For Ryan Strandquest and the team at Matern Professional Engineering, 2024 marked the firm’s 40th anniversary, and signaled big changes to come. Last year’s celebrations saw a branding campaign with a new logo, special advertising, and rewarding staff and their families with a weekend beach getaway, team-building events, entertainment, and more. It was also the first year of Matern’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
Transitioning the company from a handful of owners to an ESOP means Matern’s employees have an ownership stake in the business and a hand in its future and financial success. The move has deep meaning for Strandquest, who started with the Maitland, Florida-headquartered firm as a mechanical engineer 27 years ago, working his way up to President.
“ESOP is a six to eight-year process,” says Strandquest, “and we are in year two. We are considered an employee-owned firm in progress.”
Douglas P. Matern founded Matern Professional Engineering in 1984 and remained sole owner until 2013, when he invited three senior leaders to become shareholders and subsequently Senior Vice Presidents. Strandquest and Senior Vice President and Director of Engineering, Adrian Baus, were two of those shareholders. The third shareholder retired after 25 years with the firm in 2021. Like other successful engineering firms, Matern has been approached to sell by larger firms; but for this company’s leadership team, money wasn’t the key factor.
“The motivation was, we didn’t want to sell and have our culture change,” says Strandquest who, along with Doug and Adrian, decided it was more important to sell back to the employees rather than sell out to another firm and be acquired. In the next few years, Matern will completely transition to a 100 percent employee-owned company. “My hope is employees realize that and have a more vested interest in the firm and its success,” he adds. “Working diligently to make us profitable also makes their retirement fund even bigger.”
Although Matern is still in transition, it is already seeing benefits of the new ESOP. The business is more transparent as Strandquest conducts a quarterly debrief with the entire company, along with Director of Marketing & Business Development, Erica Shay. “Every three months, we go over the projected numbers for that quarter or the previous quarter, talk about what’s projected for the future, and look at where our revenue stands,” he explains. “There’s a lot more transparency in this process than there was before when just three of us had stock, and employees have also been more willing to speak up.”
Steadily building its offerings over the decades, Matern offers a wide range of services including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, energy, commissioning, fire protection, and technology engineering. The company executes sustainable design, lighting design, and project management, among other pursuits. With a team of 65 dedicated staff, Matern tackles building system assessments, leads design and construction teams for MEP upgrades, and engineers systems for aviation, commercial, community, corrections, energy, government, healthcare, higher education, public safety, and other markets. The key to its success, Matern has earned a reputation for its outstanding work in aviation and K-12 education, with such professional services delivered through the dedicated aviation and education teams.
“We understand the unique requirements of efficiently maintaining buildings that are in perpetual use while maintaining occupant safety and comfort. This knowledge and the partnerships we have developed have enabled us to have an average 75 percent repeat client base,” says Shay. “Doug laid a secure keystone for us to build upon for generations to come.”
“Schools have always been pretty strong for us, about 65 percent of our business, and then we have our government clients,” says Strandquest, who believes government entities—schools and municipalities alike—will continue to see steady growth. “I don’t believe those markets will go down—they are the one constant, always in demand, and the infrastructure will require renewal as a result.” Strandquest also sees healthcare as an emerging market that’s going to continue to grow.
Although it isn’t clear where markets like energy are heading, Matern realizes that public and institutional buildings need to function today and for years to come. “The thing we know is facilities have to be built and have to be renovated and maintained cyclically. You need education, civic services, and healthcare, so those three areas will not go away. We have also seen incentives for workforce education and transportation expansion with the new Brightline High Speed rail coming into the new Terminal at Orlando International Airport. The need to replenish the workforce pool and move people fluidly through Florida is long overdue,” Strandquest says.
A believer in corporate responsibility, Matern’s values include giving back to the community, sustainability efforts, and inclusivity initiatives. Over his years with the company, Strandquest has also seen the benefits of Matern’s client-focused approach. As an engineer himself, he realizes that engineers are often set in their ways: ‘this is how we’ve always done it, and that’s how we’re going to do it.’ “What we instill in our younger engineers is that you listen to the client first, figure out their need, and you give your solution around that need,” he says. “Don’t go into the conversation or design or meeting with a preconceived notion of exactly how it’s going to go. You can have ideas that you bring to the table, but ultimately, listen to your client and figure out the solution based on what they need.”
This client-focused approach also influences the people Matern hires. Technical knowledge and the ability to produce are important, along with the ability to listen. “We also look for project managers, senior project managers, and people in the firm in hierarchy positions that can speak to clients, market to clients, listen to them, and articulate a solution that fits what they need. So it affects who we hire,” says Strandquest. The firm will welcome six new interns this summer, two of whom are returning for a second consecutive year.
Matern has amassed a large portfolio since 1984, including work across Florida, numerous other U.S. states, and Europe. Clients include over 100 government agencies and institutions throughout Florida, nine states, and the Federal Government. For projects in Europe, Matern works with an established team, presently engaged in several school projects in Germany, with more in the works.
The recipient of numerous awards over the decades, the firm was most recently honored at the FEFPA (Florida Educational Facilities Planners’ Association) Architectural Showcase Awards. Matern received the Elementary Schools Award of Merit: Lee County School District Franklin Park Elementary School, and High Schools First Place: Orange County Public Schools Innovation High School.
The company has also seen a lot of work thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, launched under the previous administration with the objectives of boosting energy use and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Initially aimed at transportation, energy, and infrastructure throughout the U.S., it expanded into other areas such as HVAC, solar panels, water source heat pumps, thermal storage, and battery storage. This resulted in growth in the thermal energy storage (ice storage) market in Florida, and more projects for Matern. Recent projects include Flagler County Public Schools, Flagler Palm Coast High School, Seminole County Public Schools, English Estates Elementary, Alachua County Government Justice Center, and the School District of Osceola County, AAA High School.
In recent years, this energy transition has resulted in significant cost savings for clients, and what used to be private has expanded to public facilities. “Under the IRA, tax-exempt entities like school districts and government bodies can now receive a direct payment, rather than a tax credit, for qualifying projects. This means the IRS will literally issue a check back to them, potentially saving schools upwards of $1.5 to $2.0 million, depending on the project’s cost,” Strandquest explains.
The company and its leadership are optimistic about the future. Solidifying its existing footprint and possibly adding more staff is on the horizon for Matern, and there is a chance that, by the end of this year, the first third of the ESOP process will be completed, two full years ahead of schedule.
“For me, knowing that my retirement is coming up in the next 10 years, the future includes the growth of leadership in the firm, and grooming them to take over positions of current leadership,” says Strandquest. “Our focus has to be in that direction—getting them up to speed in how the firm needs to operate, what we need to do, and how to keep the forward momentum.”
With Strandquest and some others in leadership positions set to leave in the next decade, it is important for the torch to be passed to the next generation. “I know that’s a longer-term vision, but we need to do some things now and over the next five years to make that happen,” he shares. “It needs to be measured, our growth. It has to be sustained and smart growth.” It sounds like Matern is on the right path to achieve exactly that.
