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TZL: As you look for talent, what po- sition do you most need to fill in the coming year and why? PM: We’ve done a pretty solid job in recruiting, training, and keeping our management staff, but we need a pipline of entry-level (up to five years) engineers to allow our managers to move away from split duties as the technical lead on projects as well. TZL: Zweig Group research shows there has been a shift in business development strategies. More and more, technical staff, not marketing staff, are responsible for BD. What’s the BD formula in your firm? PM: All of our managers are handling both the workload they have to exe- cute now, and the pursuits to provide their workload in the future. TZL: Diversifying the portfolio is never a bad thing. What are the most recent steps you’ve taken to broaden your revenue streams? PM: In the last six years, we’ve opened additional geographic offices and add- ed landscape architecture. Recently, we’ve focused on water resources, spe- cifically with an emphasis on sea level rise. TZL: What is the role of entrepre- neurship in your firm? PM: We’re not AECOM or Jacobs, so everyone that works at Chen Moore joins as part of an entrepreneurial spirit. “All of our managers are handling both the workload they have to execute now, and the pursuits to provide their workload in the future.” TZL: In the next couple of years, what A/E segments will heat up, and which ones will cool down? PM: Interest rates are rising, so pri- vate investment will decline. All other markets are going to stay hot. TZL: Measuring the effectiveness of marketing is difficult to do using hard metrics for ROI. How do you See CONFERENCE CALL, page 8

We’ve also gone through an ownership change recently, and expanded the ownership group to 11 key employees, and, even more importantly, we’ve de- veloped a procedure for identifying and processing future owners to make that process consistent. “Scope creep, additional liability, and unsuccessful pursuits are the main risks, but communication up front with a good partner can mitigate that as much as possible.” TZL: What’s your policy on sharing the firm’s financials with your staff? Weekly, monthly, quarterly, annu- ally? And how far down into the org chart is financial information shared? PM: We prepare monthly financials that are shared among our executive group. We prepare more formal pack- ages for our quarterly board meet- ings that, once approved, go to all the shareholders. We have annual “state of the company” presentations to all staff reviewing high level financial in- formation. Being transparent is im- portant in a changing economy. TZL: The design-build delivery mod- el appears to be trending upward. What are the keys to a successful design-build project? What are the risks? PM: For more than 15 years, we’ve embraced design-build. I have to ad- mit that we got very lucky in our first few pursuits, so that delayed imple- mentation of more formal processes for these pursuits until recently. We don’t build, so the most important key to a successful project is a good part- ner. Even more important than a good partner, though, is making sure that a very frank conversation is had with that good partner to fully outline all the responsibilities in the project from the first day of the pursuit to the fi- nal closeout. A good partnering agree- ment is the key to establish that un- derstanding. Scope creep, additional liability, and unsuccessful pursuits are the main risks, but communication up front with a good partner can mitigate that as much as possible.

YEAR FOUNDED: 1986 HEADQUARTERS: Fort Lauderdale, FL OFFICES: 5 offices in Florida: ❚ ❚ Fort Lauderdale ❚ ❚ Miami ❚ ❚ West Palm Beach ❚ ❚ Orlando ❚ ❚ North Central NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 70 PETER MOORE: When he joined the firm in 1999, the company had three employees. SERVICES: ❚ ❚ Civil engineering (water and sewer) ❚ ❚ Transportation ❚ ❚ Landscape architecture and planning ❚ ❚ Environmental ❚ ❚ Construction engineering inspection MARKETS: ❚ ❚ Water and wastewater (utility engineering) ❚ ❚ Transportation ❚ ❚ Government facilities ❚ ❚ Institutional and educational ❚ ❚ Parks and recreation ❚ ❚ Commercial ❚ ❚ Retail ❚ ❚ Industrial ❚ ❚ Residential COMPANY CULTURE: CMA actively supports various community organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Toys for Tots, the Cooperative Feeding Program, and Ocean Watch. Staff participate in local professional society events including the American Society of Civil Engineers, Florida Engineering Society, American Society of Landscape Architects, Irrigation Association, International Society of Arboriculture, and the United States Green Building Council. They support their industry and the communities where they live, play, and work.

ober 8, 2018, ISSUE 1267

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