Chuck Engberg and Keith Anderson, founders of the Milwaukee-based Engberg Anderson Inc. architectural firm, have announced plans to transition the firm’s leadership to the five remaining partners.
Mark Ernst, Joe Huberty and Bill Robison in the Milwaukee office; Paul Cuta in the Madison office; and Bill Williams in the Tucson, Ariz., office will remain partners and assume full administration over the firm over the next four years.
The founders will remain active in client services and business development on an as-needed basis, Anderson said.
“We started running our firm this way from the very beginning,” Engberg said. “We started our firm in 1988, a time when other firms were dropping like flies. We knew right away we’d have to do things differently if we were going to not only survive but grow in this community.”
According to Anderson, the two enlisted the help of a business consultant to make sure the firm wouldn’t end up, “going down the wrong path.”
Engberg and Anderson heeded much of the advice of their advisor, but on some things they knew they would take a different approach, Anderson said.
“He told us that we couldn’t have two partners with equal shares of the firm. He told us it would never work,” Anderson said. “But that’s how we did it.”
Completing a succession plan shortly after one of the deepest recessions the country has ever seen, and one that hit the construction and architecture industries particularly hard, is no easy task for most firms. But according to Engberg, it was a relatively common sense move for Engberg Anderson.
“People get older,” he said. “I don’t think there was ever a really an ‘ah-ha’ moment. It was just time. Some firms require that once you reach the age of 65 you have to retire. We’re well past that and it was time for us to look around and see what’s happening in the world. Things change over time.”
The firm is well positioned for the transition, Anderson said. The five remaining partners have all been partners for a number of years and are very familiar with the firm’s collaborative structure.
“This has always been a sort of evolving transition, clients shouldn’t see any change,” said Ernst, one of the five remaining partners. “It has always been a general rule of thumb that for every ten people there is one partner. All of the partners lead collectively and that will remain in place. We will continue to name new partners as the firm grows, but the key lies in the diversity of expertise we all bring to the table.”
Each of the firm’s partners specializes in architectural designs for particular industries. Anderson has expertise in designing health care projects. Engberg’s primary focus is on historic preservation. Other areas of expertise under the partners include higher education, libraries, urban housing, sustainable buildings, performing arts and museum buildings.
Things are picking up for the architecture industry, Ernst said. More companies want to complete building projects and financing is picking up a little.
“Our diversity and our depth of reach across the country have helped us remain successful even through the recession,” he said. “We have lots of projects percolating and we expect that to continue to pick up speed in the next few years.”
Lately, Engberg and Anderson have tried to spend less time in the office than before. But they will remain active enough to help when called upon.
“Neither of us are the retiring type,” Anderson said. “But at some point, it makes sense for the remaining five and those in the future to realize their visions and take the firm to higher places.”
Engberg and Anderson say they are confident in the remaining partners’ ability to grow the firm even farther than they could do themselves.
“We’ve got a talented group of individuals here,” Anderson said. “I’m confident this younger generation will be even more successful.”
