1205

BUSINESS NEWS LESHKO ELECTED TO OF CONNECTICUT’S ACADEMY OF DISTINGUISHED ENGINEERS Brian Leshko, HDR ’s bridges and structures inspection program leader, has been inducted into the University of Connecticut’s Academy of Distinguished Engineers. “I am truly grateful to be honored for my contributions to the engineering profession,” Leshko said. “I am humbled to join the talented group of UConn graduates who have distinguished themselves and positively impacted society through their engineering achievements.” UNIVERSITY Leshko’s career began at the United States Air Force Academy, where he received a B.S. in civil engineering. He would later earn a master’s degree in structural engineering at UConn, and a master of civil engineering degree with an emphasis on structural dynamics from the Johns Hopkins University. Leshko’s education led to a fascination with inspection and evaluation techniques for bridges and tunnels. His professional commitment to this specialized area, as well as his diverse experience, has been instrumental in growing HDR’s bridges and structures inspection program into a national leader. What started as a cadre of six bridge engineers/inspectors has grown to a staff of

more than 100 certified personnel. “It’s no surprise that Brian is receiving this well-deserved honor,” said Pat Hickox, HDR’s bridges and structures director. “It is through his commitment and dedication that we have been able to enhance our bridge and tunnel inspection services for our transportation clients. We are pleased others recognize the greatness we see each day.” Leshko shares his expertise through professional writings and presentations, and is contributing to several ongoing research projects for the Federal Highway Administration and National Cooperative Highway Research Program. He has been recognized as an Inaugural Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers – a prestigious honor held by fewer than 5 percent of ASCE members. LOSANGELESWORLDAIRPORTSAPPOINTS JACOBS AS PROJECT AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGER Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has been awarded a seven-year professional services prime contract for project and construction management by Los Angeles World Airports to support its Landside Access Modernization Program, Airline/Tenant Improvement Program and Capital Improvement Program at Los Angeles International Airport.

The city of Los Angeles anticipates an increase in travel into the Southern California region resulting from the addition of new entertainment facilities, a sports stadium, and a potential bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. In anticipation of this growth, and with the intent of improving the overall guest experience, LAWA has initiated the planning and development of more than $14 billion in capital improvements at LAX. Jacobs’ role includes a broad range of project and construction support services to deliver programs from definition to construction and final closeout. Services include planning; project, construction, anddesignmanagement; construction logistics and impact analysis; staff training and development; change management; and environmental reporting. “Jacobs has partnered with Los Angeles World Airports for the past 15 years, delivering both airside and landside projects,” said Bob Pragada, Jacobs president buildings and infrastructure and industrial. “Around the world, we’ve worked in collaborative roles for several major terminal and runway expansion projects and we look forward to contributing our proven expertise to help implement this program and solidify LAX as one of the great airports of the world.”

WS: I’m a marketing guy at heart so I always think we need more marketing and more brand promotion. Like cash, con- tent is king for today’s marketing department in an AEC firm. Having said that, we really just built our marketing team in the last year. Prior to that, there was no marketing department at BIG RED DOG. However, it’s been true since day one and remains true today even with our marketing team – marketing is the job of everybody in the firm. We’re building a brand here, so understand that marketing to us does not mean proposal mill. Proposal writers are among our billable teams, not among our marketing department. Our marketing team doesn’t touch a proposal and they’re not charged with winning work. We also don’t have and will never have any “cruise director” business development types that spend money, waste prospects’ time, and can’t actually produce anything when the rubber hits the road. The marketing department at BIG RED DOG is responsible for the management of the BIG RED filter. Done properly, the marketing department sets the stage for our seller-do- ers to successfully close their deals. When the time comes for me to be replaced as CEO, I hope they give me a chance to become the CMO! successfully close their deals. When the time comes for me to be replaced as CEO, I hope they give me a chance to become the CMO!” “Done properly, the marketing department sets the stage for our seller-doers to

CONFERENCE CALL, from page 7

know two things. First, everybody needs to know what the business plan says and what goals have been set. Second, everybody needs to know how our performance is bench- marking against the written plan and they need to know it in as close to real time as we can manage. The informa- tion that we share in our open-book management report to our team members is the exact same type of information that we provide to the owners of our firm. We’re unequivo- cal about sharing the information because if everybody has a sense of how we’re doing relative to our stated goals, then everybody can also take the appropriate actions to help the company perform better for our clients. An added benefit of our approach is that our engineers, planners, and design- ers, both new and those with significantly more experience, learn the metrics and terminology of what it takes to run a business. The metrics and information we’re sharing pro- vide some financial literacy to a group of folks that typically have never been trained to speak that language. “I’m a marketing guy at heart so I always think we need more marketing and more brand promotion. Like cash, content is king for today’s marketing department in an AEC firm.” TZL: How does marketing contribute to your success rate? Are you content with your marketing efforts, or do you think you should increase/decrease marketing?

THE ZWEIG LETTER June 19, 2017, ISSUE 1205

Made with FlippingBook Annual report