As we continue to maneuver through this economic downturn, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on those measures that we put in place years ago that have enabled us to maintain a consistent level of strength and stability, while many of our competitors have had to endure significant cutbacks and downsizing.  From our inception, we embraced a culture of diversity, in technical expertise, client base, geographic reach, and firm ownership.  We currently provide services in a number of related horizontal disciplines including land surveying, civil engineering, landscape architecture, transportation engineering, water resources and environmental engineering, structural engineering, and community planning, and we provide these services in several regions along the east coast stretching from South Carolina to Maine and as far west as Illinois.  In addition, we maintain an equal balance of work in both the public and private sectors, a key stability factor in today's economic environment. Lastly, our 28 stockholder employees, each with their own client relationships and responsibilities, complete the culture of diversity that provides the foundation for our practice.  Over the years, our employees and clients alike have benefited from these measures as we have combined technical depth and expertise with a broad base of capability, so critical in an age of both specialization and complexity.

As I reflect on these early decisions that have served us so well during these last few challenging years, I can't help but consider how decisions we make today will serve both our employees and our clients in the future.  One of the most important opportunities we need to embrace is the multigenerational makeup of our people.  As we approach 30 years of professional practice, at one end we have the experience, knowledge, and judgment of our longest seated "traditionalist" employees and, the other end, the enthusiasm and technological savvy of our "millennials."  As we have always valued and benefited from an inclusive environment for all races, religious backgrounds, and genders, insuring that we provide an environment in our practice where each generational segment can flourish will be an essential element of our future success.  If we can integrate this added diversity into the broad base on which our firm has been founded, I am confident we will continue to provide our clients with the high level of technical competence, service, and continuity to which they have become accustomed and deserve.

John Milone