TZL 1371

ON THE MOVE BROWN AND CALDWELL WELCOMES NEW HEAD OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION Leading environmental engineering and construction firm Brown and Caldwell announced Andrea Hall has joined the company as senior director of diversity and inclusion. Hall brings a 17-year track record of creating and leading company-wide diversity and inclusion strategy and strengthening equitable processes for global organizations. Hall’s experience includes improving diverse talent hiring, launching employee empowerment platforms, enhancing career progression policies, developing solutions to interrupt process and procedural bias, and driving diversity and inclusion education and awareness. As senior director of diversity and inclusion, Hall will be responsible for identifying and implementing programs to maintain and promote Brown and Caldwell’s culture of belonging, diversity, and inclusion. Additionally, she will enhance current diversity and inclusion initiatives as the foundation of its recruitment, retention, and professional advancement practices. “This new position builds on our commitment to providing a balanced workplace of perspectives, backgrounds, and talent where ideas thrive and each of our 1,700 employee-

owners is valued and respected,” said Brown and Caldwell Chief People Officer Bob Chapman. “I am thrilled to welcome Andrea and look forward to seeing her impact as we continue to build belonging, inclusivity, and collaboration in our industry, organization, and local communities.” Headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, Brown and Caldwell is a full-service environmental engineering and construction firm with 52 offices and more than 1,700 professionals across North America and the Pacific. For more than 70 years, Brown and Caldwell’s creative solutions have helped municipalities, private industry, and government agencies successfully overcome their most challenging water and environmental obstacles. As an employee-owned company, Brown and Caldwell is passionate about exceeding our clients’ expectations and making a difference for its employees, its communities, and its environment. KYLE GRANTHAM JOINS NEEL-SCHAFFER AS WATER RESOURCES ENGINEER IN MISSISSIPPI Neel-Schaffer, Inc. announced that Kyle Grantham, PE, CFM, has joined the firm and will serve as a water resources engineer based in the firm’s Southaven, Mississippi, office.

Grantham has six years of experience in all aspects of hydrology and hydraulic engineering and design. In addition to being a licensed professional engineer, Grantham is a Certified Floodplain Manager. Grantham’s experience also includes three years working for the Mississippi Department of Transportation. “We are extremely excited to have Kyle join our Water Resources team at Neel-Schaffer,” said Glenn Ledet, PE, Neel-Schaffer’s Coastal Science and Water Resources Manager. “He is a skilled engineer in the hydrology and hydraulic and water resources fields and his experience both in consulting and in the public sector will certainly add value to our team.” Grantham holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. Neel-Schaffer is a multi-disciplined engineering and planning firm with offices throughout the South. Founded in 1983, Neel-Schaffer is ranked 230th on Engineering News-Record’s list of the nation’s Top 500 Design Firms for 2020.

MARK ZWEIG, from page 9

Recruiting and hiring is another way for firms to “pour on the gas.” Again, the typical response of A/E firms to challenges in current or future workload is to cut labor, not increase it. Yet tough times could indicate the firm needs to do the opposite. The market is saying it doesn’t like the firm’s current offerings for whatever reason. What firms should be doing is (quickly) figuring out what the market DOES want from them, and then investing in building that capability as fast as possible. And maybe the firm should decide to go after entirely new markets or add all new services because their current markets are just too hammered. That could mean spending more on recruiting and labor, not less. And finally, we have the matter of spending on efficiency improvements. Instead of cutting back or spending less on software and systems and training, “pouring on the gas” could mean spending more on these things. Sure it sounds like investing versus expense reduction, because it is! And that spending needs to go up just when you ostensibly can least afford to do so. So, what are you doing as the hill ahead looms? Are you letting off the throttle so you don’t strain your “engine,” or giving it throttle and burning more fuel so you can get over the hill? Real entrepreneurs will press on the accelerator harder, and pass everyone else who is crawling up that hill! MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

spending, let me say that no one in this business is actually spending what they think they’re spending on marketing. There are so many distortions you will find in the numbers. For example, most firms let nearly anyone in the firm charge their time to “marketing.” My personal experience is that when things slow down, it looks better to charge your time to “marketing” versus uncategorized “non- billable.” So people do that and it looks like the company is spending more than it does. “What are you doing as the hill ahead looms? Are you letting off the throttle so you don’t strain your ‘engine,’ or giving it throttle and burning more fuel so you can get over the hill? Real entrepreneurs will press on the accelerator harder, and pass everyone else who is crawling up that hill!” Another way marketing spending is distorted goes the other direction. When companies have a practice of rolling all marketing and business development costs into a project once they win it, that means their marketing costs from an accounting standpoint only represent marketing costs that did NOT lead to a project. So marketing spending in that case is underreported.

THE ZWEIG LETTER DECEMBER 14, 2020, ISSUE 1371

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