4
BUSINESS NEWS UNIVERSAL ENGINEERING SCIENCES, LLC FORMS PARTNERSHIP WITH NEVADA GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING AND TESTING FIRM Orlando- headquartered Universal Engineering Sciences, LLC has announced that Nova Geotechnical & Inspection Services, LLC has joined their family of companies, a move that initiates the westward expansion of UES, already the largest and most recognized leader in geotechnical and environmental engineering, construction materials testing, construction QA/QC, environmental health and safety consulting and building code compliance services in the Southeast. The NOVA Geotech partnership is the third equity investment/acquisition made by UES through its relationshipwith PalmBeach Capital and Gary H Elzweig, P.E. The combined firm with 29 offices coast to coast and in excess of 1,500 highly skilled professionals is positioned throughout Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada and California and was founded 56 years ago by Seymour Israel who is still actively involved with the firm. “We are delighted to welcome NOVA Geotech and its leadership into the growing UES family of companies,” UES President Mark Israel announced. “NOVA Geotech compliments and adds to our portfolio of services and gives us a strong base for our plans for western expansion. In addition, our knowledge of the company and its leadership convinced us that NOVA is committed to delivering the same high level of quality and professionalism that we have provided our clients for more than half a century.” NOVA Geotech CEO and President James Bristow echoed Israel’s comments about the new relationship.
Bristow said, “We are looking forward to leveraging Universal’s management team, excellent reputation and resources, combined with the market niche Nova Geotech currently enjoys, to duplicate what UES has built in the southeast and expand that throughout the western region to create a network of locations that will benefit our respective clients. UES has a ‘quality first’ commitment that matches perfectly with ours.” Universal Engineering Sciences, LLC recently merged with GFA International, Inc. and the combined consulting engineering firm specializes in geotechnical engineering, building code compliance, construction materials testing and inspection services, environmental, health and safety and facilities consulting. The company has 1,500 employees in 29 offices serving clients throughout the Southeast U.S. from D.C. Metro to Miami, and west to Nevada. NOVA Geotech was established in 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, to provide geotechnical engineering, environmental consulting, soils inspection and testing, construction materials testing and special inspections and has grown to be the preeminent firm of its type in the Las Vegas Valley, Northern Nevada, and Southern California. STEPHEN CUPKA JOINS AMT IN VIRGINIA BEACH A. Morton Thomas and Associates, Inc. is pleased to announce that Stephen Cupka, P.E., CCM, PSP has joined AMT’s Virginia Beach office as a regional construction management leader. In his role, Stephen will oversee AMT’s construction engineering and inspection contracts and staff in the Hampton Roads area while also pursuing new opportunities within the region. Cupka brings to
the position more than 12 years of experience in construction and project management, cost management and scheduling, estimating, and engineering. He has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering technologies from Old Dominion University. “As someone with proven talent in construction management, we are excited to add Stephen’s leadership to our CEI team,” notes AMT President and CEO Michael Wiercinski, PE, PLS. “We look forward to Stephen’s important contributions to AMT’s Facilities and Transportation practices in Virginia.” A. Morton Thomas and Associates, Inc. has a deep appreciation for establishing vision and achieving goals. Client-focused since the firm’s 1955 inception, AMT has evolved into a multidisciplinary engineering and design consultancy with more than 20 offices throughout the eastern United States. As an employee stock option plan managed and 100 percent employee-owned firm, AMT employs highly qualified individuals who are experts in their respective fields to oversee, perform and manage our business practices. These team members are driven to positively impact the communities where they live, work, and play. Collectively, AMT’s capabilities encompass transportation engineering for roadways, bridges and traffic improvements, related construction management and construction engineering inspection, site design, surveying, landscape architecture, water resources and environmental services, and more.
Having people skills can help design professionals negotiate the minefield of professional life today in a polarized society, and make the difference between their survival or lack of it in their profession. People skills – if we care about the success of our people and our businesses, we cannot keep ignoring their importance and just hope that the problem will go away. It won’t happen on its own! MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com. off. The ability to do – or not do – these things is based in large part on people skills.” “We all have to sell. We all have to influence. We all have to work with others both inside and outside of the organization. And we all have to avoid turning people
MARK ZWEIG, from page 3
5) Training in people skills is desperately lacking and badly needed. As someone who has taught at the university level, I firmly believe that we don’t do enough in colleges and universities to help our students learn these skills. Engineers and architects, in particular, have little to no time in their course schedules for coursework in management, writing, selling, public speaking, leadership, and other subjects that would help them have better “people skills.” Then, when they get into the workforce post-graduate, any formal training they get from their employers is most likely going to be on something related to how to use a particular piece of software. Once again, the most important skills to the employees’ eventual success are ignored. Makes no sense to me! 6) As the society becomes increasingly polarized, these people skills become even more important than they ever were. With everyone on edge, people are more likely to experience feelings of anger or outrage as a direct response to something someone says, or does, or puts out there on social media. Many people feel that they have to identify themselves as being in one camp or the other on every single topic or issue.
© Copyright 2020. Zweig Group. All rights reserved.
THE ZWEIG LETTER JULY 6, 2020, ISSUE 1351
Made with FlippingBook Annual report