TZL 1279

ON THE MOVE RICH MAHALEY SELECTED TO LEAD BURNS & MCDONNELL ORLANDO OFFICE AND EXPAND GLOBAL FIRM’S PRESENCE IN FLORIDA Burns & McDonnell has selected Rich Mahaley to lead and expand operations in Orlando, Florida. Mahaley joined the international engineering, architecture, construction, consulting, and environmental firm in the 1980s and most recently served as Burns & McDonnell India’s CEO and president for five years. “Rich is known for building dynamic, effective teams that provide the highest quality service to our clients, while creating outstanding career and development opportunities for our employees,” says Paul Fischer, Burns & McDonnell president and regional office group manager. “He is the perfect leader to grow our team in Orlando to meet the increasing infrastructure needs across Florida.” The firm recently relocated within Orlando to a 12,000-square-foot office space at 2301 Maitland Center Parkway, to accommodate

plans to triple the size of its local workforce throughout the next three years. The expansion in the region is part of the firm’s effort to hire more than 1,000 professionals annually. “Throughout my career, I’ve felt compelled to grow,” Mahaley says. “From the top down, I’ve been encouraged to go as far as I can and stretch my managerial and technological capabilities to the max. I’m grateful for that encouragement and this new opportunity to grow and build our team in Florida to bolster our comprehensive, design-build service offerings.” During the past three years, Burns & McDonnell more than tripled the size of its team in Orlando and generated more than $60 million in revenue in Florida. This year, it was recognized as one of the top five largest engineering and environmental firms in Central Florida, as well as one of the Best Places to Work by the Orlando Business Journal . Backed by a diverse team of professionals

nationwide, the office provides planning, design, permitting, and construction services for major utility, industrial, and commercial clients throughout Florida. Mahaley says the firm’s success in the region can be credited to its strong employee ownership culture and dedicated professionals. “We are committed to bringing the most talented, innovative professionals to the table with our clients to solve our communities’ fundamental, structural, and systemic challenges. We’re able to do that by creating a work environment for professionals to thrive in – one that empowers them, provides stability, and fosters flexibility and collaboration,” Mahaley says. Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of more than 6,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants, and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world.

CONFERENCE CALL, from page 7

salesperson finds out what is important. I am talking about the kind of relationship we have with our friends and fam- ily where we know what’s important to them through true, genuine care and dedication. TZL: How are the tax cuts impacting your business? Have salaries and bonuses increased? MH: We have not noticed impacts we can directly tie to the tax cuts. Additionally, we have not specifically increased our salaries because of the tax cuts. However, we base our sala- ries on market surveys, so if other companies are doing this and that is reflected in the survey, then indirectly ours have increased as well. “We have always put a strong focus on making sure that there isn’t anyone in the company that isn’t replaceable (and that’s not to sound threatening). We have very few things that only one person is involved in, so I am confident the company would band together to keep the ship moving in the right direction.” TZL: How have the tax cuts impacted your firm’s valua- tion? Do you plan on doing another valuation due to the tax cuts? MH: We value our firm in a method other than utilizing EBITDA, which we base around our firm’s revenue, current assets, and previous years’ expenses. Therefore, tax cuts do not currently impact our firm’s valuation. TZL: Are you currently pursuing the R&D tax credit? MH: We are not.

utilize their experience to keep the company moving in the right direction. TZL: How do you promote young and new leaders as the firm grows? MH: Promotion isn’t a term we utilize. We have a flat or- ganization structure where the employees set their ceiling within the company based on how much they continue to learn and improve. We provide opportunities for more re- sponsibilities to all of our employees based on their abili- ties, experience, and willingness to take them on. TZL: In one word or phrase, what do you describe as your number one job responsibility as CEO? MH: Follow our vision. TZL: What happens to the firm if you leave tomorrow? MH: That’s the cool thing about the way we operate with our transparency and flat organization structure. The com- pany will keep progressing forward. We have always put a strong focus on making sure that there isn’t anyone in the company that isn’t replaceable (and that’s not to sound threatening). We have very few things that only one person is involved in, so I am confident the company would band together to keep the ship moving in the right direction. TZL: With technology reducing the time it takes to com- plete design work, how do you get the AEC industry to start pricing on value instead of hours? MH: That’s a hard question to answer, because value means something different to everyone. What one client sees as a value, another may care less about, and we have seen that. To be able to price on value, it requires a true relationship with the clients to understand what is important to them. To be clear, I am not talking about a sales call where the

THE ZWEIG LETTER January 14, 2019, ISSUE 1279

Made with FlippingBook Annual report