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BUSINESS NEWS BURNS & MCDONNELL EXPANDS PRESENCE IN OHIO WITH NEW OFFICE IN COLUMBUS With more than two decades of experience supporting clients across Ohio, Burns & McDonnell is expanding with the establishment of an office in Columbus, Ohio. The 119-year-old global engineering, architecture, construction, environmental, and consulting firm is positioning for rapid growth throughout the next five years with plans to hire 200 local employees by the end of 2022. “Columbus is leading the country in innovation and the perfect home for our growing team,” says Darrell Butler, Burns &McDonnell Columbus office manager. “While we’ve had a presence in the state for many years, we’re excited to be a part of this vibrant community and add local top talent to our diverse team of employee- owners.” Butler says the establishment of the more than 9,000-square-foot office in the heart of Columbus is reflective of Burns & McDonnell’s commitment to be a best place to work in the country. The office space – located near the Arena District – will feature an open floor plan, state-of-the-art conferencing technology, and virtual reality/BIM studio. The 100 percent employee-owned firm has been recognized by more than 20 publications as a top workplace and ranks No. 16 on Fortune ’s 2017 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. Backed by an international team of more than 5,700, the Columbus office will provide a wide

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range of engineering, construction, consulting, and environmental services. Employee- owners will bring experience in design-build project delivery to a wide range of markets, including oil and gas, mission critical facilities, power generation, electrical transmission and distribution, water and wastewater, manufacturing, and environmental permitting and remediation. One specific area of focus and growth will be within the data centers market. “With our society’s demand increasing for everything from smart cities to augmented/ virtual reality to mobile capabilities, the need for connectivity has never been greater,” says Sam Allen, Burns & McDonnell mission critical department manager in Columbus. “Every market indicator agrees this is a trending sector creating enormous opportunity to speed up development and increase flexibility in data centers.” To support clients facing the challenge of keeping pace, Burns & McDonnell is assembling a large team with integrated specialties who can take development of these mission-critical facilities from early planning, environmental and siting studies to full-scale engineering design and construction. The firm has successfully managed $200 million in projects across Ohio since 2015 and ranks among the best in the industry.

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1200 North College Ave. Fayetteville, AR 72703 Mark Zweig | Publisher mzweig@zweiggroup.com Richard Massey | Managing Editor rmassey@zweiggroup.com Christina Zweig | Contributing Editor christinaz@zweiggroup.com Sara Parkman | Editor and Designer sparkman@zweiggroup.com Liisa Andreassen | Correspondent landreassen@zweiggroup.com

MARK ZWEIG, from page 1

❚ ❚ You have to be a good liar to sell stuff. This deep-seated, erroneous belief keeps a lot of design and technical professionals from selling. Their logic goes something like this: “To be a good seller you have to lie. Since I am not a liar I don’t sell. I am a better person than someone (a liar) who sells.” This one takes a lot of training to overcome. People need to see that in fact the best sellers are NOT liars. Instead, they build trust with their clients by telling them the truth. ❚ ❚ Entrepreneurship requires you to invent something new, something no one else has ever done before. It does NOT and this belief keeps so many people from becom- ing entrepreneurs. What entrepreneurship does require is that you do something better. It also requires you to build value in your business versus extract over time through operation. Entrepreneurial A/E firms do well through differentiation and innovation inside what is a very mature industry. ❚ ❚ You can’t get any creative satisfaction from business. As someone who also owns a design/build contracting and development company, I understand this sentiment. But what I’d like to say to the engineers and architects who think this way is: “Give business a chance. You might be surprised how satisfying it is to build a business rather than just building a construction project.” I have seen many talented design professionals suc- cessfully transition from designing projects to designing a business. Many find it more intellectually stimulating. The bottom line is all of these misconceptions hurt us. They keep our people from maximizing their individual potentials. And they hold our firms back. It’s only through education that we can dispel these myths. MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

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© Copyright 2018. Zweig Group. All rights reserved.

THE ZWEIG LETTER January 1, 2018, ISSUE 1229

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