by Kevin Grigg, PE, President and Chief Executive Officer
The end of the year is a traditional time to reflect. This past year brought our Fuss family many changes and many great memories. Of particular note to me was taking over as CEO. Though my tenure is, technically, only half of the year, I’d like to recap all the reasons I’m proud of us, starting all the way back in January.
In January we were honored by our selection to design and permit the Pocasset River Watershed Plan, which is the largest resiliency project in New England. Talking with those on the project, their passion for protecting our communities shines through. Climate change has been a contentious subject this year, politically, but I’m so proud that we’re doing something about it, rather than just talking about it.
Following this vein, February brought us our first Qualified Sustainability Professional, Rehka Korlipara. We also celebrated Engineers Week as a company, though we acknowledge that our company succeeds due to all our employees. We sent teams out into the community to teach students, had a couple of competitions, and ate a lot of food!
In March we launched our Gender Equity and Leadership Committee. We also held a company-wide food drive to help out local food banks.
April was a particularly busy month. Mary Monahan, Julie Busa, Stefan Bengtson, Kevin Flood, and Kurt Mailman led MVP Community Resilience Building workshops in Spencer, Charlton, Sherborn, and Mattapoisett. Springfield officially celebrated their new office with an open house, and we won two CT CREW Real Estate Awards for the Asnuntuck Community College Tower Lobby and Student Center project (with Tecton Architects) and for the Crescent Crossing in Bridgeport project (with Crosskey Architects).
May kicked off the Manchester South softball season (spoiler alert – it’s a three-peat!), Peter Grose won the 2018 Presidential Excellence Award from CT Association of Water Pollution Control Authorities, and we held our first all-employee meeting at the Connecticut Convention Center. This was a wonderful opportunity for employees from different offices and our new colleagues to get to know each other.
In June, James Blum became our first Certified Microbial Consultant, we broke ground on the Beehive Bridge project, and we were honored for 30 years with the Construction Institute. Both John Hankins and Peter Grose retired – well deserved after their decades of service.
On one of the hottest days in July, we held our annual pub crawl between Providence and HQ, meeting in the middle in Willimantic. Also, Crescent Crossing Phase 1B received LEED for Homes Platinum Certification!
August continued our athletic theme, with employees running in both the Hartford Corporate 5K and the Cigna 5K Road Race. And our Manchester South softball team brought home the trophy in the Design Professional Softball League for the third year in a row!
In September, the Bradford Dam Removal and Nature-Like Fishway project was completed after many long hours of hard work by the project team. Our Providence office competed in the annual Dragon Boat races and Jon Dietrich celebrated his retirement with family and friends.
October was a ribbon-cutting month. Both the Smith House & Dewitt Center project and the New Britain Roundabout and Streetscape Improvements project held ribbon-cutting ceremonies. We also saw the creative side of many of our employees as they dressed up for Halloween!
In November, we celebrated our first GIS day, the RIDOT Linear Stormwater Manual (an excellent example of cross-business line and cross-office collaboration) was released, and some of our employees explored their artist side at Paint Night!
We cracked the top 10 of ENR’s Top Design Firms in December. Manchester North, who exemplifies the giving spirit year round, continued their generosity by gathering Christmas presents for the boys at Pine Haven and throwing them a party.
There were so many amazing things we did together this year as a team that are not on this list. Please know that, even if they aren’t noted here, they are noted and appreciated. I hope that, as you all reflect on your personal year, you find warm memories full of laughter and new experiences.
I’m proud to represent the Fuss & O’Neill family and wish you all a safe, healthy, and happy new year. I’m excited to see what the new year brings!
About the Author:
Kevin Grigg, PE is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Fuss & O’Neill. He has been with the firm for the past 6 years of his 30+ year career. Kevin has managed projects and business units in the environmental, facilities, water, and transportation markets. His primary areas of technical expertise lie in the railroad and public transportation market segments, having managed a wide variety of bus and rail transit projects throughout the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Kevin is excited about his new role and furthering the company’s mission of creating works of life.
