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The 6th Street Viaduct Replacement in Los Angeles. Rincon Consultants provided environmental support services for the project team responsible for the demolition and reconstruction of the bridge. / Rincon Consultants
A healthy environment Mike Gialketsis, president of California environmental firm Rincon Consultants, arrives early to catch the plane, but if others get there just in the nick of time, he understands.
A CONVERSATION WITH GIALKETSIS. The Zweig Letter: What are your key strengths? What are key strengths for an effective leader? Mike Gialketsis: Coaching skills. In developing a successful business that is engaged in profession- al services, it’s important that leadership align the firm’s values with the needs of its profession- al team. Effective leaders strive for excellence in all that they do, but at the same time can tap into the passion and emotional energy of the teams they lead. TZL: How would you describe your leadership style? MG: Professional, driven, and respectful. TZL: What has been your greatest challenge to date and how did you deal with it? MG: The Great Recession was certainly a chal- lenge, but it also presented the opportunity to be- come better at what we do as a firm. Our diversifi- cation and focus on a healthy professional culture See Q&A, page 4
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
A southern California native, Mike Gialketsis is president of Rincon Consultants, Inc. (#5 Best Firm Environmental and #80 Hot Firm for 2015), a 115-person environmental planning and engineer- ing firm based in Ventura. He has a B.A. in environ- mental studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and completed an internship at the County of Ventura Resource Management Agency. From there he joined a small, but prestigious, en- vironmental planning firm in southern California, where he gained the technical expertise needed to be a successful consultant. After nearly three years, he was recruited to join a team of four environmental specialists for an inter- national marine geosciences engineering firm that sought to expand their services to include environ- mental capabilities. During the next 12 years, he was involved in building their environmental prac- tice, organically and through acquisition. In 1994, he and four others founded Rincon. Since then, the firm has grown to more than 100 employees in of- fices across California.
Mike Gialketsis, President, Rincon Con- sultants, Inc.
THE ZWEIG LETTER May 30, 2016, ISSUE 1154
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