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ON THE MOVE PENNONI APPOINTS NEW CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Pennoni , a multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm, announced that David Pennoni has been selected as the firm’s new COO. Dave will be succeeding David DeLizza who was promoted to president and CEO. “Dave’s strong drive for results and his knowledge, experience, and success within the profession and the firm make him an excellent choice for this position,” said C.R.
“Chuck” Pennoni, founder and chairman. “Dave exemplifies Pennoni’s core values of Honesty, Integrity, and Service and drives the firm’s goals of Excellent Reputation, Profit, and Growth.” Dave has more than 35 years of experience with Pennoni, rising from graduate engineer to most recently the regional vice president for one of the firm’s largest and most successful regions. As RVP, Dave has helped grow the
Greater Philadelphia region by more than 40 percent over the last eight years. Dave’s experience includes an emphasis on client satisfaction and a strong grasp of the multiple services offered by Pennoni. “I am honored to be named COO and I look forward to working with our new president and CEO, Dave DeLizza, our colleagues, and our clients to continue the successful growth of the firm in the years to come,” said Dave.
Employees at Taylor Design enjoy social time.
ROLE MODEL, from page 7
attention to diversifying that client base can come at great cost. I had to close the office and terminate the employees when that primary client went through a rapid rough patch. A rough lesson. TZL: In one word or phrase, what do you describe as your number one job responsibility as CEO? RR: Inspire! Be the role model for behavior, networking, and navigating client relationships. TZL: A firm’s longevity is valuable. What are you doing to encourage your staff to stick around? RR: Since being founded in 1979, we’ve had numerous staff celebrate 20th anniversaries (and beyond) with the firm. Our culture of continuous learning has contributed to the longevity of our staff. We launched a new employee Goal Setting Program firmwide, which has allowed for total transparency in the professional development of our staff and financial rewards available upon successful completion. The ESOP plays a role in longevity as well. Promoting the value and growth opportunity that comes over time and building a culture around ownership increases employee retention.
percentage of the employee’s time that we expect will be charged to regular, revenue-producing projects, then build our annual plan based on that planned utilization. We also encourage our staff to incorporate business development and client relationship management into their workload as part of an annual, goal-setting exercise. “Being recognized and ranked as the No. 1 Best Firm To Work For in the architecture category by Zweig Group this year means we have an excellent foundation of happy and empowered staff.” TZL: They say failure is a great teacher. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve had to learn the hard way? RR: A very hard lesson learned as an office leader while at a previous firm was having too many eggs in one basket. Committing to a client relationship is important, especially for a small start-up office location. However, not paying
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THE ZWEIG LETTER October 7, 2019, ISSUE 1315
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