Just a Minute with Gene Guszkowski

Company address: 1414 Underwood Avenue, Suite #301, Wauwatosa Company Web site: agarch.com
Company Web site: agarch.com
Industry: Architecture/Engineering
Number of employees: 41
Company’s annual revenues: $4.75 million
Education: Bachelor of science degree in architectural studies, UWM; master’s degree in architecture, UWM
Family: Wife, Ann Stevens; and daughters, Amy, Erin, Leah and Caitlin
What was the smartest thing your company did in the past year?
"We engaged Zweig-White, a nationally recognized A/E business management consultant, to assist in preparation of a strategic business plan. "
What’s new at your company?
"Our strategic business plan will enable us to empower our next generation of leadership, foster a culture of commitment and increase profitability."
Do you plan to hire any additional staff or make any significant capital investments in your company in the next year?
"Yes, we will be seeking motivated project architects, graduate interns and mechanical engineers."
What will be your company’s main challenges in the next year?
"Adapting to a revised organization structure. Change always creates challenge."
What’s the hottest trend in your industry?
"Our practice focuses on the senior living industry, and the strongest trend we see is the challenge of repositioning existing senior living communities to meet the ever-changing expectations of the marketplace."
Do you have a business mantra?
"Our firm’s tag line is a ‘sense of community,’ which describes the kind of buildings we design, how our workplace functions and how we work with our clients and the construction industry."
From a business standpoint, who do you look up to?
"Other architectural firms, some here in the Milwaukee area, that have been able to successfully combine excellent design and a solid, sustainable business plan."
What was the best advice you ever received?
"The ability to project genuine sincerity is a powerful tool in the successful salesmanship of architectural and planning concepts. I find it easy to do so because of my love for this profession and our specialty."
What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you in your career?
"Architecture is a profession filled with unforgettable characters. I could write a book about 37 years of ‘drafting room’ humor."
What do you like to do in your free time?
"Spend quality time with my wife while watching our daughters mature into young adults. They in turn, humor my lifelong obsessions with automobiles and baseball."
September 17, 2004, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI