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ON THE MOVE GREENMAN-PEDERSEN, INC. ANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT OF THE NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO CHRISTER ERICSSON, P.E. Greenman- Pedersen, Inc. is pleased to announce that Christer Ericsson, P.E. has been named president and CEO. Ericsson joined Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. as a project manager for HTSD, a firm acquired by Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. in 1998. Since then, he has successfully led the growth of Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.’s New England Regional presence from one office to five offices in four states. For the past 18 years, Ericsson has served as the New England office’s branch manager, rebuilding the operation from a traffic engineering group to a multi-disciplined operation providing bridge design, construction inspection, protective coatings, geomatics, landscape architecture and UAS services. In 2015, Ericsson was promoted to chief marketing officer, a role in which he was responsible for geographic and discipline growth of Greenman-Pedersen, Inc., which is

comprised of 48 offices throughout the United States. With a passion and understanding of the importance of brand identity, strategic cross-branch marketing and the awareness of the changes in the engineering industry, his focus was on the development of the corporate communications plan and improved collaboration between the approximately 1,500 employees. As president and CEO, Ericsson will continue the strategic process and lead Greenman- Pedersen, Inc. in employee engagement and company-wide growth. “Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. recently celebrated its 50th anniversary,” Ericsson said, “and as we commemorate our past, we are excited about and focused on our future. As technology evolves, all of what we do becomes more and more integrated. The future success of Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. will be built upon the new and developing leaders collaborating and taking the company to higher levels.” “I met Ericsson at a project manager’s

meeting in 1999 and immediately knew he was a leader and people would support him,” said Steve Greenman, P.E., Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. chairman of the board. “Over the past 19 years, Ericsson and his staff have taken the New England operation from a branch that at times was struggling to stay afloat to one of the premier offices in the Greenman- Pedersen, Inc. organization. I have the same feeling that he will lead the entire Greenman- Pedersen, Inc. operation to new and exciting levels.” Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. is an employee- owned consulting engineering firm providing design and construction management services to both public and private sector clients. Areas of expertise include highway and bridge design, construction inspection, MEP design, traffic engineering, transportation planning, land development, training and development, underwater inspection, and protective coatings.

BRENT CHRISTIAN, from page 11

It assured employees we were making headway on operations and tactical issues, let them know we were actively working to get systems up and running, and assured them we put them first, always. At RPS, our team is our No. 1 asset – the health, safety, and well-being of each employee is paramount. Minimizing uncertainty and instilling a sense of connection are important to maintaining staff well-being and trust. Externally, RPS teams mobilized to bring food and other supplies to emergency responders in communities across the region. Additionally, we adjusted our social media outreach to reflect sensitivity to the crisis and utilized channels to impart important information. We wanted to let our communities and clients know that while we were working hard to restore our internal operations, we were also concerned with how our region was handling the devastation. All non-critical posts and updates were paused, and when operations were back up and running at functional levels, we issued a post that RPS in Houston was indeed back open for business. WHAT HARVEY TAUGHT US. It was this planning and preparation – long before the first raindrop fell – that enabled RPS to maintain our mission of putting people first. It was these plans and processes that gave our staff the tools and re- sources they needed to get back to work, whether from the office, from home, or from a temporary satellite location. It was these plans – executed during a difficult time by our dedicated employees – that allowed us to return quickly to full operations, keeping our commitments to our commu- nities and our clients, and keeping our projects on sched- ule. BRENT CHRISTIAN, PE, is senior vice president, Infrastructure, RPS. He can be reached at brent.christian@rpsgroup.com.

the storm’s affects on them personally: no damage, some damage, or extensive damage. This gave us a clear idea of how our staff fared in the storm and provided a roadmap going forward of resources needed and how to deploy those resources effectively. “Last year’s Hurricane Harvey was shocking even to a region that thought it had already seen the worst Mother Nature could serve up. While longer-ranging issues will be years in resolving, the immediate imperative for area businesses was all about people.” While the majority of employees reported none to minimal damage, some staff suffered significant impacts. Regularly scheduled check-ins were instituted to verify that all staff remained safe and that their needs had not changed nor their situation worsened. Once we determined the extent of need, within 36 hours RPS created a $100,000 employee relief fund. Additionally, we announced to RPS employees outside the impacted region that any funds they donated would be matched by RPS – this raised another $40,000. A fast-tracked process enabled employees-in-need to apply for this financial assistance quickly. Throughout the week following Harvey’s arrival, RPS continued to contact employees regularly via our automated telephone/email/texting system to provide updates on office closures, street conditions, and the progress on restoring full RPS operations. This consistent contact and built-in redundancy had a three-fold purpose.

THE ZWEIG LETTER June 4, 2018, ISSUE 1251

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