Leading the Way in Industry Excellence and Workplace Culture
Starting as a small business providing surveying, municipal engineering, and site development services in North Dakota, Houston Engineering, Inc. (HEI), founded by George Houston in 1968, has evolved into a thriving engineering company with more than 250 professionals across five states, significantly impacting Fargo and beyond. Over 55 years later, President and CEO Gregg Thielman is leading HEI as the company continues the legacy, building both lasting structures in the community and a lasting culture internally. We had the privilege of sitting down with Thielman to discuss HEI’s culture, vision for the future, and more.
An Award-Wining Team
Prairie Business Magazine has listed HEI among the best places to work every year since 2014. This award is based on employee votes, demonstrating the dedication and pride of the HEI team.
At its core, HEI is a talented group of engineers, scientists, technicians, surveyors, programmers, and support staff that work to improve the communities in which they live and work. In doing this, HEI works to ensure that they provide practical and efficient solutions to solve community needs.
HEI functions in six main business sectors: water resources, transportation, municipal infrastructure, environmental, geospatial technology, and surveying and reality capture. Water resources is its largest sector, which includes work for watersheds, flood control, and stormwater modeling. HEI also has an environmental group that specializes in both water quality and environmental permitting, wetlands, delineations, and more. HEI has a growing transportation group that includes designing roads, bridges, railroads, and other infrastructure projects.
“Our Mission is to make positive impacts to communities through collaborative partnerships and innovation,” Thielman said. “We’ve been involved in transformational projects for our clients, including the Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion Project from the start. Our work includes designing levees, floodwalls, and roads in the area. Our growing footprint includes undertaking flood control in Minot and the Northwest Area Water Supply and Distribution project. These projects will benefit future generations. Additionally, in the Twin Cities, we work on climate resiliency and environmental enhancement projects, serving our clients now and in the future.”
What Sets HEI Apart
HEI puts themselves on the cutting edge of technology by monitoring, exploring, and implementing new technologies like reality capture, augmented reality, and AI. They push industry-standard software to new heights through innovative uses of CAD and GIS, making it easier than ever for users to parse, access, and implement data.
Yet HEI strives to go the extra mile and offer even more to the clients they serve. “We have in-house software engineers that develop software solutions that not only make us more efficient but also serve our clients,” he said. Notably, they developed the ND Roads web and mobile applications for the North Dakota Department of Transportation—an app that is critical for North Dakota travelers to stay up to date on the latest road conditions. HEI also combined their software engineering and environmental expertise to develop MS4Front and DrainageDB, which are now used by county, municipal, and watershed clients throughout the country.
About Gregg Thielman
Before joining HEI, Thielman worked for the North Dakota Department of Water Resources for seven years. He had a connection at HEI through Lawrence Woodbury, who was the President and CEO at the time. Woodbury, who happened to be one of Thielman’s college professors, offered him an opportunity to come to HEI to work in water resources and on other exciting projects. “I’ve appreciated the opportunity I’ve had to grow in my career, increasing responsibility, and eventually moving into the role that I now have as President and CEO,” Thielman said.
Did You Know?
HEI works in six primary sectors:
- Water Resources
- Transportation
- Municipal Infrastructure
- Environmental
- Geospatial Technology
- Surveying & Reality Capture
Success & Accomplishment Within HEI
The difference between a job and a career is how well a company takes care of its team, and HEI is an industry leader when it comes to building a thriving workplace. Its approach to success and accomplishment within the organization is through building a strong and equipped team, providing great compensation and benefits, and investing in a lasting culture.
One core value of HEI is to be the ideal team player, which Thielman says is inspired by the book The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues by Patrick Lencioni. This core value is a building block that helps set team members up for success while providing continual opportunities for career growth and development.
“It starts with having really good resources available within the company. As you come onboard, you have mentors who work with you to develop your skill set,” Thielman said. “But then we also have external training opportunities that we send people to, whether it’s more technical training, growth training, or developing soft skills. But we provide the resources that you need to advance and grow in your career.”
Looking Ahead: The Future is Bright for HEI
Currently, HEI is in the midst of a strategic planning process, setting its course for the next 3-5 years—and Thielman says the future of the company is looking brighter than ever. “It’s exciting to hear all the ideas that our staff have for where we want to go, where we want to take our skill set, and how to grow our skill set. There’s a lot of opportunity for us and the sky’s the limit.” Building the collective vision and framework for the future of the company shows how HEI is invested in their team and their culture.
Recently, HEI expanded their footprint with offices in Omaha, Lincoln, and Des Moines. “I see us continuing to look for opportunities to grow,” Thielman said. HEI’s technology group is already serving clients nationwide, and Thielman sees that as an open door for more growth as HEI advances into the next chapter—and that’s his ultimate objective—to “position ourselves to achieve goals,” as he said it.
Hear From Team Members
Jerry Bents, Fargo Office Manager
How did you first discover HEI?
While I was studying pre-engineering at NDSU, I was looking for summer internships and had the opportunity to work for several different firms in Fargo Moorhead, including HEI. I loved the family culture of HEI. I interned for two more years and then joined full-time in 1997—it’s over 25 years later and I’ve been here ever since.
When did you realize they were a great fit for you?
Truly, right away. Like I said, HEI had a different feel to it—a lot more of that family feel. I felt like they were genuinely interested in me and in my success, as opposed to someone coming on to just fill a role.
What’s one specific example of how HEI has shown you they’re invested in you as a team member?
HEI supports annual training and courses, some of which are required to keep up with your licensing. But HEI also provides a lot of opportunities if they want to explore new markets by attending national conferences and getting a view of what that market would look like and how to enter it.
If you could summarize, how would you say HEI is a great place to work?
You’re treated with respect and you’re treated as a professional. There are expectations for you to contribute to the team, while at the same time, you’re rewarded well for your contributions, and for supporting the success of our clients and company.
Kristen Lotvedt, Civil Engineer
How has HEI helped you grow in your role?
HEI has helped me grow in my role here by having me join the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber Leadership Group, which I did a few years ago. Through that, I met several people who I still have contact with today. HEI also nominated me for Prairie Business Magazine’s 40 Under 40, which I received a couple of years ago. HEI shows that they view me as a valued employee and thinking that I’m doing good work is justification for me to keep going and striving to do better.
What are some of the key benefits of working for HEI that you love most?
Flexibility: Given that I have three kids, there are times you have to take time off, and HEI is very flexible as long as you get your work done, so that is something that I’ve very much appreciated. Working from home: Similarly, if I need to work from home because my kids are sick, they’re very accomodating to that. Employee appreciation: The interest they show in their employees by doing fun things like barbecues in the summer, holiday parties, or celebrating a big project is something I think is fantastic.
What do you think a lot of companies miss that HEI gets right with their team and employees?
HEI trains its employees well enough to go to work for other people but treats them well enough that they want to stay; there are a lot of employees who have been here for 20-plus years.
Why Work For Houston Engineering?
“We’re a great place to have a career. When we hire people, we look at them as career employees. Oftentimes, we’ll hire someone right out of college, and they’ll work here for their full career. We provide opportunities for them to advance throughout their career, challenging opportunities, as well as good teammates, and we have fun while doing it.” – Gregg Thielman, President/CEO
Did You Know?
HEI just launched their all new website! Scan the QR code to check it out!
Join the Houston Engineering Team!
Visit their careers page at houstoneng.com/careers to learn more about career opportunities at HEI.
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