac-tured hiring team. So, before you ever kick-off the search, be sure everyone knows what the nice-to-haves are, and what the must-haves are. Take time to truly mentor the hiring team on the value of thinking outside the box, of being truly entrepre-neurial in their approach to hiring and selection. The most suc-cessful firms approach recruiting this way.

Don’t get tunnel vision. It’s a tragic mistake to pursue an unrealistic, pigeon-holed candidate profile. Plan to carefully consider (and even embrace) the unexpected in your next candidate search and you’ll be that much closer to winning the war for talent.

JEREMY CLARKE is the director of executive search consulting with ZweigWhite. Contact him at [email protected].

JEREMY CLARKE, from page 7

Company growth and the drive to be better top list when it comes to making new hires.


With the economy bouncing back, A/E/P and environmental con-

sulting firms are witnessing a flurry of hiring action. Some firms are simply re-sponding to pent-up demand, but oth-ers are clearly positioning themselves to profit from new market areas.

Below, learn what five companies are doing.

Strong backlog. Melissa Lynch, senior associate and HR man-ager at Ayers Saint Gross (Baltimore, MD), a 138-person profes-sional design firm, says that this year it expects to hire about six- to 10 experienced profes-sional staff members (architects, landscape architects and interi-or designers). Only a

small number of these new hires are due to employees moving out of the area.

Typically, the firm hires two- to four entry-level professional staff each year; it does not foresee adding any new ad-ministrative staff this year.

Lynch says the company is always look-ing for talented designers and technical staff to improve its level of service.

“We are currently experiencing a high-er volume of work than usual, and our backlog indicates this will continue,” she says.

Interns wanted. Kathleen Eng-lish, president and managing principal, English + Associates Architects,

Inc. (Houston, TX), a 15-person full-service architectural and inte-rior design firm, says that it is hoping to hire one architectural in-tern and one interior design intern.

Interns at English + As-sociates typically have a few years of industry experience and share similar values and com-mitment to clients, projects and the overall vision.

“There are a few factors that drive the reasoning behind these hires,” English says. “One is company growth. We are steadily increasing our workload with new projects and clients. The second reason is due to relocation and one staff chose to become a stay-at-home mom. Typically, we are at an average of about 17-18 people and we would like to get there again.”

Aggressive hiring schedules. Chris Anderson, principal, HOEFER WYSOCKI ARCHITECTURE (Leawood, KS), an 86-person firm, says that the company is interested in hir-ing at all levels and within all depart-ments.

Anticipated hires include: two adminis-trative roles, one IT position, two mar-keting staff members, two- to three in-terior designers, five- to eight archi-tects; and two senior-level manage-ment members.

Anderson explains that the main rea-son for these new hires is the addition

of a new Dallas office combined with the firm’s entry into the higher educa-tion market sector.

“Our company is one of the fastest-growing firms in our area and we are looking forward to continued growth and expansion in 2014,” he says.

Patti St. Vincent, corporate coordina-tor, CRB Consulting Engineers, Inc. (Kansas City, MO), a 488-person com-prehensive engineering and design ser-vices firm, says that it also has an ag-gressive hiring schedule for this year. It is hiring 45 engineers (senior level and entry-level in the areas of process, me-

chanical/utility, elec-trical, automation and instrumentation and controls), 20 archi-tects, also senior level and entry level, five ad-ministrative staff, five seasoned project man-agers, and a few engi-

neering specialists in packaging and material handling.

BRPH Architects – Engineers, Inc. (Mel-bourne, FL), a 200-per-son international ar-chitecture, engineering design, and construc-tion services firm, is forecasting the largest growth in its engineer-ing disciplines, specifi-cally for its mechanical, electrical and structur-al areas.

Janie McDermott, director of HR, says that these new hires will meet their growing client needs in their largest sectors – aviation and commercial/in-dustrial.

“Our firm is projected to grow in per-sonnel by 15 percent this year,” McDer-mott says. “This will include a mix of experienced licensed project managers, architects and engineers.”

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G R O W T H

Melissa Lynch, Sr. Associate and HR Manager, Ayers Saint Gross.

Kathleen English, President and Managing Principal, English + Associates Architects, Inc.

Janie McDermott, Director of HR, BRPH Architects – Engineers, Inc.

“We are currently experiencing a higher volume of work than usual, and our backlog indicates this will continue.”

Hiring on the horizon



ON THE MOVEPETERSEN APPOINTED: LEO A DALY (Omaha, NE), a 720-person international architecture, engineering, and interior design firm, announced the promotion and appointment of Dennis Petersen to corporate president. In his new role, Petersen will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the entire company, which includes the LEO A DALY and Lockwood Andrews & Newnam, Inc. (Houston, TX) brands.

Petersen has 34 years of experience as a designer, manager, and executive with LAN, a full service engineering firm that merged with LEO A DALY in 1991. For the past 16 years, he has served as president of LAN, leading the firm to success and profitability every year, and he will continue leading LAN as part of his new role.

Under his leadership, the firm has managed major projects such as Houston Surface Water Transmission Program, Dallas Area Rapid Transit Light Rail, NFL Texans Reliant Stadium, San Antonio Aquifer Storage and Recovery Pipeline, Houston Hobby Airport Redevelopment, and a 75-mile corridor study for I-69.

“Dennis Petersen’s extensive experience, his deep knowledge of our firm and its associated industries, and his business savvy give him impeccable credentials for leading our firm into its second century,” said Leo A. Daly, chairman and CEO.

WARE MALCOMB PROMOTES: Ware Malcomb, an international design firm, announced that Jinger Tapia has been promoted to principal, Design in the firm’s Irvine, Calif. corporate headquarters. In this role as a member of Ware Malcomb’s senior leadership team, Tapia will oversee project design, client communication, and the overall design direction of the firm.

Tapia has over 17 years of architecture and design experience. She began her career with Ware Malcomb in 1996 as a designer in the firms Irvine office. After several years with Ware Malcomb, she left briefly, rejoining the firm in 2002 as senior designer. In 2006, she was promoted to director, Design where she was responsible for the training, management, and operations of the Design Group. Tapia’s vision helped to define the firms design standards of high quality and strong character. She has been instrumental in building and transforming Ware Malcomb’s Design Group into an international studio.

“Jinger possesses a unique combination of incredible design, technical and leadership skills, along with a passion for client service,” said Larry Armstrong, Ware Malcomb CEO. “Jinger’s strong work ethic and desire for excellence set an example for the entire firm, and we are pleased to expand her influence with this well-deserved promotion to principal.”

Tapia has led the design effort for many significant projects throughout her career, including: South Coast Collection (SOCO), an upscale design, culinary and shopping destination in Costa Mesa; 959 Seward, a creative office campus in Hollywood; Pacific Corporate Center, a Class A office building in San Diego; and Summit Oaks, a LEED Silver Certified Class A office building in Santa Clarita. In 2013, she led the design of Ware Malcomb’s award-winning concept for the NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association’s Distribution/Fulfillment Center of the Future Design Competition. She presented this concept at Urban Land Institute’s National Fall Conference in 2013.

KLOTZ ASSOCIATES APPOINTS TO BOD: Klotz Associates (Houston, TX), a 110-person transportation, traffic, ITS, water and sewer, aviation, drainage, land development, environmental and consulting engineering services firm, has welcomed four new directors to its

board. New directors will serve a two-year term and include Steven Pike, Gary Struzick, Ricardo Zamarripa, and Kay Lentz, outside representative.

Pike is the manager of Klotz Associates’ TxDOT Department, where he is responsible for transportation design services, including roadway design and development of plans, specifications and estimates. He brings 18 years of professional experience to his position. Klotz Associates recently named Pike a shareholder of the firm.

Struzick is a vice-president at Klotz Associates. He has 31 years of civil engineering experience, including 24 years with Klotz Associates. He has received much recognition for his work, including the Texas Section ASCE History and Heritage Award and the ASCE Award of Honor-Houston Branch. Struzick gives his time and expertise to several professional efforts and organizations.

Zamarripa is region manager, responsible for the day-to-day operations of Klotz Associates’ offices in Austin and San Antonio. He was recently promoted to vice-president within the organization. He brings 14 years of experience in transportation engineering and project management, including extensive experience in the design of rural and urban roadways and tollway facilities.

Kay Lentz is president of The Lentz Group – a marketing and public relations firm. She has more than 30 years of experience in professional services marketing, was the recipient of the SMPS National Marketing Achievement Award, and was the first person to be named to the SMPS Hall of Fame – Houston.

DAY APPOINTED: Waggoner Engineering (Jackson, MS), a full-service engineering firm, announced that Kevin Day, a geographic information systems specialist and planning designer at the firm, has been elected treasurer of the Association of Floodplain Managers of Mississippi.

Day, who has been with Waggoner since 2006, currently works as a planning and landscape designer for the firm, and also specializes in sustainability design and GIS.

His project experience includes Mississippi’s flood map modernization initiative, Mississippi’s gulf region water and wastewater program, and Mississippi’s Digital Earth Model. Prior to joining Waggoner, Day served for 23 years as lead designer for a nationally recognized construction firm with projects throughout the U.S. and Australia.

“Kevin is an ideal leader for this important association, as it advances the key issues, developments and projects that are making Mississippi a better state,” said Joe Waggoner, founder of Waggoner Engineering. “He has been an integral part of the Waggoner team and is highly skilled in his field.”

LJA HIRES: LJA (Houston, TX), a 375-person full-service civil engineering firm, announced hiring John Penewitt as controller in the firm’s accounting department.

Penewitt joins LJA with over 20 years of accounting leadership positions, including a diversified background in corporate administration. Most recently, Penewitt was the CFO for West Engineering, which was acquired by Lloyd’s Register in 2012.

Penewitt’s past responsibilities include implementing processes and procedures necessary for preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP and IFRS, tax planning and risk management, as well as negotiating lines of credit and construction and acquisition loans. Penewitt has managed coordination of audit reviews, and established the necessary infrastructure in preparation for public offering/acquisition. Penewitt’s experience also includes benefit plan negotiation and implementation, company compliance of ERISA and Department of Labor requirements, and developing and implementing an information technology plan.

Dennis Petersen, Corporate President, LEO A DALY.

Strong strategic plans, plus realistic data – directly from the CFO.


Deciding whether to spend or cut is not a decision to be taken lightly.

There is data to consider and research to be done.

Larry LeMaster, principal and senior vice president, HKS, Inc. (Dallas, TX), a 991-person architecture and engi-neering firm, explains that HKS has a very detailed strategic plan in place de-veloped by its executive teams. All in-vestments in markets, offices and oth-er capital projects are measured against this plan.

“If those investments continue to meet our strategic initiatives, HKS continues to invest. If not, then funding for those initiatives are cut,” he says.

CFOs play critical role. David Wexler, a CPA at Adler Blanchard & As-sociates LLP in Burlington, Mass., a public accounting firm, says that com-panies often face the prospect of how to address the need to cut costs in a down cycle or invest in the future in an up cycle.

“The CFO plays a critical role in this de-cision-making process,” he says.

Wexler explains that the cutting pro-cess is traumatic by its very nature. It generally means a loss of a job on a per-manent or temporary basis. It requires a distribution of work to the remaining people, who often feel already overbur-dened. It also creates other costs, such as unemployment and inefficiencies due to the need to essentially train an-other employee on a task they do not know how to do, nor want to do.

“When the bubble burst in 2008, most firms felt an immediate effect,” Wexler says. “What followed were layoffs, fir-ings, reduction in the percentage paid

by the company for health insurance, elim-ination of retirement plan contributions, elimination of office lunches, space reduc-tions, and other nor-mally expected costs.”

As a result, when a CFO considers making ex-pense cuts, he or she should be the facilita-

tor, the quarterback, the calming force – the one who brings reason, fairness and objectivity to a situation that cre-ates panic, fear, territorial concepts and “line-in-the sand” thinking.

“Beware the optimist and the pessi-mist,” Wexler says. “The color of their glasses will most certainly taint their view. And, beware the status quo per-son who agrees that cuts need to be made, but has all the reasons why the cuts cannot be in his/her area.”

Wexler explains the first thing that needs to be addressed is the prognos-tication of the seriousness of the prob-lem, the reason for the need to cut and the view as to how long the problem exists. Easy-to-read projections of the income statement should be prepared along with the cash flow effect to de-termine how much of a loss can be sus-tained. Guidance from the owners as to what they are willing to support in loss-es and the funding availability to sus-tain those losses should also be deter-mined.

“The CFO should elicit ideas from all involved and create a matrix of all po-tential savings, with the pros and cons involved in each. CFOs should target a reduction number and then work with the matrix and the others to de-

cide what to do,” Wexler says. “Gridlock seems to be the norm in Washington, but in the private sector is a non-ac-ceptable solution.”

Investing in the future is certainly more fun, but also fraught with issues. Entrepreneurs rarely suggest an idea they don’t like. They do not like the word “NO” and many times underesti-mate the ramp up time needed to make the new idea pay off.

“The CFO needs to analyze the idea for investment and understand and com-municate the pros and cons,” Wexler says. “It’s essential that the potential effect on the income statement, and most importantly the cash flow, be con-sidered. That is where the CFO can and

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S T R AT E G Y

Larry LeMaster, Principal and Sr. VP, HKS, Inc.

See DECISION, page 12

“Beware the optimist and the pessimist. The color of their glasses will most certainly taint their view.”

What drives financial decision-making?GOOD NEWS: SHIFTING FROM CUTTING TO SPENDING

The 2013 Architectural and Engineering Study from DiCicco, Gulman & Company LLP shows that A/E firms are shifting their focus from cost-cutting strategies to planning for future growth. DCG’s annual survey benchmarks financial performance and other key indicators based on input from more than 40 architecture and engineering firms headquartered in the greater Boston area.

One reason for the continuing improvement is renewed activity in the private sector. Many companies, including a good number of the Fortune 500 companies, have been loosening their purse strings and investing in new buildings and facilities. This reflects the growing confidence that companies have in the overall direction of the economy. At the same time, the residential and multifamily housing sector saw strong gains in certain markets across the country.

Firms are also starting to invest in new technology, installing enterprise resource planning systems that can be used for everything from scheduling and project management to bid and proposal production.



TRANSACTIONSCH2M HILL BUYS: CH2M HILL (Denver, CO), a global full-service consulting, design, construction, and operations firm, entered into an agreement to purchase the business of TERA Environmental Consultants of Alberta, Canada. With over 450 staff, TERA has been in the environmental consulting business serving the pipeline, electrical transmission and oil and gas industries for more than 30 years.

“TERA has an excellent reputation for quality service,” said Chris Shea, president of CH2M HILL’s Environment and Nuclear Market. “These highly skilled and innovative employees will complement CH2M HILL’s capabilities throughout Canada, and together we’ll be able to provide an expanded suite of services for here and abroad.”

TERA President Piers Fothergill said, “TERA has had a long history and we are proud to have developed into one of the largest and most trusted environmental services firms in Canada. We are excited to be joining CH2M HILL, a company that shares our core values – particularly those related to client service and employee development. The combination of our companies will create more value for our clients through increased breadth of services and will also expand the development and career opportunities for our staff.”

Besides Calgary, TERA has two other offices in Alberta and one in Victoria, B.C. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.

FIRMS JOIN FORCES: Wilson Associates (Dallas, TX), a 400-person international luxury design firm, announced an agreement to join forces with East China Architectural Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. (ECADI), a company affiliated to Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd. The partnership will combine the expertise of two leading global companies to create a dominant new force in the architectural design industry.

“As one of the world’s most renowned architecture firms, we wanted to align our company with a strategic partner that will strengthen our international footprint,” said QIN Yun, chairman of Xian Dai. “In Wilson Associates, we have found a like-minded company that shares our passion for excellent design and desire to secure high-end market share.”

“Partnering with another design powerhouse will present our eight global offices with exciting new design opportunities,” said Olivier Chavy, president and CEO of Wilson Associates. “Together, we will offer our clients a fully integrated design service; a team comprised of the world’s most talented designers and architects.”

ECADI has completed more than 30,000 landmark design and consulting projects. ECADI’s influential reputation is evidenced by their design of five of the world’s tallest buildings, including Wuhan Greenland Center (606 meters), Dalian Greenland Center (518m), Shanghai World Financial Center (492m), Zifeng Mansion (450m), and Wuhan Center (438m). Because of their innovation, ECADI has cultivated the world’s most elite design experts.

Wilson Associates and ECADI have already collaborated on a variety of successful projects: Doubletree by Hilton Luneng, Renaissance Sanya Resort & Spa, Hyatt Regency Chongming, The Ritz-Carlton, Wuhan and Sofitel Shanghai Jing’anHuamin.

Wilson Associates offers ECADI a 43-year design legacy with a portfolio comprised of more than 3,000 iconic hotels, resorts, restaurants, casinos and high-end commercial and residential properties. ECADI offers Wilson Associates the same rich legacy, with a curated portfolio of cultural and convention centers, transportation hubs, theaters and ultra-high rise office buildings.

Wilson Associates’ design footprint spans six continents, 50 countries and includes an array of prestigious clients and operators, including more than 20 of the world’s top 100 billionaires, all of which will expand ECADI’s global reach. To date, Wilson Associates

DECISION, from page 11

should be intricately involved.”

The hard part is not preparing the numbers. The hard part is appearing objective, forward-thinking and realistic. The stereotypes are that the owner wears rose-colored glasses and the CFO is too conservative. The CFO should attempt to prepare a realistic set of projections. Worst case scenar-ios should be banned from the discussion. If it is that bad, then don’t move forward. Create what would seem likely to happen and understand and plan for the effect of a variance from the projected plan, both on the downside and the up-side.

“Cutting or investing is easy when the need is obvious. The only problem is that it is rare when the need is that obvious,” Wexler says.

has designed and installed more than one million guestrooms in thousands of hotels worldwide. Moving forward, Wilson Associates will maintain their name and brand identity.

VENTURE FIRM INVESTS IN SAM INC.: Surveying And Mapping, Inc. (Austin, TX), a provider of geospatial solutions in North America, announced that it has completed an investment agreement with Austin Ventures, a venture capital firm. The transaction will position the company for the next stage of its growth, expanding both its service capabilities and geographic coverage.

SAM, Inc. has been one of the fastest-growing firms in the surveying and mapping and geospatial solutions industry. The company is committed to building on this success by expanding its services, markets and geographic presence. This investment by Austin Ventures will enable the company to aggressively grow its suite of services in both its existing geographic areas as well as new ones with the potential for expansion through acquisition.

The SAM, Inc. leadership team will continue to hold a significant ownership position. Samir “Sam” Hanna, founder and president of SAM, Inc., will remain as CEO and president of the company and there will be no changes to the management team or how the firm currently operates.

Hanna emphasizes the company will continue to operate according to the same values, culture, and disciplined decision-making that have contributed to the company’s success so far.

“We have received investment inquiries from many groups over the years and have been most impressed with the Austin Ventures team. They will be a great partner because they understand our culture and business philosophies,” Hanna said. “Partnering with Austin Ventures will enable us to continue our plans for the exciting growth opportunities ahead, as well as provide for increasing opportunities for promotion and advancement from within the ranks of our talented group of employees. We are very excited about this new phase of growth for our firm and we anticipate that it will have very positive benefits for both our employees and customers.”

Austin Ventures was selected as an investment partner for SAM, Inc. after a lengthy evaluation process, ultimately being chosen due to its outstanding 30-year record of success helping management teams build great companies. Both firms are headquartered in Austin and there is also a strong sense of shared community between the two leadership teams.

“We are excited to invest in SAM, Inc. and partner with Sam Hanna and his accomplished senior management team,” said Vernon Bryant, partner at Austin Ventures.

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