TZL 1363

TRANSACT IONS SEPI ACQUIRES TWO FLORIDA-BASED PLANNING AND DESIGN FIRMS TO EXPAND FOOTPRINT IN THE SOUTHEAST SEPI, Inc. , a full-service engineering, land planning, land development, environmental, infrastructure design, geomatics, construction inspection, and asset management and maintenance consultancy headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, announced the acquisition of two planning and design firms, The Mellgren Planning Group in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Palmetto, Florida-based Foley/Kolarik, Inc. The acquisitions support SEPI’s long-range strategy of diversifying their service offerings, building and expanding their existing planning and land development services, and expanding throughout the Southeast. Together the companies’ broad base of expertise will provide an enhanced client experience benefiting both our public and private sector clients. “The opportunity to add two amazing firms to SEPI and expand our footprint in the Southeast is one we couldn’t pass up,” said Sepi Saidi, president and CEO of SEPI. “These acquisitions position us as a powerhouse firm across a variety of service offerings pertaining to urban design, land development, and across the A/E/C industry as a whole. We look forward to welcoming The Mellgren Planning Group and Foley/Kolarik to the SEPI team.” Saidi founded SEPI in 2001 and has transformed the company to be a premier multi-disciplinary engineering firm ranked annually in the Engineering News-Record Top 500 Design Firms with a mission to serve clients as a trusted resource, contribute to projects that improve the quality of life in its communities, and provide a rewarding employee experience through its diverse and

inclusive team culture. She has continued to lead the firm to be $40 million in revenue, with more than 300 employees in several states across the southeast. This growth has been the catalyst and underlying theme for the past two years. One of Florida’s leading land use and urban design firms, The Mellgren Planning Group is known for their urban innovation, specializing in long-range planning, community involvement, developing and applying zoning codes and land development regulations, and urban designs. With an interest in the world around them, the people who live in it, and the places that inspire them, The Mellgren Planning Group is currently providing planning services for the city of Parkland, an urban design review in Boca Raton, and a comprehensive plan update for the city of Margate, among numerous other projects. “It was important that I find the right company that offered a breadth and depth of talent along with a human dimension,” said The Mellgren Planning Group founder and president, Michele Mellgren. “SEPI offers all of that, and I am thrilled to become a part of the team.” Gulf Coast-based Foley/Kolarik brings an innovative and cost-effective approach to their engineering solutions and has worked on marquee projects including The Concession Golf Course, an 18-hole Nicklaus Signature Course in Bradenton, Florida, a wellness center and canine fitness center on the campus of Southeastern Guide Dogs, an internationally accredited non-profit in Palmetto, Florida, and numerous projects with the Manatee County School District. Current projects will see them build out a more than 300-space lot addition to the Lake Club, named Genoa, in Manatee County.

“Aligning our firm with SEPI is very exciting. I was immediately attracted by the company culture and values,” said John Foley, president of Foley/Kolarik. “Being part of SEPI allows us to offer a broader range of services to our clients while maintaining the personal service and attention to detail we have always strived to provide.” SEPI has seven locations throughout the Southeast including offices in Charlotte, Wilmington, its headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, Beaufort, South Carolina, and its two newest locations in Florida. SEPI is a full-service engineering, land planning, land development, environmental, infrastructure design, geomatics, construction inspection and asset management and maintenance consultancy focused on innovation, sustainability, and excellence. With our combined years of hands-on experience, an ever- expanding knowledge base and an established reputation, our services are utilized on projects of various size and complexity. The Mellgren Planning Group has provided services to numerous cities throughout Florida for almost two decades. The firm has a breadth and depth of knowledge in all facets of current and long range planning, community development, urban design and, writing and applying zoning codes and land development regulations Founded more than 40 years ago the mission of Foley / Kolarik, Inc has remained the same – to provide innovative, cost effective, engineering solutions that are responsive to clients’ needs in a professional manner.

to determine when we’ll be able to return to many of the “normal” marketing activities we relied on prior to COVID-19. It appears for the foreseeable future at least that we need to be flexible as we continue determining what is resonating with our clients. We may not always get it right, but by prioritizing time to review where our marketing efforts stand today and remaining flexible in how we approach them, we can make sure we set ourselves up to be successful in the future. KATIE CRAWFORD is Pennoni’s marketing manager. She can be reached at kcrawford@pennoni.com. “Human interaction and connection are more important than ever in your marketing efforts and showing genuine interest and concern for your clients as they navigate through their own unprecedented times will go a long way.”

KATIE CRAWFORD, from page 11

have integrated into our projects or ones our channel partnerships have developed. Even as businesses explore reopening, restrictions on office guests and travel remain in place, and we are beginning to run into webinar fatigue. Where does this leave our marketing and BD efforts? We don’t have time to reinvent the wheel every few weeks. It’s time to go back and revisit our marketing plans and adjust for the current conditions. What are our clients’ priorities during this time and looking forward the next few months? How can we meet those needs and what is the best avenue to reach our clients? Have we introduced any new services or solutions because of COVID-19 that we need to develop additional marketing collateral for? At the end of the day, human interaction and connection are more important than ever in your marketing efforts and showing genuine interest and concern for your clients as they navigate through their own unprecedented times will go a long way. There isn’t a light switch to flip

THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTOBER 12, 2020, ISSUE 1363

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