TZL 1447 (web)

TZL: Since you’ve been president, what’s one internal change you’ve made that you’re most proud of and why? AM: Management places a top priority on staff safety and employing safe work practices on projects we participate in. In the years leading up to 2021, it became apparent that GAI’s safety record was going in the wrong direction. We tried several initiatives to rectify the situation, but the problem persisted. In 2021, I came up with the concept of forming the GAI Executive Health & Safety Review Board. The Review Board provides top-level oversight and guidance of our company’s health and safety initiatives. We can measure the success of GAI’s safety focus through our achievement of a 0.45 TRIR in 2021, which is our most favorable rating since 2013. TZL: How has COVID-19 permanently impacted your firm’s policy on telecommuting? AM: COVID-19 conditions spurred formalization of a telework policy that had already been in development. In a way, the need to isolate early on showed that we were well equipped to deliver quality work from remote locations – and this led us to adopt three designations under a revised telework policy: ■ ■ Office. Full-time employees work a minimum four days per week at a GAI office location. ■ ■ Hybrid. Full-time employees work a minimum three days on-site at a GAI office location. ■ ■ Remote. Full-time employees work fewer than three days at a GAI office location. While we highly value in-person collaboration as it applies to real-time problem solving, our experience during the pandemic has shown that certain aspects of our business can run effectively with remote or hybrid work arrangements. This arrangement has and will continue to have a positive effect on our real estate portfolio. When GAI establishes a new office location or renews the lease of one of our existing offices, we reduce our footprint. Real estate leases are costly and having a workable telecommuting policy saves significant dollars. TZL: Trust is essential. How do you earn the trust of your clients? AM: More than a decade ago, GAI developed our Client First Program that I currently lead. Our goal is to make customer service our philosophy. GAI’s Client First Program

is grounded in the following Six Principles of Trust: attention, quality, accessibility, responsiveness, follow-through, and recovery. As a part of GAI University, I facilitate a quarterly lunch and learn session for junior GAI staff that teaches them about the importance of customer service. I stress the need to develop an internal culture of respect for each other and to provide extraordinary service to our clients every day. TZL: Your firm has offices in 12 states. What’s your greatest challenge in ensuring that you stay on top of what everyone’s doing? What’s your most valuable asset when it comes to collecting information? AM: During our annual strategic planning meeting in 2013, we produced the concept of conducting in-person town hall meetings with the local staff of each of our major offices. This initiative was started to improve employee engagement. Among GAI’s many internal communication initiatives, we’ve found that these annual town hall meetings offer prime opportunities to gauge the health of our company and encourage staff engagement. These meetings help us to avoid silos by letting us share important company-wide news, priorities, and developments with employees at each individual GAI location and to directly home in on the concerns that may be unique to a particular group of staff. Conducted by GAI’s COO and myself, the town halls include live Q&A sessions that allow us to hear what’s important to our employees and let us identify patterns of concern that we can then bring to various GAI leadership committees for attention and/or address in companywide communications and meetings. TZL: What type of leader do you consider yourself to be? AM: A collaborative one. TZL: What benefits does your firm offer that your people get most excited about? AM: We offer multiple training and learning opportunities. One learning opportunity that people are very enthusiastic about is our on-site MBA program. Since 2009, GAI has partnered with Point Park University in Pittsburgh to offer the MBA program to our high-potential employees, with GAI paying half of the tuition cost for each participating staff member. We’ve graduated six classes since the program’s inception. Another particularly important benefit is the latest revision to our paid leave. Last year, See COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP , page 8

HEADQUARTERS: Pittsburgh, PA NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 700 YEAR FOUNDED: 1958 OFFICE LOCATIONS: 24 SERVICES: ■ ■ Construction ■ ■ Cultural resources ■ ■ Distribution engineering ■ ■ Economics and strategy ■ ■ Environmental engineering ■ ■ Environmental studies ■ ■ Geotechnical and geology ■ ■ Land development ■ ■ Landscape architecture and design ■ ■ Mechanical/electrical/ structural ■ ■ Power delivery – environmental ■ ■ Right of way support ■ ■ Substation and protection and controls engineering ■ ■ Survey ■ ■ Transportation ■ ■ Transmission line engineering ■ ■ Urban design and planning ■ ■ Water

UNE 27, 2022, ISSUE 1447

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