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P R O F I L E
Ownership: Montell Irvin President and CEO of Ramey Kemp & Assoc. (Raleigh, NC), a transportation engineering, planning, and design firm founded in 1992.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
I n addition to being president and CEO of Ramey Kemp & Assoc., Irvin is also active in a number of organizations and was appointed to serve on the Hurricane Matthew Recovery Committee. He believes the firm’s culture of ownership is what continues to drive it forward to success. “Everything changed when we figured out the ESOP,” Irvin says. “It has been a wonderful way for us not only to spread a culture of ownership throughout the firm, but it is allowing the original owners to transition ownership in an orderly way that is beneficial to everyone, which if not
their supervisors, to determine the best work situation for them and their team. This has generally been done on a case-by-case basis with no company-wide policy in place. We went on a company-wide lockdown Tuesday, March 17th and had all staff working remotely the next day. We had a company-wide (all hands-on deck) “TEAMS” meeting the morning of March 19th. I’m not saying all firms can operate without hard policies in place for everything imaginable, but we do. We have policies in place to follow the law and to limit our risk, but we operate on the premise that we are all adults, professionals, and owners (we’re an ESOP), and if you are someone who needs to be told what and how to do everything or someone who “games the system,” then you will not fit in well with our firm. TZL: What are the three to four key business performance indicators that you watch most carefully?
done properly can lead to major pitfalls.” A CONVERSATION WITH MONTELL (MONTY) IRVIN.
The Zweig Letter: How has COVID-19 impacted your firm’s policy on telecommuting/working remotely? Montell (Monty) Irvin: We’ve always had a fairly flexible work environment and allow team members, along with
THE ZWEIG LETTER Ap
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