1272

ON THE MOVE WGI ANNOUNCES TRANSFORMATIVE LEADER AND INDUSTRY VETERAN GREGORY SAUTER, PE JOINS FIRM AS PRESIDENT David Wantman, PE, announced that he will be sharing the leadership of WGI with newly hired president, Gregory Sauter, PE, and that he will step fully into the role of CEO – a carefully crafted strategic initiative more than a year in the making. “I will be bifurcating my title from president and CEO to just CEO,” says Wantman, who assumed leadership of the firm from his father, Joel, who founded the company in 1972. “Greg has a tremendous reputation in our profession as part of the leadership team with one of the largest firms in the world as it rocketed from a few thousand employees to over 100,000 professionals and the ENR 500 top ranking. “We are at a unique time in our industry and Greg also has exceptional experience in advancing cutting-edge technologies that are transforming how we envision, design, and deliver infrastructure. That provides WGI with a special opportunity to follow the example and experience of someone fully qualified to assist with the many challenges that WGI will face as we execute our 2025 vision of 1,000 associates and $200 million in revenue.” Sauter’s qualifications and experience are both broad and deep. He is best characterized as someone operating, “at the intersection of culture, technology, and performance; driving success for organizations via cultural transformation, leveraging advanced

technologies, with a commitment to ethics, integrity, and authentic leadership.” “I am very excited to be joining a dynamic and rapidly growing firm like WGI with such a strong culture and team which punches way above their weight. I am particularly enthusiastic about David’s clear strategic vision for the future and the opportunity to leverage both my industry and technology experience as part of that vision. Digitization is changing our industry and we are excited to be at the forefront of that change,” says Sauter. During Sauter’s 15 years with the largest design firm in the world, his commitment to ethics, people, leadership, corporate social responsibility, excellence, sustainability, and safety garnered national and international awards including Ethisphere’s 100 most ethical companies list, the Gold American Business Awards, multiple International Business Awards, and Newsweek’s Top 500 Greenest Companies. Sauter is also the co-founder of Smart City Works, the world’s first business actuator, helping to accelerate early stage companies focused on civil infrastructure and advance technologies in mature organizations. “It is more than just Greg’s leadership and commitment to transformative technology that attractedWGI,”Wantman adds. “His reputation as a civic leader, teacher, humanitarian, entrepreneur, and global thinker dovetails with the vision I and the WGI Leadership Team have for our associates, our corporate culture, and our future.” The last several years, Sauter’s time has been well spent, beginning with his involvement in

Engineers Without Borders as past president and board chairman; as an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York City teaching global entrepreneurship and innovation in civil engineering; as board director of OmniEarth, working with companies that recognize the Earth is a vibrant and interactive system, and therefore these modern global businesses need to understand, manage, and predict the world around them with quantitative geoanalytics; president and CEO at Crossroads Advisory, a consultancy committed to advancing leadership through executive and organizational transformation, ethics, integrity, and authentic leadership; and as founder of Smart City Works, a business accelerator working to improve livability and resilience in cities through focus on the built environment, dramatically changing the way civil infrastructure is designed, built, and operated. Greg Sauter will divide his time between New Jersey and WGI’s South Florida headquarters, and WGI’s 13 offices in Florida, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, North Carolina, and Texas. As a multidisciplinary consulting firm, WGI has 14 offices in six states, serving an active client base in more than 30 states, specializing in the following disciplines: land development/ municipal engineering, transportation engineering, parking solutions, geospatial services, subsurface utility engineering, structures, water resources, landscape architecture, environmental sciences, architecture, land planning, and creative services.

“groups” in the room of other Chamber folks. People are just people; we naturally gravitate to those we know. Breaking the ice with a new contact, and discussing your “elevator speech” is the best, most effective way to meet folks and find those new clients that reflect your personal and corporate values. You’ll be surprised how quickly you will be part of the “group discussions” in the room, and meeting people consistently. It’s really that easy! Now, get out there and get some business! JONATHAN SAVAGE is vice president at Pennoni. Contact him at jsavage@pennoni.com. “Be yourself, find common interests, and don’t be intimidated by the ‘groups’ in the room of other Chamber folks ... Breaking the ice with a new contact, and discussing your ‘elevator speech’ is the best, most effective way to meet folks and find those new clients that reflect your personal and corporate values.”

JONATHAN SAVAGE, from page 11

development, review, and buy-in to business plans and an- nual revenue projections for our firm, based on corporate “strategic plan” goals. Regional VPs and office directors en- courage these “roll-up” projections and follow up with results on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. These projections are coordinated with the executive staff and incorporated into annual operations budgets. Our BD staff members set their own expectations every year, through the development of annual business development plans. BD plans are updated, revised, and results are tabulated every quarter and on an annual basis. Our CRM lead and pro- posal databases are updated on an “as-needed” basis and are part of the annual review process for BD staff. ❚ ❚ Persistence/bird-dogging/reminders/timely follow-ups. We rely heavily on CRM to keep us all focused on our go/no- go processes and account management objectives. Suffice it to say, any company needs a centralized proposal and client management system to ensure a high-quality approach to and for clients and their objectives. CRM also plays a substantial role in following up on our numerous, annual proposal sub- mittals and ensuring that timely follow-ups occur. And my advice to our busy division manager? Be yourself, find common interests, and don’t be intimidated by the

THE ZWEIG LETTER November 12, 2018, ISSUE 1272

Made with FlippingBook Annual report