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ON THE MOVE ATWELL APPOINTS ALAN HARRIS TO VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL Consulting, engineering, and construction services firm Atwell, LLC named Alan Harris to vice president and general counsel. Harris will provide legal counsel in the areas of risk management, governance, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, contract review, compliance, licensing, and health and safety. Harris has 25 years of experience in the legal profession. He worked in private practice in both the Washington, D.C. and metro Detroit areas representing clients in a variety of industries, ranging from Fortune 100 organizations to private clients. “I am pleased to bring Alan’s legal expertise to our team,” said Atwell President and CEO,

Brian Wenzel. “I have no doubt his counsel will help build and strengthen our company.” WESTWOOD APPOINTS CARLSON TO LEAD SURVEY FOR MIDWEST REGION Westwood Professional Services, Inc. (Hot Firm #9 and Best Firm Multidiscipline #24 for 2016), a multi-disciplined surveying and engineering firm, has promoted Nate Carlson from the position of St. Cloud office leader to regional director of survey. In this role, Carlson will provide surveying leadership and guidance to support teams in Westwood’s Minneapolis, St. Cloud, Dickinson, and Kansas City locations. He will focus on building business in Westwood’s Land Division and collaborating with company leadership to identify regional and national

growth opportunities for surveying services. National Survey Services leader and firm vice president, Jay Wittstock has worked closely with Carlson on projects and while managing the St. Cloud office himself. Wittstock says, “Nate is a highly effective manager and leader and this transition is a logical next step. He understands the needs of our clients and our business, and knows how to align teams to deliver great service. I look forward to working more closely with him on survey strategy as we continue to grow throughout the U.S.” Carlson is a licensed land surveyor in seven states and has experience in all of Westwood’s markets, including residential and commercial development, wind and solar energy, power delivery, and oil, gas, and pipeline.

PAUL GREENHAGEN, from page 11

culture we desire at Westwood, which helps us retain (build loyalty with) existing employees and clients, and attract new ones. So, now that we have everything running smoothly on the inside and we are successfully demonstrating the value to our clients, we have to increase awareness of our name (familiarity) in our marketplace to add value to our bottom line. A wise man once said to me: “Investing in a consistent brand and marketing is the best use of your money if you want to grow.” Mark Zweig was right – and consistency is a key word here; consistent brand and marketing requires attention to frequency, positioning, and the image you want to portray. One ad or blog post likely won’t establish familiarity. And, if it is placed somewhere irrelevant to your target market, the effort will be even less effective. Worse yet, if your brand is out there in lots of places, but it is inconsistent in how it looks and the message it sends, it can do more damage than good. Brand image is especially challenging to manage in a highly-diversified business, but I can say from experience that it is possible. Whether we market through face-to-face or email communications, traditional or social media, or promoting the company on trucks and shirts – we focus on sending the right consistent message. In an industry that is constantly changing, it will never be perfect, but having taken that holistic approach, we’ve created a foundation that supports our brand from the inside-out. Westwood even has a function dedicated to brand communications to help keep us on track. We may not ever be “the world’s most powerful brand,” but when Westwood’s target audience comes across our name, it is my hope that they automatically associate it with a high level of quality and experience. I’d like to know that our logo, or the simple mention of the word, Westwood, instills a certain response in our clients that brings them instant and positive feelings about working with us. PAUL GREENHAGEN is president and CEO of Westwood Professional Services. Contact him at paul.greenhagen@westwoodps.com.

strengthen our brands? A good place to start is by looking at the categories that Brand Finance uses to assess a company’s brand strength: familiarity, loyalty, promotion, marketing investment, staff satisfaction, and corporate reputation. This list makes it apparent to me that we need to take a holistic view of our business in order to optimize our brands. Assuming our leaders and staff are aligned, and the vision and strategic plan for our companies is clear (alignment and clarity are critical first steps and a whole separate topic), we can view this with an inside-outside approach. “We may not ever be ‘the world’s most powerful brand,’ but when Westwood’s target audience comes across our name, it is my hope that they automatically associate it with a high level of quality and experience.” Inside, we must work at creating a thriving work environment for our staff and ensuring they have what they need to serve our clients well, which is what builds a positive corporate reputation. Familiarity and loyalty are the outside results we get when we make a concentrated effort to promote and market, and consistently do a good job. In order to create a thriving work environment, it is important to provide employees with opportunities to grow and develop professionally, in addition to the tools and technologies to do their best work. This is an investment that we are happy to make because we’ve seen how it helps them stay focused on what they do best. As a result, our people are happy and our clients often get more than they expect. Furthermore, if our people are satisfied in their jobs and passionate about where we are headed as a company, they will proudly represent the image and

THE ZWEIG LETTER August 22, 2016, ISSUE 1165

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