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George Stanziale, Stewart’s president and director of design, agrees. “They had a difficult time becoming part of a big firm,” Stanziale says. “It was their discomfort with the struc- ture of a larger firm.” For context, at the time of the merger, HG had less than a dozen employees, whereas Stewart had in ex- cess of 100. Two different firms, two different cultures. And as they say, the devil is in the details. In terms of process, hiring, compliance, training, integration, and decision-making, the two firms just had too much ground to cover if they were to meet in the right place. “They had a difficult time becoming part of a big firm. It was their discomfort with the structure of a larger firm.” “Culture is No. 1,” Stanziale says. “We may have misin- terpreted the culture.” The Gerstenmaiers, longtime owners of their firm, after the merger were share-holding employees of a much larger organization based about 160 miles south in Raleigh-Durham. Meril’s title in the Richmond of- fice was director of operations, and Dave’s title was VP and director of design. At the outset, Gerstenma- ier said she and her husband were fine with that. But, Gerstenmaier says, things didn’t pan out. “We thought we’d run Virginia and get back-office sup- port,” she says. “That didn’t materialize the way we ex- pected.” Though the Richmond office was winning new work in the Richmond market, Gerstenmaier says client satis- faction suffered because Stewart/HG, burdened by an unwieldy administration down in Raleigh-Durham, could not handle demand. “We could not demonstrate that we were able to offer better service,” she says, referring to conversations she was having with clients. “We thought we’d run Virginia and get back-office support. That didn’t materialize the way we expected.” While the unwinding of the merger was deemed ami- cable by both sides – the case never went to court – it was still a separation, and there are reasons why things turned out the way they did. While Gersten- maier says the Richmond office never really got the support it needed, Stanziale has a different take

on the issue. He says that HG never wanted to give up the flexibility and freedom that a small firm enjoys. In the process, the merger soured. Though the merger with HG failed, Stewart will remain in Richmond. The firm is leasing renovated office space at the Edgeworth Building, a converted tobacco warehouse near the James River. “We couldn’t be happier. Just because you are a big company doesn’t mean you have it all figured out, and just because you are a small company doesn’t mean you don’t have it figured out.” “There was nothing ugly about it, but it was unfortunate,” Stan- ziale says. “We looked at it as a learning experience.” Meanwhile, both firms seem to be doing fine. HG is up to 16 peo- ple, recently made civil engineer Charlene Harper a partner, has plenty of backlog, and is back to doing business like it was done in the old days. “We couldn’t be happier,” Gerstenmaier says. “Just because you are a big company doesn’t mean you have it all figured out, and just because you are a small company doesn’t mean you don’t have it figured out.” Under the leadership of Stanziale and chief marketing officer Patrick Pettit, Stewart has plans to open its new Richmond office in September and staff it with as many as 30 people with a focus on landscape architecture, civil and structural engineering. Built on a foundation of government, higher education, and health- care, the Richmond market is reliable if not explosive. Perfect, Stanziale says, for a firm like Stewart. “We think it’s a good place to expand north,” he says. “It doesn’t have wild economic swings. It’s stable.”

ETTER August 15, 2016, ISSUE 1164

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