WBRC transitions to new leadership
Photo/Courtesy WBRC Architects-Engineers
WBRC Architects-Engineers Chairman John Rohman, left, and President/CEO Steve Rich
Steve Rich might be new to the top spot at Bangor's WBRC Architects-Engineers, but that doesn't mean he's a newcomer to the company or even its leadership team. After 30 years at the firm, 11 of which he spent as COO, Rich has been named the company's new president and CEO as of the start of the New Year. Rich took over for John Rohman, who has become the company's chairman.
It's only the fifth leadership change in the company's 108-year history, but like every other time, the new chief executive has come from within. "We're always working on transitioning and nurturing the next generation so they can come up into leadership roles at the firm," Rich says.
Rich says he's been "slowly assuming day-to-day functions" in his new role as CEO, while Rohman will turn his focus to business development. "John is involved in a number of things outside the office, and as those demands became more frequent, the idea was to get the CEO more inside the building," Rich says.
WBRC is one of the state's largest architecture and engineering firms, and it's been making its name by taking on green and LEED projects around the state, including the new Hannaford store in Augusta, the state's first non-residential platinum LEED-certified building, and a number of other LEED-certified projects, including a new research laboratory at MDI Biological Laboratory and a public library in Orono. WBRC has 37 architects and designers who are certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program, which Rich says is the highest number for any firm in the state. He estimates that 70% of the company's public work and 30% of its commercial work is either LEED-certified or LEED-designed. "We've been at the right place at the right time, with the right attitude and the right training," he says.
One of his goals as the company's new CEO is to further WBRC's reputation as the go-to firm for sustainable design. "It's the right time for the generations to come together. We have a lot of younger designers, and a lot of older designers, and we've got a really interesting blending of the back-to-the-land movement of the ‘70s and of sustainability now," Rich says.
The company's green niche has in part helped it weather a tough time for the architecture and engineering industries. Nationally, the number of architects working in the field dropped 30% from July 2008 to November 2009, a trend expected to continue, Rich says. An informal survey of Maine's architecture firms performed by WBRC found that their employment dropped 31% in 2008, and another 14% in 2009. "While other industries have seen 10% unemployment, we have been decimated," Rich says. "It's not a recession for us, it's a depression."
Rich remembers the onset of the recession well. In a span of two-and-a-half days in September 2008, three of the company's major projects were put on hold, putting 28% of the company's cash flow in the lurch. The company's annual revenue slipped from $7.7 million in 2008 to $6.8 million in 2009. But despite the grim economic climate, WBRC held onto its 71 employees, a result of strategic planning by the company's management team to figure out a way to keep from having to lay anyone off. The company decided to refocus its efforts on civic work funded by federal stimulus dollars, and also kept the staff busy with cold-calling and networking to drum up new business.
So far, that plan has worked, and Rich is cautiously optimistic that better times are on the horizon. "We might even be advertising for hires in the next few weeks," he says.
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