TZL 1473 (web)

TRANSACTIONS ATWELL ENTERS INTO A DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE DEMPSEY SURVEYING COMPANY, EXPANDING PRESENCE IN MIDWEST Atwell has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Dempsey Surveying Company, a land surveying firm based in Cleveland, Ohio. This acquisition will expand the company’s presence in Ohio and surveying capabilities in the Midwest. Dempsey Surveying Company’s services include topographic surveys, construction staking, boundary services, Federal Emergency Management Agency flood elevation certificates, surface model TINs, Global Positioning System services, aerial mapping, and drone services. “We’re pleased to combine the knowledge, technical capabilities, and experience of these two successful companies,” said William Anderson, senior vice president of Atwell. “Our shared priorities of providing proactive solutions and excellent client service

will strengthen our ability to deliver quality projects that achieve our clients’ goals.” Dempsey Surveying Company has a wide range of clients across several markets including industrial, commercial, public utilities, and more. The company maintains more than 50 years of survey records. “We’re excited to join the team at Atwell and look forward to being able to expand the services we offer to our existing and future clients,” said Christopher Dempsey, CEO of Dempsey Surveying Company. “This acquisition provides new opportunities for both our clients and team members.” Since 1985, Christopher Dempsey has been providing surveying services throughout Ohio as a second-generation surveyor. He started Dempsey Surveying Company in 2002 with the sole focus on surveying and providing exceptional service.

This is Atwell’s third acquisition in Q4 2022. In November, Atwell also financed the acquisition of Cross Surveying, a 28-person land surveying firm based in Florida, and acquired Ben Dyer Associates, a 55-person engineering firm based in Maryland. Atwell, LLC is a national consulting, engineering, and construction services firm with technical professionals located across the United States totaling more than 1,400 team members. Creating innovative solutions for clients in industries such as real estate and land development, power and energy, and oil and gas, Atwell is committed to providing comprehensive turnkey services including land and right-of- way support, planning, landscape architecture, engineering, land surveying, environmental compliance and permitting, and project and program management.

had to be involved in proposals – that was my job, after all. I shudder to recall entire technical approaches written by yours truly. Attendance at meetings generally improved at large firms, but accountability around deadlines did not. I found that my technical leads were even busier and spread even thinner, with pressure to be constantly billable. I was working more proposals with bigger values but still doing it all – from design to writing to reviewing and editing. It turns out that many of us have to do the jobs of three or four people to submit a proposal. ■ Expectations around volume impact quality. I’ve worked for a small firm that didn’t have a go/no-go process. And I’ve worked for a large firm that had one but managed to “go” everything anyways. The result is the same: an emphasis on volume that results in lower quality proposals. I once had a senior proposal manager tell me he would win nine contracts a year, regardless of whether he proposed on 10 or 100. While I’m sure his example was an exaggeration, the point holds true. An ongoing battle, regardless of firm size, is advocating for stricter selection when it comes to what we are pursuing. In considering the differences between marketing at small and large farms, I found that we have more in common than not. It would serve us well to unite around these similarities and work together toward solutions and strategies that help us add more value and ultimately win more work. Mercedez Thompson is a pursuit manager and writer at PwC. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

MERCEDEZ THOMPSON, from page 3

a large firm was the opportunity to focus on proposal management. How much better could I be if I wasn’t spread so thin? Yet, even though I was no longer updating the company website, I found myself handling award submissions, coordinating conference abstracts, booking travel, ordering lunches, even fixing the office printer. My department manager worried that I was too specialized and wondered how I could be involved earlier in capture planning and later in project execution. The fact is, large or small, marketing is often seen as a catch-all position: an ongoing problem that may prevent us from performing our actual duties – you know, the ones written in the job description – well. “We have more in common than not. It would serve us well to unite around our similarities and work together toward solutions and strategies that help us add more value and ultimately win more work.” ■ When it comes to proposals, it’s a one-man-show. I still have nightmares about nobody showing up for a kick- off meeting. Unfortunately, this was quite normal during my small firm days. I was the beginning and end of the marketing team, and the “process,” if you could call it that, was lax. Many of my coworkers didn’t understand why they

THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 23, 2023, ISSUE 1473

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