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The right direction: Mike Nelson President and CEO of LACO (Best Firm Multi-discipline #46 for 2018), a California firm with a famously branded shirt.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
“D uring the lean years, it wasn’t very attractive to be- come an owner,” Nelson says. “We had difficulty in retiring underperforming principals as well as attracting new owners. We have since improved our financial perfor- mance and focused on attracting more shareholders by hav- ing tangible benefits of ownership and cultivating our ris- ing stars.” A CONVERSATION WITH MIKE NELSON. The Zweig Letter: When did you have the most fun run- ning your firm, and what were the hallmarks of that time in your professional life? Mike Nelson: There have been many ups and downs over the years, but I would have to say from 2017 to 2018. It was a strong growth period for us. We acquired a survey firm and several key new hires and improved our company cul- ture. We had a number of marketing initiatives that real- ly took off. Our marketing efforts for “#inmylacoshirt” was a great success – more than I ever expected and I am real- ly proud of our team for building company culture around this initiative. We promoted our staff doing community ser- vice events, traveling, enjoying nature, going to site visits
on projects or anything else they are passionate about in their LACO shirt. Our staff really enjoyed it and went above and beyond from skydiving to international travel and even a wedding! I am also proud to say we received a Zweig Group Marketing Excellence award for our #inmylacoshirt staff yearbook. TZL: Are you currently pursuing the R&D tax credit? MN: Yes. This is the second time we are doing it. It has con- siderable benefits and we’re still learning the ropes about how best to take advantage of it. It’s all about capturing those opportunities up front rather than after the fact. It can offset investments, encourage companies to stay up to speed on regulatory changes, and can encourage innova- tion. It’s good for the industry. TZL: Do you share base salary or bonus amounts with your entire staff? MN: We do not share base salary information or individual bonus amounts. We do share company overall performance on key performance metrics, such as net service revenue, utilization and profit. We also share the total or gross bonus
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