After jumping back into full time leadership positions – President, Environmental Sector, TRC and Chairman/CEO of Cascade Environmental for the past nine years – I am now returning to the advisory practice I started eleven years ago. The AEC industry has been my life for the past 34 years. I have worked with amazing people and have been fortunate to have had the opportunities within the companies and teams I have worked with. I received some well deserved teasing about the number of companies that I have worked for and the changes that I have made in my career. I, on the other hand, have been very deliberate in choosing the companies, positions I have accepted and the various ownership models that have been part of the entire experience. I truly love our industry and the people who show their passion and expertise to make our communities and the world a better place.
The majority of us in the industry never went to business school and have learned the business through on the job training. While certainly real world and applicable, I know I’ve made mistakes along the way and learned from them. But what if there was a way to seek counsel and learn from someone who has been there and done that.
I can’t say I know it all nor would that be appropriate. But I have learned a lot and also know a lot of smart people who can help solve issues and come up with strategies. This is what I look forward to doing for the last part of my career. Happy 2022!
LOWELL, MASS. – TRC Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRR) announced
today that John Cowdery has joined as Senior Vice President and Environmental Sector Director. In this role, Cowdery will be responsible for working with environmental Business Leaders to develop and implement a five-year strategy for growth across the Company’s markets. He will also serve on TRC’s Executive Management Team.
“With more than 25 years of vast industry experience and a track record of
creating value, improving operations and guiding the growth of successful
environmental services firms, John will be an excellent addition to the senior
leadership team,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Vincze.
“John is a well-respected advisor within this industry and we look forward to
his contributions toward the success of our Environmental business.”
Prior to joining TRC, Cowdery was President & Founder of Callard &
Cowdery, a management consulting firm that advises CEOs, Boards of Directors and investors in the Environmental Consulting, Design and Engineering industry.
Since founding the firm in 2010, Cowdery performed numerous assignments
throughout the U.S. supporting value creation, sales programs, strategic
planning, operational improvements, benchmarking, succession planning, and
mergers & acquisitions, including recently serving as the Chief Operating
Officer of PMC, Rancho Cordova, California.
“I have known of TRC since entering the environmental industry many years ago,” said Cowdery. “The Company has gone through significant change and is well positioned to become the leading service provider to the markets that we serve nationally and internationally. I am very pleased to become part of an
extremely talented team of people and look forward to supporting TRC’s
five-year growth strategy.”
Prior to founding his firm in 2010, Cowdery was Senior Vice President,
Environment, Planning & Infrastructure for ICF International. From 2000 to
2008, Cowdery served as President and Chief Executive Officer at Jones &
Stokes Associates, overseeing strategic planning and operations. Cowdery
executed six successful acquisitions and grew the firm from a 200-person
company with $25 million in gross revenue to more than 600 employees generating more than $75 million. From 1994 to 2000, he was Vice President, Western Region at ATC Group Services, and from 1987 to 1994 he served as Senior Vice President of the environmental consulting practice at Hygienetics Environmental Services.
Cowdery earned an M.B.A. from Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, California; an
M.S. Health from Southern Illinois University and a B.S. from Keene State
College in Keene, New Hampshire.
San Diego, Calif. (January 2013) — PMC is honored to announce that it has been selected to receive the Environmental Business Journal (EBJ)’s Business Achievement Award in the Small Business Category. The award is in recognition of PMC’s successful implementation of its growth strategy which, over the past three years, has resulted in a double-digit growth in revenue and profitability. Driving this growth is PMC’s continued innovation in its core practice areas, a commitment to clients, and a strong belief in empowering and inspiring its employees. The result of this effort is that PMC has become the premier agency staffing, planning, and sustainability firm to municipal governments across California.
PMC Receives 2012 EBJ Business Achievement Award
January 15, 2013.
Environmental Business Journal Recognizes Firms for Growth and Innovation.
“The growth of the company is due in large part to a long-term vision we set for ourselves as a firm,” said Philip Carter, founder and president of PMC. “We realized that the economy and market had changed so much that doing business the same way just was not going to work. We came together as a company and worked with our employees to develop a longer view as to where we wanted PMC to go and what we wanted to be. Three years later, we’re seeing the work that went into that vision is starting to pay off.”
Despite setbacks during the recent recession, the architecture, engineering, and environmental industries have bounced back to pre-recession levels of activity and projects. In California, the increase in building projects, accompanied by government and grant funding for planning and sustainability programs, has helped fuel the industry.
“The growth of the company is due in large part to a long-term vision we set for ourselves as a firm.”
-Phil Carter, President
PMC
“Projects that were dormant during the recession are being pulled off the shelves and being implemented to make California’s communities a cleaner, greener, and more desirable place to live and work,” said Carter. “The demand for greener communities and a sense of place has been a huge boon to both the firm and what we can achieve as planners and sustainability experts.”
“In an industry that has just managed to out-perform the overall economy but still presents challenges in many segments, a number of companies have achieved double-digit growth, sustained high profitability, built solid backlog, made successful forays into new practice areas or geographic markets, or developed technologies that can help build a more sustainable economy,” said Grant Ferrier, president of Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI, San Diego), publisher of EBJ.
EBJ, a business research publication which provides high-value strategic business intelligence to the environmental industry*, has honored 50 companies for revenue growth, acquisitions, innovative project designs, technology applications, new practice areas, social contributions, and industry leadership in 2012.
The 2012 EBJ awards will be presented at a special ceremony at the Environmental Industry Summit XI in Coronado, Calif., on March 6-8, 2013. The Environmental Industry Summit is an annual three-day event hosted by EBI Inc.
* EBJ provides strategic information and market forecasts for executives involved in 14 business segments, including environmental remediation, water & wastewater, air pollution control, environmental consulting & engineering, hazardous waste, instrumentation, pollution control equipment, waste management, resource recovery, and solid waste management.
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About PMC
Established in 1995, PMC is a full-service municipal services consulting firm with expertise in a broad range of planning, environmental, finance, urban design and revitalization, public outreach, and sustainability services. PMC has offices throughout the western United States. For additional information about PMC, visit www.pmcworld.com.
About the EBJ Business Achievement Awards: In October-December 2012, Environmental Business Journal and Climate Change Business Journal solicited nominations for the EBJ/CCBJ Business Achievement Awards. Nominations were accepted in 200-word essays in either specific or unspecified categories. Final awards were determined by a committee of EBJ staff and EBJ editorial advisory board members. (Disclaimer: Company audits were not conducted to verify information or claims submitted with nominations.)
About EBI: Founded in 1988, Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI, San Diego, Calif.) is a research, publishing and consulting company that specializes in defining emerging markets and generating strategic market intelligence for companies, investors and policymakers. EBI publishes Environmental Business Journal, the leading provider of strategic information for the environmental industry, and Climate Change Business Journal, which covers nine segments of the climate change industry. EBI also performs contract research for the government and private sector and founded the Environmental Industry Summit, an annual three-day event for executives in the environmental industry.
I have had the great fortune over that last five years of working in highly functioning organizations, or at least self-proclaimed highly functioning organizations that have survived quite well through the great recession of 2008 – 2010. I have also spoken to quite a few organizations that have not fared so well during these times. So, what seems to be the difference between the “continuing to be profitable and the not being profitable firms”? Here are a couple of observations:
1. Is Everyone In the Same Canoe and Paddling In the Same Direction?: It has become almost cliché to discuss the functionality of a firms Leadership Team. But when you compare the highly successful firms to the firms that are struggling, the buck stops with the leadership. I am not talking about any single leader, I am talking about the Leadership Team. Each company has one, whether it is a formal “C” suite or an Ops Team, the group is responsible for the health of the organization. Clarity is the adjective that pops into my mind when observing the highly functioning team… and Lack of Clarity for the dysfunctional. Clarity of mission… where is the firm going, are we positioned to grow, stay the same, strive for profitability, expansion? Clarity of purpose… what do we do that is different from our competition? Clarity of ownership… does the current ownership have a succession plan? The lack of clarity between the team sends mixed messages to everyone in the organization and confuses employees about how they can be successful and more importantly, determining how they can help the organization be successful. The Leadership Team needs to lead, create clarity of purpose within the firm and then communicate consistently, with the same message throughout the firm.
2. Systems, Processes and Incentives, Got them?: At the risk of sounding like a Dilbert cartoon, firms that have transparent project management systems (yes, Project Management systems, NOT accounting systems), business development processes, quality control, client interaction, performance management, continuous learning… PROGRAMS… are the firms that have survived through the tough times. When the phone stops ringing and you now need to “follow the money”, who is doing it? What are others to do? How can I help? What is our backlog? Where can we re-deploy resources? If you are not exercising these “programs” while times are good, you won’t be able to react when times get tough!
3. The Yellow Brick Road: While being spontaneous has its attraction, a firm that has not developed a firm-wide strategic plan for a 5-year, 10-year or longer, has not communicated to its very ambitious employees what the company has planned for their future, their career aspirations and what the company holds as important. One of the first things that is taught in business school is to development a Mission and Vision for your enterprise. Fine you say, for the MBA’s of the world, but that just isn’t why I went into business. OK, I get that, but once you have past the 20 employee mark those people that you rely on for accomplishing the task at hand want to know, “where can I go in this firm?”. If the answer is “just keep doing great work and all will be good”, well that just isn’t good enough and you will lose your best and brightest to firms that have developed and are implementing their long term strategy.
Finally, Leadership needs to get clarity among themselves and dance to the same sheet of music. Implementing this may cause some casualties, but they will be necessary for achieving “Clarity”. Put systems and processes into place and “exercise them”… consistency is key and follow up important. Lastly, communicate continuously about where the firm is going and that the road ahead is an exciting adventure that all can participate in to grow their careers and be on a winning team.
Newport Beach, California – Taylor Architects have closed on what is the beginning of their geographic expansion strategy developed in the beginning of 2011. On September 6, Taylor closed on a deal with Douglas Childs, AIA and now operate out of both Newport Beach and San Francisco.
“Clients across California will benefit from the exceptional combination of talent and resources resident in the two offices, yet it is the shared passion to improve healthcare architecture in ways that encourage healing and health that defines the expanded team. This is a strategic growth decision with remarkable synergies,” says Randy Regier, president of TAYLOR. “Our mutual commitment to Promoting Wellness through Architecture is the foundation of our practice and our future.”
Taylor is a well know architecture, planning and interior design firm focused on the health care market. The firm is known for it’s creativity, outstanding work environment and client satisfaction. There reach is known beyond the confines of the State of California, however, now having a presence in San Francisco will allow them to serve their client’s with additional resources and expertise.
The opportunity with Douglas Childs, AIA came about quickly. Taylor asked Callard & Cowdery to assist in the development of the strategy and to support their efforts in getting through the deal points in an expedited manner.
“It’s been a whirlwind, but our decision to involve [Callard & Cowdery] early on definitely paid off. Your advice, straightforward approach to packaging the deal, and focus on planning for integration made our merger go smoothly”. Stated Gary Davidson, CFO of Taylor.
Deals are an exciting part of our industry and in this current economic environment the opportunities are significant. We look forward to following Taylor’s success in their expansion and what the future holds for them!
San Jose, CA, August 1, 2011 – EORM, Inc., a leading provider of environmental, health, safety and sustainability consulting services based in San Jose, California, has acquired Oxnard, California-based Sigma Engineering, Inc. Sigma Engineering provides a full range of environmental consulting and engineering services, including environmental site assessments, soil and groundwater investigation and remediation, regulatory permitting and compliance, and asbestos, lead and mold consulting services.
“This addition increases our Southern California presence and further strengthens our ability to meet our clients’ growing demand for a full spectrum of EHS and Sustainability services,” explains EORM President and CEO Glenn Fishler. “Sigma’s commitment to delivering consulting excellence for public and private sector clients, developing staff expertise, and ensuring the highest levels of ongoing client satisfaction is a terrific match to EORM’s own culture and reputation.”
Recently ranked the number two environmental firm in the Silicon Valley by the San Jose Business Journal, 20-year-old EORM services Fortune 1000 companies in high technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, clean energy, manufacturing and healthcare from offices in Northern and Southern California, Portland, Oregon and Boston, Massachusetts.
Sigma Engineering’s client experience includes extensive work with educational institutions, colleges and school districts throughout Southern California; public agencies; city, state and federal governments; development companies; and, large national retailers.
“EORM is clearly a leader in a new generation of consulting firms that are positioned to deliver effective strategies and expertise to help companies meet today’s vast and changing environmental needs,” states Sigma Engineering President Bijan Saless. “We look forward to contributing to our shared success.”
Under the terms of this agreement, Sigma will operate under the name of Sigma Engineering, A Division of EORM, Inc
Callard & Cowdery provided advisory services to EORM leadership.
“As a management consultant, John has been instrumental in helping EORM create and execute our acquisition strategy.” says Glenn Fishler. ” Most recently, John provided expert advisory services helping EORM complete our first acquisition of Sigma Engineering, Inc.”