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Our leadership team includes managing principals, senior principals, principals, senior associates, and associates. Each year, the leadership team goes through a nomination process to add additional eli- gible employees who are evaluated against a highly defined criterion to determine who is eligible to become a company as- sociate. Nominees are then voted upon and final determination is made by ATI’s senior leadership team. Once an employ- ee becomes an associate, they are placed on a Leadership Board with collateral re- sponsibilities for various strategic action plans and other company-wide improve- ment initiatives. Regular reports are first presented to the senior leadership team and then to the entire company. This has been a great way to challenge junior staff to reach new goals for themselves through professional and personal growth. “We offer benefits such as professional membership reimbursement, tuition reimbursement, various development programs, community and charitable outreach opportunities, and more.” TZL: Do you tie compensation to perfor- mance for your top leaders? PD: Yes. We have multiple business units with profit and loss responsibility. Each unit is operated by a managing princi- pal with subordinate principals, associ- ates, and project managers. Each manag- ing principal is accountable for the suc- cess of their unit and is compensated ac- cordingly. They’re also responsible for the management of their team’s compensa- tion, including salaries, bonuses, and oth- er perks that are directly tied to the suc- cess of those units. TZL: When did you have the most fun running your firm, and what were the hallmarks of that time in your profes- sional life? PD: Nearly 30 years ago, I was a founding principal of ATI. I will carry those mem- ories with me forever. The best of those memories are commemorated and shared with the ATI’s team as folklore. I’ve also experienced the survival of two major re- cessions: 2001 and 2008. Recovery from the Great Recession has been the most remarkable and has resulted in the most
memorable. That recovery resulted in a tipping point for us by creating space to recruit the greatest team of individuals in the history of ATI, across all three Califor- nia offices, and has allowed me to shift my energies to the fun part or our business – spending more time with clients, pursuing strategic opportunities, and mentoring. There have been many hallmarks in my ca- reer, but the most rewarding was the suc- cessful acquisition of ATI by AC Martin Group , a 113-year-old, renowned Los An- geles firm. The honor of being valued by such a prestigious firm and team of people simply reinforces the incredible success we had in building a multi-discipline, multi- office enterprise. With the acquisition, we now have the capability of leveraging a staff of more than 200 employees with expertise in multiple markets. Most im- portantly, the acquisition has further en- ergized the entire ATI team with the pros- pects of securing larger, more pre-eminent projects. 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? PD: A truism for the AEC industry is that not all great practitioners have the full breadth of skills needed to successfully run portions of the enterprise. Our profes- sion has a natural progression to a point where each teammate is faced with the de- cision to become the ultimate practitio- ner or move into management. Over the years, we’ve seen many of our staff choose one path only to find they would have been happier with an alternate route. When that happens, we’ve helped some move from management into their areas of ex- pertise where they can be most fulfilled and, in other cases, we helped some exit gracefully. Those who haven’t recognized their mistake in choice and continued to underperform have been exited. Leaders of companies must know when a management level employee is contrib- uting in all aspects of their job responsi- bilities and be able to make the right and sometimes difficult decisions to make changes as needed. One of the greatest programs that we have put in place for our most senior leaders that are nearing re- tirement is a program to work on an ev- er-decreasing schedule until a comfortable point is reached for them to retire. See LEADING WITH INTEGRITY, page 8
YEAR FOUNDED: 1989 HEADQUARTERS: Pleasanton, CA OFFICE LOCATIONS: Pleasanton, CA, Roseville, CA, and Costa Mesa, CA NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 75 PAUL DIDONATO: He is an entrepreneur with a passion for building highly technical, multi- discipline, problem-solving teams. PRACTICE EXPERTISE: Institutional, industrial, government PROJECT TYPES: ❚ ❚ Commercial office buildings ❚ ❚ Advanced technology facilities ❚ ❚ Government facilities ❚ ❚ Industrial and manufacturing facilities ❚ ❚ Institutional facilities ❚ ❚ Retail ❚ ❚ Mixed-use projects RANGE: ❚ ❚ Full service architecture, planning and interior design ❚ ❚ Master planning and facility assessments ❚ ❚ Construction and project management ❚ ❚ Entitlements ❚ ❚ Plan expediting PHILANTHROPIC ROOTS: Since the beginning, each year, ATI supports local organizations such as Relay for Life, Blue Star Moms, Shepherd’s Gate, and local food banks. While the company makes monetary contributions, it also provides opportunities for employees to shine a light on causes that are important to them by integrating a community outreach and charitable donations program sponsorship.
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ay 13, 2019, ISSUE 1296
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