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P R O F I L E
SidePlate staff spending a little time with Ronald McDonald.
Conference call: Henry Gallart CEO of SidePlate (Best Firm Structural #4 for 2018), a civil engineering firm based in Mission Viejo, California.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
“T here is no question that organic growth is the way to go,” Gallart says. “M&A can help you grow your firm, but it comes at a price – many times a high price.” A CONVERSATION WITH HENRY GALLART. The Zweig Letter: Diversifying the portfolio is never a bad thing. What are themost recent steps you’ve taken to broaden your revenue streams? Henry Gallart: We’re exploring new marketplaces such as airports and high-rise buildings where we haven’t historically played before. SidePlate brings value to any steel structure, and each year our cus- tomers bring us into exciting and interesting proj- ects that we might not have looked at even five years ago. TZL: The list of responsibilities for project man- agers is seemingly endless. How do you keep your PMs from burning out? And if they crash, how do you get them back out on the road, so to speak? HG: We’re ever mindful of their workload and as- sociated standard of care they provide our custom- ers. Each of our PMs leads a team and each mem- ber has a specialty or specific strength that helps
the PM keep their list of projects on track at all times. In addition, we are continually developing design tools and resource management tools that allow them to handle the increased workload with- out burning out. For example, we create software tools for estimating and design enhancement that allow our connections to fit directly into many soft- ware models. These tools help automate a lot of the work. “We try to ensure that our top people who are looking to grow into greater leadership positions are provided the necessary training to be the leaders of tomorrow.” TZL: What is the role of entrepreneurship in your firm? HG: It’s in the SidePlate DNA to innovate and stay on the cutting-edge in our industry. We are in- fusing a greater awareness of project profitability throughout the entire company, and not just at the leadership team level.
Henry Gallart, CEO, Side- Plate
THE ZWEIG LETTER Septe
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