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She’s 39. We based this promotion on her relationship with clients and her ability to run successful projects. We had such posi- tive feedback from clients and she generat- ed a good deal of revenue. In fact, a client, after working with her, asked why she was not a principal. She’s been with the firm for more than 10 years and she fits into the company culture well. A good culture fit is so important. You can be a brilliant person, but if no one wants to work with you, it just doesn’t work. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to age. People just sort of evolve with the company and it happens. “We also have a culture that incorporates the old adage, ‘Work hard, play hard.’ There’s a great deal of camaraderie here and we encourage that. We want people to bring their families in for special events.” TZL: Describe the challenges you en- countered in building your management team over the lifetime of your leader- ship? Have you ever terminated or de- moted long-time leaders as the firm grew? How did you handle it? ME: The greatest challenge is to make sure that I’m constantly communicating with the company – good and bad information. I’ve been lucky so far in that I have not had to let anyone go or demote them. TZL: In one word or phrase, what do you describe as your number one job respon- sibility as CEO? ME: To serve the employees and to build the company to continue for generations. It’s also important to be accessible. TZL: With technology reducing the time it takes to complete design work, how do you get the AEC industry to start pricing on value instead of hours? ME: There’s no silver bullet for this one. Some clients are locked into hourly. It re- ally starts with client education. It’s a pro- cess that takes time. Some of our work with technology enhances their experience and they see value in that (i.e., virtual reality) – it’s unique for the client to come in dur- ing the design phase and to walk through their project. We try to leverage technol- ogy to give value to their experience. Once the client understands how it all works

together, it’s easier to sell value as opposed to hourly. TZL: If the worker shortage continues, do you see wages increasing to encour- age more talent to enter the AEC space, or will technology be used to counter the reduced work force? ME: Finding mid-level management peo- ple is the most difficult. We do try to hire from within when we can. Wages have in- creased more than using technology, even though the Alaskan recession has hit the AEC community here pretty hard. TZL: Engineers love being engineers, but what are you doing to instill a business culture in your firm? ME: This question makes me think of my- self. In high school, I started out in the business working in construction. I then became a journeyman plumber, but later decided to attend college in my late 20s/ early 30s (you know, plumbing is tough on the knees). I got a civil engineering de- gree and then a masters. In 2001, I was of- fered to start a structural department and I had a very limited business background. Since I was given this opportunity, I nat- urally wanted to learn the business side of things. I relied on mentors and osmo- sis. When I was asked to take on the role of president a year ago, I asked for specif- ic training. I also worked closely with the outgoing president who is currently stay- ing on as CFO for another year. I attended a training program with the ACEC – it was the Senior Executive Institute program. It provided a lot of value and also prepped me emotionally. Currently, we have a strong project management training program in- house and every other week, there’s a pre- sentation on topics having to do with ev- erything from accounts receivable to con- tracts. We also have a leadership retreat each year that often has an economic fo- cus. “To help promote learning, we offer tuition reimbursement, engineering seminars, professional society memberships and professional development support.” TZL: The seller-doer model is very suc- cessful, but with growth you need to adapt to new models. What is your pro- gram? See BUILT FOR GENERATIONS, page 8

YEAR FOUNDED: 1953 (operated under the name PDC Engineers since 1998) NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 100 NO. OF OFFICE LOCATIONS: 5 in Alaska (3 primary and 2 satellite):

❚ ❚ Anchorage ❚ ❚ Fairbanks

❚ ❚ Juneau ❚ ❚ Palmer ❚ ❚ Soldotna HEADQUARTERS: Fairbanks, Alaska

DISCIPLINES: ❚ ❚ Planning ❚ ❚ Survey

❚ ❚ Geotechnical engineering ❚ ❚ Environmental engineering ❚ ❚ Civil engineering ❚ ❚ Structural engineering ❚ ❚ Mechanical engineering ❚ ❚ Electrical engineering ❚ ❚ Fire protection TAGLINE: Transforming challenges into solutions. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: PDC believes in supporting the community in which it works. Some of the organizations it supports are Food Bank Alaska, Society of Women Engineers, and University of Alaska, the Institute of Transportation Engineers (Alaska), Boys and Girls Club, American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association and more.

ne 24, 2019, ISSUE 1302

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