Page 42 - 2016 FGM Annual Report

MEASURING PROGRESS
So, given the negative situation in Illinois, what are we doing to reverse this decline in revenue?
The strategic planning process identified three strategic growth ideas of which two directly
impact the PK-12 Practice Area: geographic expansion and developing our expertise in resilient
design.

Geographic Expansion
PK-12 is looking at two aspects of geographic expansion. The first is to states that adjoin Illinois
starting with Missouri. For starters lets recognize Steve Raskin, who with Jerrod Joggerst, has
achieved our first win in PK-12 in Missouri – Northwest R-1. As Steve and Jerrod are building on their
success in Missouri, our attention is turning to Indiana where we have a client who has moved to
the Superintendent role in a large Northwest Indiana district and we are working on cementing a
relationship with an associate architectural firm in Indiana with whom to pursue work across
multiple markets. Ron Richardson is leading this effort in Indiana. We have also gotten engaged
in pursuing work in Wisconsin through a contact that Peggy received from a Librarian in a district
that had seen our work and are pursuing additional contacts as well. The second area we are
looking at is states with growing populations and fewer economic issues where we might be able
to find associate firms to work with – states in the southeast, south, southwest and west are targets
with our primary focus, at the moment, on Texas where we are currently assisting a firm with a
project (Andy Stehl working with KAI) and California where a former Director of Design for the
Public Building Commission, Leona Ketterl, has taken a role in managing the vast LAUSD building
program ($8B current program). We are currently in the process of vetting potential associate
architectural firms and design-build partners in the LA area.

Resilient Design
We have several members of the PK-12 team – Dean Manasses, Troy Kerr, and Steve Raskin – as
members of the Resilient Design team and Steve has made significant headway using aspects of
resilient design in marketing efforts in Missouri where there is a heightened awareness of storm
shelters in particular. An increased emphasis and refinement of message and marketing materials
will occur in this new fiscal year.

Practice Area Goals
Another means to assess the past year is to look at the PK-12 Education practice’s strategic goals
for FY16 which were an outgrowth of the strategic planning process that was completed in 2011.

Goal 1: Demonstrate Expertise.

FY16 UPDATE:
Our current involvement with AAF and A4Le has greatly increased the exposure of FGM at a
national level and our involvement in national activities including the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation Grant for Next Generation Learning to AAF. Other examples of FGM’s demonstration
of expertise include:

Participation in National Design Charettes
Augie and Mike as part of AAF’s Design Charrette with Dallas Public Schools in the Spring

Participation in National/Regional and Local Conferences
Ron at the IASBO Sustainable Professional Development Committee Full-day Seminar in
Naperville in February
Ron at the IASBO Facilities Masters Conference in Naperville in March
Jim and Ron at the Spring Conference in Chicago in March
Ron at the Early Childhood Conference in Denver in April
Peggy at the Green Schools Symposium in Chicago in April
John, Augie and Dean at NSBA in Boston in May