We are pleased to announce that we ranked #4 on the San Antonio Business Journal’s Top List for engineering firms, up from #10 only two years ago. Our company has been blessed with steady growth and adding talented professionals over the last several years.
One of the Alamo City area’s largest engineering firms now has an office in San Antonio following a merger-and-acquisition deal.
After more than six months of negotiations, M&S Engineering bought the San Antonio Design Group for an undisclosed sum in a deal that closed on Jan. 1. The two companies, which spent the past few months consolidating their operations, only recently announced the deal.
Three of M&S Engineering’s five principals: Shareholder Heath Woods, co-founder Brian and co-founder Keith Strimple outside the company’s headquarters in Spring Branch.
Headquartered in the Comal County town of Spring Branch where it boasts 29 registered engineers on staff, M&S Engineering ranks fourth on the San Antonio Business Journal list of the area’s largest engineering firms. The deal gives the company its first office inside San Antonio city limits and boosts its headcount.
M&S Engineering Partner Heath Woods said the firm also has branches in Georgetown, The Woodlands and New Braunfels, where so far, its focus has been on rural infrastructure projects. The recent deal will enable the company to pursue work with San Antonio Water System, Bexar County and the city of San Antonio.
“We always had a doughnut philosophy about San Antonio and Austin. Now we’re going in,” Woods said.
San Antonio Design Group CEO Tony Saucedo and principal engineer Roy Akiona will stay on with M&S Engineering. Saucedo told the Business Journal that the transition has been pleasant, adding that both companies had strengths that complement each other.
“We have good people, and we give them the tools that they need to do their job, and they go do their jobs, if they stumble, we help them. We don’t micromanage.”
Listed as the only Native American-owned engineering firm in the Alamo City, San Antonio Design Group was able to use its minority-owned status to land lucrative contracts with the city of San Antonio and Bexar County. All of those contracts will be finished under M&S Engineering, although Saucedo said he and his staff will now be more competitive in pursuing private-sector work.
“With M&S coming into San Antonio, we immediately became a powerful competitor as well as a strong contributor to the city of San Antonio,” Saucedo said.
M&S Engineering co-founder Keith Strimple said he worked with Saucedo and Akiona while employed as an engineer with the city of San Antonio — well before starting his own company. The idea of a merger came last year from an M&S Engineering employee who worked with San Antonio Design Group on various projects.
“We’re using that office as our seed office,” Strimple said. “We’ve already hired another engineer.”
M&S Engineering’s other co-founder, Brian Meuth, said the firm is growing but will maintain a culture that has made it one of San Antonio’s top places to work year after year. The company hosts regular events for its staff and converted an old barn at its Spring Branch headquarters into a gym where employees certified as cross-fit trainers host workouts.
“We try not to be overly formal but realize that you still have to be professional,” Meuth said.
Operating under a mantra of enabling its employees to succeed, Strimple said the same philosophy will be applied to the firm’s new office in San Antonio.
“We have good people, and we give them the tools that they need to do their job, and they go do their jobs,” Strimple said. “If they stumble, we help them. We don’t micromanage.”
M&S Engineering is proud to have been selected by our employees as a Top Workplace for 2016. This year’s award marks the third consecutive year M&S has been recognized. While we are honored to be awarded this recognition, we understand that without our employees and coworkers this would never happen. The M&S Partners have strived to make this company about the people, we truly do believe that people make the difference, both our clients and our employees. Thank you, to all our employees for all the hard work and dedication that is presented day in and out throughout the year.
“Through all the growth I have seen in my 12+ years working at M&S, we have been able to keep the M&S culture, which continues to make us a ‘Top Place to Work in San Antonio’. We continue to hire great people and give them the ‘tools’ they need to do their job. I look forward to seeing what the next 12+ years look like.”
-Heath Woods, P.E., Partner and Civil Division Manager
Besides the recognition through Top Workplaces, our Partners and Managers are able to glean a lot of insight from the anonymous survey comments and results. This is the seventh year for the San Antonio Express-News to team up with Workplace Dynamics, an independent research firm, to recognize the best places to work in the San Antonio area. Winning employers are chosen through employee surveys on a variety of workplace topics. It is this type of participation and feedback that is essential to the continual growth and success of the Company.
SAN ANTONIO, TX (OCTOBER 22, 2015)
M&S ENGINEERING has been awarded a 2015 Top Workplaces honor by the San Antonio Express-News. The Top Workplaces lists are based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey administered by Workplace Dynamics, LLC, a leading research firm that specializes in organizational health and workplace improvement. Several aspects of workplace culture were measured, including Alignment, Execution, and Connection, just to name a few.
“The Top Workplaces award is not a popularity contest. And oftentimes, people assume it’s all about fancy perks and benefits.” says Doug Claffey, CEO of WorkplaceDynamics.
“But to be a Top Workplace, organizations must meet our strict standards for organizational health. And who better to ask about work life than the people who live the culture every day—the employees. Time and time again, our research has proven that what’s most important to them is a strong belief in where the organization is headed, how it’s going to get there, and the feeling that everyone is in it together. Claffey adds, “Without this sense of connection, an organization doesn’t have a shot at being named a Top Workplace.”
AN M&S ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER
JULY 2016 ISSUE
Crystal Clear SUD Honors Civil Design Team
Crystal Clear Special Utility District honored M&S Engineering at their Board of Directors Meeting on May 24, 2016, by offering recognition on a recently completed Capital Improvements Plan (CIP). The Civil Engineering Department’s Water Utility Team had been studying and analyzing the District’s water system and service areas, in order to provide recommendations for projects that will allow the District better serve their customers now and for the foreseeable future.
Pictured above are members of the M&S Civil Engineering Team and Crystal Clear Utility District: (left to right) Heath Woods, Mike Taylor (CCSUD General Manager), Christopher Rosenboom, Keith Strimple, Brady Kosub, Dr. Jim Davidson (CCSUD Director), Donald Bosworth (CCSUD Board President), Nancy Turner, and Thea Jackson.
“This partnership we have forged will launch our District well into the future. With a supportive Board we have focused on developing relationships that bond us with our consultants as partners rather than tools that we use. We feel that we have a very symbiotic relationship with our team at M&S. Dr. Davidson recognized the quality of the CIP and brought it to the Board’s attention. The Board unanimously supported tangible recognition for M&S.”
Gregory Ripps | Wilson County News | February 17, 2016
GREGORY RIPPS — Tom Turk of M&S Engineering answers questions from Floresville Economic Development Corp. President Ray Lamberth and other corporation members about the city’s parks master plan at a May 9 joint workshop.
It’s not a sports complex. It’s a community park.
The latest iteration of a proposed parks master plan, dated May 9, includes new baseball and multi-use fields, along with other amenities around the Lauro G. De Leon III Floresville Event Center. The plan also takes into account existing park facilities throughout the city and their maintenance needs.
Tom Turk of M&S Engineering presented highlights of the plan at a May 9 public workshop, conducted jointly by the Floresville City Council, Floresville 4A Corp., and Floresville Economic Development Corp. (FEDC).
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – A new distribution facility in New Braunfels will help the San Antonio Food Bank as it serves not only Bexar County, but Comal County, as well.
According to the latest U.S. Census, Comal County is the seventh-fastest growing county in the country, and with that growth comes needs. One of which is to make sure feeding families is need is a smooth operation.
The food bank broke ground Tuesday on a new facility to help
make sure the need is met. The 28,000 square-foot, two-story facility will be a distribution hub for New Braunfels and Comal County.
