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TRANSACTIONS WESTWOOD ACQUIRES VIRGINIA- BASED BALZER & ASSOCIATES Westwood Professional Services, Inc., a nationally renowned design and consulting firm, announced its acquisition of Virginia-based Balzer & Associates, Inc. The acquisition of Balzer & Associates aligns with Westwood’s vision to expand into new geographic regions while further enhancing our ability to support clients across the nation. This acquisition adds Westwood’s four new offices in Virginia, strengthening strategic growth initiatives.
“Balzer’s values align well with Westwood’s culture and their exceptional team will add tremendous value to our company. Our focus on expanding our geographic presence and broadening the range of professional services we deliver further elevate our organization. We are excited about the positive impact of this acquisition for our people and clients,” says Chief Executive Officer, Bryan P. Powell, PE. Balzer complements Westwood’s market-leading presence in Land Development and strengthens Westwood’s deep reach of service offerings.
Balzer’s President, Sean Horne, LA, comments, “We are pleased to join forces with the Westwood team to enhance our capabilities and reach further. This partnership enables us to provide a broader range of services to our clients and creates new opportunities for our team. We look forward to being part of Westwood and our future efforts to drive growth as a unified team.” Balzer will operate as Balzer & Associates, a Westwood company, for a period of time and continue to serve clients from their current locations.
it wasn’t just small talk; it was more meaningful, thanks to the unique way books invite us to share perspectives and connect over human experiences. Through these discussions, I learned Sruti also had a 3-year-old son. I found out Jeff often went off camera during video calls because his three cats loved to make surprise appearances. And I was surprised to discover that my boss was a board member of an art gallery. ■ Lastly, the book club brought people together from across the firm, ultimately helping us excel at our jobs. Interacting in this setting encouraged not only connection and friendship but also trust, which made cross-departmental collaboration and innovation easier and more natural. As employees got to know one another outside typical work discussions, they became more willing to reach out, brainstorm, and problem-solve together. What started as non-work-related conversations ultimately seeped into our work lives, strengthening bonds and making us a more productive, cohesive team. It’s not exactly surprising that we needed to rebuild community. After all, we’ve known all along that it’s essential for fostering employee satisfaction, engagement, and long-term retention. When people feel a genuine sense of belonging at work, they’re more likely to be invested in their roles, collaborate effectively, and feel motivated to contribute to the company’s success. It took the disappointment of a canceled meeting for me to realize just how much these monthly gatherings had come to mean. What started as a fun way to chat about books had become an unexpected source of connection and energy for our team. In a hybrid world, it turned out that a little time spent discussing mysteries, memoirs, and personal development books was exactly what we needed to bring us closer together and keep us excited about the work we do. Mercedez Thompson has 11 years’ experience in professional marketing services. As a pursuit manager at PwC, Mercedez collaborates with thought leaders, marketing and sales staff, and client services personnel to develop the firm’s most strategic proposals. She was a 2022 APMP 40 Under 40 Winner. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
MERCEDEZ THOMPSON , from page 3
While we didn’t miss the 7 a.m. commute or scrambling for after-school care for our children, we knew something intangible was missing – the organic moments that happened at the printer or in the break room. We needed to reconnect, to bring back the human element of work: the small talk, the shared stories, the little insights into each other’s lives beyond the office. We experimented with various ways to rebuild that sense of community. We launched a mentor-mentee program (which fizzled after two months), scheduled monthly team-building events (which required ever-larger incentives to boost attendance), and started a “lunch and learn” series where colleagues could present on projects or share insights from new industry trends (this one, thankfully, was going strong). But the book club was different. It wasn’t just surviving; it was thriving. Why? For a few key reasons: ■ First, the book club meetings took place during work hours. For many of us, juggling family, hobbies, and work meant that time outside office hours felt precious. Though we read the books in our own time, the flexibility helped – some read before bed, others on the treadmill, others at their kid’s soccer games. So unlike other initiatives, the book club didn’t feel like an additional work obligation bleeding into our free time. ■ Our book selections were as varied as our participants. We quickly realized that focusing on narrow genres or themes, like summer beach reads or only biographies of famous entrepreneurs, limited the club’s appeal. So, we made sure to mix it up. Each month brought a new theme, alternating between fiction and nonfiction, with everyone contributing to a list of suggested titles and then voting anonymously. With this diversity, attendance soared – so much so that we were sometimes forced to split into smaller discussion groups. ■ The conversations were low-stakes yet engaging – refreshingly different from work talk. Somehow, it gave us back the freedom to connect on a personal level, a freedom we’d lost since remote became the norm. But
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THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 6, 2025, ISSUE 1567
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