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BUSINESS NEWS KNOWLES INSPIRES HIGH SCHOOL WOMEN IN ENGINEERING STUDENTS WITH AN EXCLUSIVE BEHIND-THE-SCENES EXPERIENCE Knowles Corporation opened its doors to 21 female high school students on July 15 for a behind- the-scenes look at life as an engineer. The immersive experience is part of Knowles’ commitment to gender diversity in engineering and strong science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics programs. The Chicago-area students are part of the Women in Engineering Summer Program at University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Engineering. WIESP is a multi-week program designed for junior- and senior-level high school students with strong science and math skills. Knowles is one of the program’s inaugural supporters. It aims to increase and diversify Chicago’s pool of highly qualified engineers. “If we encourage women to become engineers, we include a large segment of the population and the diversity of ideas they bring,” said Jeffrey Niew, CEO, Knowles Corporation. “Engineer-driven advances, like the internet, have revolutionized the way we interact with humans and machines. If we create an environment that fosters curiosity and nurtures potential engineers, we will have a community primed to produce the next household name in technology. This will help drive economic

prosperity through jobs and opportunities.” In addition to the behind-the-scenes experience for WIESP students, Knowles is committing $200,000 to the UIC College of Engineering in support of female engineering students. The donation supports WIESP and UIC’s women in engineering scholarship program. JACOBS WINS ADDITIONAL NASA SPACE VEHICLE PARACHUTE TESTING CONTRACT Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has been tasked by the NASA Johnson Space Center to perform manned flight qualification testing on the parachute system for the Orion space capsule. The capsule is being developed for human deep space exploration. In addition to testing, Jacobs’ role also includes the production, delivery and installation of the flight parachutes for the first Orion Exploration Mission, a mission to circumnavigate the moon and return to Earth. This task is valued at $40.3 million and is a continuation of ongoing parachute development/ test work Jacobs has been performing for the Orion Program since 2006. Since 2007, Jacobs has completed 38 full- scale parachute system tests for NASA. It also provided the parachutes for the successful Engineering Flight Test 1 in 2014, where Orion reached an orbit of 3,600 miles above Earth.

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1200 North College Ave. Fayetteville, AR 72703 Mark Zweig | Publisher mzweig@zweiggroup.com Richard Massey | Managing Editor rmassey@zweiggroup.com Christina Zweig | Contributing Editor christinaz@zweiggroup.com Sara Parkman | Editor and Designer sparkman@zweiggroup.com Liisa Andreassen | Correspondent landreassen@zweiggroup.com Tel: 800-466-6275 Fax: 800-842-1560 Email: info@zweiggroup.com Online: www.thezweigletter.com Twitter: twitter.com/zweigletter Blog: blog.zweiggroup.com

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MARK ZWEIG, from page 1

either has to be fixed or move on. Owners are yet another matter. There has to be a linear relationship between their “extra pay” (anything above base salary), and the amount of ownership they have. If these two are not closely tied then you will kill all interest in your ownership transition program. C-corps really struggle with this because IF they tie share of ownership directly to distributions or bonuses then the IRS disallows it as an expense. It becomes a dividend. This is certainly one place where “pass through entities” such as S-corps or LLCs really work better for A/E firms. Finally, the condescending giveaways. You have to be careful with these. They can alienate people rather than making them feel good. If they get the idea the “Amazon Gift Card” was their prize while you got a new BMW 7-series ... well, they aren’t going to feel real good about it. These things may be nice “extras” but they aren’t good substitutes for something meatier, if you follow me. Having good people – or not having good people – is all impacted by this stuff. Isn’t it time you started questioning “how we’ve always done it” and started trying something new? MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s founder and CEO. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

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THE ZWEIG LETTER August 29, 2016, ISSUE 1166

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