Page 92 - Annual Report 2016 - Cover & Divider Pages.indd

P R O G R E S S O N O U R F Y 2 0 1 6 S T R A T E G I C P L A N A R E A S O F F O C U S

Key areas of focus for fiscal year 2016 (and corresponding successes) were:

 Support firm wide geographic expansion efforts. Continue expansion of our police, fire
and possibly aquatic markets to a wider geography by putting into place an overall
plan, structure and coordinated business development/marketing effort.

We have pursued multiple out-of-state projects as either prime (for studies) or as
Design Architect partnered with a local Architect of Record. An example would
be the Green Bay Police Station Study, while we were not successful in winning
this project, we subsequently submitted and won a Town Hall, Fire & Public Works
study for the Town of Ledgeview, WI with the same local Architect of Record. In a
similar mode, we won a golf course clubhouse in St. Peters, Missouri after
strategically trying to expand our recreation experience into Missouri. In large part
thanks to business development contacts gained while at the Missouri Municipal
League Conference.

 Support firm wide resiliency efforts in developing a new “service”. Weave the “resilient”
story into our marketing materials and begin talking with our clients and potential clients
about the importance of resilient design in our everyday practice.

We are speaking about resiliency to our clients and prospective clients in
interviews and daily interactions. To this end we have successfully acquired
studies for two clients based upon our resilient criteria:

1. Mt. Prospect Community Connections, which serves an under privileged area
of Mt. Prospect and contains library, police and social services components,
hired FGM to study ways to improve security at the facility.
2. Mt. Prospect Public Library retained FGM to recommend obvious security
improvements at their facility and, in particular, recommend ways to provide
shelter-in-place in the case of an active shooter.

 Continue increasing each team member’s knowledge of Municipal project types and
ability to deliver well detailed, cost efficient projects, control redesign efforts, become a
resource to our clients and maximize our development into well rounded Architects.

This is an ongoing process which we strive to achieve every day. Our efforts, we
believe, are improving our staff through constant coaching and mentoring.

 Continued our emphasis on proactive business development efforts with our top ten
pursuits and increase our ability to win the work by strategically developing a capture
plan and remaining consistent with that strategy throughout the pursuit of the
client/project.

We won 3 of the projects on our top ten list (Effingham Police Study, Mt. Prospect
Park District Community Connections Security Study, Wheeling Park District CRC
Study) this past year. We continue revising the list based on evaluating current