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TRANSACT IONS TWO LONG-TIME FAIRBANKS LAND SURVEYING FIRMS, 3-TIER ALASKA AND NORTHLAND SURVEYING & CONSULTING HAVE MERGED 3-Tier Alaska, Corp has merged with Northland Surveying & Consulting , combining more than 70 years of land surveying experience for thousands of customers in the interior of Alaska and rural villages across the state. A generational ‘passing of the torch’ has occurred in the land surveying and civil engineering industry in Alaska. Jim Ringstad, the founder of 3-Tier Alaska, Corp, along with Richard Heieren, the founder of Northland Surveying & Consulting, have merged their companies under the new leadership of Jim’s son, Nick Ringstad, who will retain the 3-Tier Alaska name. “Both 3-Tier Alaska and Northland Surveying & Consulting are leaders in their field, with first- class reputations,” said Nick Ringstad, owner of 3-Tier Alaska. “I am honored that my father and Richard have entrusted their legacy to me. After working on the pipeline, my father’s dream was to run his own business and it’s been my dream to follow in his footsteps. Though at times the elements can be challenging, it’s rewarding to take a project from the drafting

table to real life and plot out a community that will grow and develop over years to come.” 3-Tier Alaska and Northland Surveying & Consulting have many shared similarities making them well-suited to combine forces. Both were founded more than 35 years ago in Fairbanks, specialize in land surveying, and have surveyed new property lines in a state with arguably the most vast and un- surveyed land boundaries. 3-Tier Alaska brings two licensed professional engineers to the new organization to offer complementary civil engineering-related design services to Northland’s land surveying expertise. Additionally, Northland brings three licensed professional land surveyors to bolster 3-Tier Alaska’s Land Surveying knowledge. While Jim Ringstad and Richard Heieren will remain with the merged company, the day-to-day operations will be run by Nick, a professional engineer registered in the states of Alaska and Washington. “It was a pleasure to work with Nick during the acquisition process. I enjoyed getting to know him,” shared Heieren. “He has an excellent skill set to lead the company for the next

generation of surveyors and engineers. With the expert staff at 3-Tier Alaska and Northland, the future has never been brighter. When you’re dealing with an asset as valuable as someone’s property, or critical civil structures such as roads and bridges, or mapping an entire city or village, you need deep domain expertise and years of experience at your side, which is what sets the new company apart.” A shared, guiding philosophy is at the heart of the merger. Ringstad’s vision is to build on the two company’s combined 70 years of expertise to develop the next generation of land surveyors by digitally transforming 3-Tier Alaska with continuing education, training, and evolving a century’s old practice with modern technology solutions like GPS and artificial intelligence-related technologies such as robotic stations. Both companies have been market leaders in land surveying in the interior of Alaska since the early 1980s. Historically, the two companies have accomplished nearly 1,000 jobs per year with services in civil engineering and land surveying consultancy and design.

MITCH FORTNER, from page 11

the business classics or take advantage of the services of a personal executive coach. 3)Pair them up with the right mentor. One of the ways that we are trying to prepare the ambitious young professionals in our firm for future upper management positions is through mentorship sessions. Reading and discussing business books together. At appropriate levels, reviewing firm financial performance together and learning to read and understand financial statements. Working on special management or Human Resources projects together. When we notice that someone “lights up” on certain aspects of the management or operation of the firm, we try to assign them a few problems to solve, or better yet, let them lead a cross-functional team tasked with solving a recurring problem within the firm. And obviously, when a suitable position becomes available or can reasonably be created, remember these talented and am- bitious young professionals and give them a chance as soon as they have a realistic chance for success in their next position. 4)Be flexible and tailor your approach to the needs of the young professional. There is probably not a one-size-fits-all answer for satisfying and retaining employees with extreme ambition. But in an economy with 3.5 percent overall unem- ployment and 2 percent unemployment for civil engineers, there is a very good chance that your young professionals can find plenty of opportunities to move to another firm or start their own firm. We believe an open dialogue, career planning, mentoring, combined with a competitive compensation and benefits package, can help to reduce the risk of losing ambi- tious young professionals. We also believe that the effort to do so is time and money well spent. After all, as a firm leader, you are going to want those ambitious young professionals to ultimately take over and lead your company someday. MITCH FORTNER is president of KSA. He can be reached via LinkedIn, on Twitter @MitchFortner, or by email at mfortner@ksaeng.com.

deal with, maybe we should be thankful when they come to us and say, “I’m bored and need a new challenge.” But if we don’t have a position open and ready for them, how will we satisfy their itch? Here are four suggestions that have worked well for us at KSA: 1)Discuss their career goals. First, and most importantly, sit down and talk about their career goals and next steps. Antici- pate their need to have this discussion. Be proactive and don’t wait until frustration sets in. Consider questions like these: What are they passionate about? Where do they see their tal- ents and skills leading them? What are their one-, five-, and 10-year career goals? As the manager or firm leader, once you are on the same page, you might consider the following: Is there room for additional responsibility within their current position? Are there gaps in their technical or soft skills that need to be addressed be- fore they can firmly plant their foot on the next rung of their ideal career ladder? Do they demonstrate a healthy sense of self-awareness? Are they developing those who serve on their team? Have they developed a good succession plan for when they are promoted from their existing position? After identifying those areas within their existing position that they might focus on, work together to determine what type of position and responsibilities they might be best suited for in the future. 2)Document a career development plan. At this point, you might consider preparing and documenting a career develop- ment plan that they can pour themselves into. Perhaps they should enroll in an MBA program and begin taking classes in the evening and on weekends. Maybe there are industry training programs that they should attend. Webinars on spe- cific industry related issues. Maybe they need to start reading

THE ZWEIG LETTER August 6, 2018, ISSUE 1259

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