Gresham Smith, a top-ranked national architecture and engineering firm with more than $200 million in annual revenue, continues to expand the firm’s operations and portfolio in the state of Georgia.
Over the past year, Gresham Smith has increased the number of markets operating in Georgia and added key leadership positions across multiple service lines. The firm now serves clients in six key markets, including Building Engineering, Corporate + Urban Design, Industrial, Land Planning, Transportation, and Water + Environment.
Overall, the firm now employs more than 120 staff in the state, including some of the firm’s most senior executives, in three offices: Alpharetta, Atlanta and Suwanee. Over the past two years, the firm’s diverse group of professionals have delivered on hundreds of projects across the state for a variety of clients in both the public and private sectors.
“As a firm, we’ve served our clients and the community in Georgia since the 1970s,” said Rodney Chester, CEO of Gresham Smith. “Over the last 20-plus years, our presence has grown substantially, and it now accounts for a significant portion of our operations. We’re proud of our service to longtime clients such as the Georgia Department of Transportation, the City of Atlanta and Gwinnett County, and we are excited about the future opportunities we see across our six markets.”
Transportation
As the firm’s largest market in Georgia, Transportation has added 15 people over the last year, bringing its total number of staff to more than 80. Key hires have been made across service lines, including bridge maintenance, access management, drainage, program management, right-of-way acquisition and transportation systems management & operations (TSM&O).
New Senior TSM&O Manager Andy Phlegar, P.E., brings more than 30 years of intelligent transportation systems experience. He now helps guide a team of 10 for one of the firm’s most recent high-profile wins, GDOT’s SigOps, a new signal management approach that leverages technology to expand the number of actively managed traffic signals in Metro Atlanta. Other key hires will join the program management team behind GDOT’s Traffic Operations and Safety program, which the firm has led since 2015.
“We’re proud to serve as a strategic partner to GDOT on a number of significant projects throughout the state,” said Kent Black, P.E., Executive Vice President of Transportation. “We have delivered on core service lines such as roadway design and bridge projects for years, and we’re excited to continue our expansion into a new era of projects in ITS, TSM&O and program management.”
Water + Environment
Earlier this year, Water + Environment appointed Georgia-based Christian Dunaway as firmwide Market Vice President. With 24 years of experience leading people, managing projects and overseeing business operations, Dunaway will oversee firmwide operations for the Water + Environment market, including the more than 100 Water + Environment professionals that work across the firm.
The market’s 24 local staff have an impressive portfolio, including Gwinnett County’s The Water Tower Global Innovation Hub, a multimarket effort that also involves Gresham Smith’s Building Engineering, Corporate + Urban Design, Industrial, Land Planning and Transportation markets, as well as DeKalb County Department of Watershed Management On-Call Construction Management, and F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center On-Call Program.
“Whether treating and delivering drinking water, collecting and reclaiming wastewater, or managing stormwater, we’re proud to serve the Greater Atlanta region and look forward to continuing to distinguish ourselves as leaders in service and innovation,” Dunaway said.
Corporate + Urban Design
Since joining the firm in 2020, Corporate + Urban Design Executive Vice President Don Reynolds, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, has built a new local team and portfolio of work. This includes a new contract with Mill Creek Residential to design Modera Parkside, a 31-story, 345-unit mixed-use residential tower in Midtown Atlanta.
“Atlanta, in particular Midtown, presents a unique growth opportunity for our market,” Reynolds said. “We see a lot of opportunity to create new live/work/play centers in this thriving community.”
Industrial
Seeing a growing opportunity in the manufacturing space, the firm recently added Project Executive Alex Kim, CGC, who brings two decades of experience in real estate development, project management and construction management in the U.S. and Asia. Kim will grow the Industrial market’s practice in Georgia with a focus on foreign direct investment, primarily in the automotive, battery and biopharma sectors.
