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ON THE MOVE TIM CAREY SELECTED TO LEAD GROWING ENERGY GROUP IN CHICAGO FOR BURNS & MCDONNELL Burns & McDonnell has selected Tim Carey to lead its growing regional Energy Group in Chicago. Throughout Carey’s career, he has supported many small projects and large- scale capital projects for utility and heavy industrial clients in North America. With nearly two decades of engineering, construction and management experience, Carey will focus on growing the firm’s team of professionals and continuing to support power generation and industrial clients in the Upper Midwest. “Tim has a proven track record of success and leadership supporting crucial power generation projects and programs across the country,” says Scott Newland, senior vice president and general manager of Chicago and Detroit offices for Burns & McDonnell. “His drive, commitment and deep understanding of the industry make him a strong addition to our leadership team.” Continued diversification into a broad number of major service specialties has resulted in another year of growth for Burns & McDonnell.
The firm ranks No. 10 on the 2019 Top 500 Design Firms list and No. 1 in the Power category by Engineering News-Record . The just-released 2019 ranking was based on 2018 design revenue of $1.67 billion, compared with $1.47 billion reported on the 2018 survey. Carey says this diversification, along with a strong construction team, is the key to executing engineer-procure-construct projects – a delivery method that creates the flexibility to meet increasingly stringent client demands for schedule and budget certainty – within the power industry. “Our multidiscipline team has supported the gamut of power generation projects – from reciprocating engines to renewable energy and storage, and from distributed energy resources to power plant improvements,” Carey says. “Our professionals’ skillsets not only support traditional power plant projects, but also gas compressor, steel, pulp and paper, and other heavy industrial projects. Because we have a comprehensive suite of services and contract delivery methods, we’re better positioned to deliver safe and efficient solutions on time and on budget.”
Burns & McDonnell is expanding operations in Chicago and plans to double the size of its local workforce – hiring more than 300 diverse professionals – within the next three years. The growth in the region is part of the 100 percent employee-owned engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting firm’s nationwide effort to hire more than 1,000 professionals annually. “We’re excited to add entrepreneurial, dynamic, top-notch professionals to our team, helping us continue to deliver high-quality, state-of-the-art projects for our clients,” Carey says. Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of 7,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world. Burns & McDonnell strives to create amazing success for its clients and amazing careers for its employee-owners. Burns & McDonnell is 100 employee-owned and is proud to be on Fortune’s 2019 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For.
GREG SHIPLEY, from page 11
(administration, marketing, production, etc.). Make sure to fill the gaps – very important. Group similar tasks and then determine specific management assignments. ❚ ❚ Choose management by skills, not by personality. The most outgoing person in the company may be viewed as a strong candidate to be the business development leader. But, what if their organizational skills are poor? A positive multi- plied by a negative is always a negative. ❚ ❚ Not all partners are managers. Purchasing company stock should not provide an automatic promotion to management. There are times when emotions tied to investments can get in the way of making objective decisions. Know where to draw the line. ❚ ❚ Not all managers are partners. While perhaps an inside track to becoming a partner, not all managers are partner material. Most firms define specific criteria for partners (my top two are over the top dedication to the best interest of the company, and the ability to attract new business). Hold true to your partner selection criteria and apply it consistently. ❚ ❚ Show the next generation that opportunities exist. The key to the future success of AEC firms is attracting and re- taining top talent – also known as future buyers of company stock. If these candidates cannot clearly see their future posi- tion within your firm today, they are certain not to stay. GREG SHIPLEY, P.E., is president of Morrison-Shipley Engineers, Inc., a civil engineering and land surveying firm with offices located in Arkansas, Texas, and Missouri. He can be contacted at gshipley@morrisonshipley. com.
financial aspects of the transition, the company was not as prepared for the string of leadership and management changes that needed to follow. The reasonable assumption was that we would move forward with management roles as they were, which we did, without one founder plus a new face. In hindsight, we should have used this opportunity to establish a more permanent management structure that could consistently be scaled for future transitions, knowing these would be more frequent in the coming years. Far more consideration should have been given to properly outlining specific duties rather than assigning general leadership roles. “We should have used this opportunity to establish a more permanent management structure that could consistently be scaled for future transitions, knowing these would be more frequent in the coming years.” AEC firms are often reminded to plan for ownership transition early and update those plans routinely. If I could rewind the clock 10 years, I would certainly give more consideration to the following: ❚ ❚ Define tasks before defining roles. Brainstorm a very spe- cific list of management tasks for the firm’s entire operation
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THE ZWEIG LETTER August 12, 2019, ISSUE 1308
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