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P R O F I L E
Photo credit: Kevin Smith Photography
Built for generations: Matt Emerson President of PDC Engineers (Best Firm Multidiscipline #45 for 2018), a 100-person firm headquartered in Fairbanks, Alaska.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
“I do a lot of ‘walk arounds,’” Emerson says. “I sometimes ask staff, ‘Why do you work here?’ The majority of an- swers have to do with challenging work and diversity of work and clients.” A CONVERSATION WITH MATT EMERSON. The Zweig Letter: What are the three to four key business performance indicators that you watch most carefully? Do you share that information with your staff? Matt Emerson: We look at the overhead rates, utilization, and accounts receivables. We then share this information with staff. Since I’ve been president, I hold roundtable dis- cussions with staff at least three times a year to discuss how the firm is doing overall. We’re a 100 percent ESOP so finan- cial information is often shared with all owners. TZL: What actions do you take to address a geographic office or specific discipline in the event of non-perfor- mance?
ME: We ask the office, or more typically the market sector, to develop a plan of action on how they are going to turn things around. They will then report to the Board on their plans to mitigate. We’ll ask them to track business more of- ten than normal and take a closer look at monthly revenue and profits. It’s also important they get a strong handle on backlog. They need to be realistic about what’s strong and what’s not. “If” and “hope” are danger words. We also ask them to develop worst, moderate and best-case scenarios. “We just named a new principal – the youngest ever. She’s 39. We based this promotion on her relationship with clients and her ability to run successful projects.” TZL: How many years of experience – or large enough book of business – is enough to become a principal in your firm? Are you naming principals in their 20s or 30s? ME: We just named a new principal – the youngest ever.
THE ZWEIG LETTER Jun
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