DECEMBER 2020

FROM THE CORNER OFFICE

As we wind down the last few weeks of 2020, we look back at some significant milestones achieved at PS&S during the pandemic. 

We were excited (and remain excited) about moving into our new 44,000 square-foot headquarters this year.  But the pandemic quickly forced us to adapt to new design demands and rethink our own office configuration.  We took into consideration what the ‘office of the future’ demanded and incorporated new designs and features with COVID-related planning in mind.  That includes more spacing for employees, adding partitions between works spaces and re-thinking our kitchen/food areas.  We focused on personal hygiene by increasing sanitizing stations and reconfiguring our conference rooms.  We welcomed employees on November 9th to our new location at 3 Mountainview Road in Warren, NJ.  The new space was covered by Real Estate NJ, ROI-NJ, NJBiz, Civil + Structural Engineer and Echoes Sentinel.

While certain protocols may have changed, our work on major projects continued.  Even in the face of a challenging year for many industries, PS&S was still able to expand with the opening of a new office in Houston, TX.  Our primary goal with the expansion of regional offices was to place our teams closer to our clients.  PS&S currently has eight offices that remain open on a staggered staff schedule.

This year obviously brought many challenges to our daily work routines.  I can’t stress enough how proud we are of the PS&S team, who I feel didn’t miss a beat as we adapted to a new way of servicing our clients.

What’s ahead in 2021

It was one year ago that we announced our merger with DW Smith Associates.  We continue to integrate staff from both entities into various projects and look forward to more formal integration of both companies, and a formal re-branding in 2021.  The DW Smith Team has been a phenomenal partner as we build our new company and much of our ongoing growth will happen in the disciplines DW Smith is known for.  One thing is certain: there will be more challenges as we get through this pandemic, but we will adapt, as we did this year, and find new innovative solutions to serve the needs of our clients.  Thank you for being our partner during a challenging but rewarding year.

John Sartor

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT

Kris McCool has seen every aspect of consulting in her 27 years in the business…design, development, mentoring, client management and regional office support.  Her leadership qualities have enabled her to accept new challenges, most recently by developing a strong project team focused on responsible engineering practices and renewable energy.  She has demonstrated her support of regional growth by managing employees in several locations as well as embracing the integration of DW Smith into the PS&S family.  Through the efforts of her talented team, PS&S has a new initiative, Asset Management/Data Analysis.  This work has resulted in expanding our lines of business to further meet our clients’ changing needs, and has prompted us to launch our newest internship program - online Data Analytics.  Over the past few months we have learned to conduct business in a new way and her team has completely embraced virtual technology to ensure projects were executed within budgetary and schedule requirements.  Kris serves as Vice President of Energy Services at PS&S and has been with the company since 1997.  She has a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Rhode Island, and is a Licensed Professional Engineer in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Massachusetts.  Thank you, Kris, for your dedicated service to PS&S!

A special recognition also goes out to Kevin Murphy of DW Smith Associates.  COVID-19 presented challenges for customers as well as at our own company.  We want to recognize Kevin, who has played an active role, specifically from a health and safety perspective overseeing compliance amongst the field survey staff located across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and the various states of the Southeast where survey crews have continued to work.  Kevin joined DW Smith in 2006 and has spent the last 14 years working in the Surveying, Utility and Land Development groups.  Kevin is a Licensed PE and LS in New Jersey and has his LS license in Pennsylvania and New York with plans to become licensed in Texas in the spring of 2021 and Maryland in the fall of 2021.  Thank you, Kevin, for your dedicated service to PS&S!