Kevin Haney is one of the luminaries of the engineering and architecture space. In a career spanning more than three decades, he has continuously set new benchmarks of excellence for his company. As President and CEO, Kevin has positioned Colliers Engineering & Design on a consistent upward growth trajectory. For him, growth isn’t just about numbers – it’s about the people.
“Success means the feeling of accomplishment from creating careers, attracting new employees by building an exceptional workplace culture, and supporting families across the country,” he says.
Early Roots in Civil Engineering
Kevin grew up in a family involved in the construction business. He remembers pounding nails and building houses from the time he was 10 years old. So, when he went to college in 1991, Kevin knew exactly what he wanted to do. “I knew from the beginning that I wanted to be a civil engineer,” he says. At the time, for him, civil engineering meant designing “bridges and large structures.”
“At the time, I realized that, while I wasn’t going to reinvent the Golden Gate bridge, there was a lot of design work out there to be done in other engineering fields,” Kevin says, and shifted his focus toward the environmental and land development side of the industry. There, he found fulfillment in large-scale commercial and residential development projects. He quickly learned that designing was just one aspect of this work. To see the designs come to life, he had to get the designs approved, work on permitting and compliance issues, address potential environmental concerns, and present them in front of a planning and zoning board, before getting the final approval to initiate the project.
“I thought that was what I was destined to do for the rest of my life,” he reflects. “I never thought I’d be in my current position as CEO of a national engineering and architecture firm. But as I stepped into more leadership and management roles, I found myself drawn by the impact I could make on people.”
Becoming Part of Colliers International
In 2013, Kevin joined Maser Consulting, now Colliers Engineering & Design, and was brought into the executive team as part of an ownership transition strategy for the firm’s founder Richard M. Maser, President & CEO. At the time, the company had around 350 employees. After Kevin’s arrival, the number of employees gradually began to steadily increase. Within seven years, it had more than tripled to 1,100 people. “This was through significant organic growth and the beginning of acquiring other small firms to fill personnel gaps as work increased,” Kevin says.
With the firm growing at a steady 25% annually, Kevin knew he had to think beyond just growing organically. To scale the company further, they joined Colliers International, a publicly traded company and was rebranded as Colliers Engineering & Design. “This enabled us to acquire larger firms adding the people we needed to help strengthen our national presence,” Kevin says.
Since he joined the firm, the revenue growth increased from $58M to over $600M, while increasing the firm to approximately 3,200 employees in 90 offices nationwide.
The People Challenge
“We don’t manufacture products, but instead are in the people business,” Kevin emphasizes. It’s about billing hours and making designs but the real challenge for them is finding the right people to do the work. “Because we are so diversified, we have plenty of work,” Kevin says. “It’s the shortage of skilled employees in this industry that is stifling the growth opportunity – not just for Colliers Engineering & Design, but for our industry at large.”
So, for him, the ongoing challenge is both attracting new employees and retaining existing ones. With a competitive market job market, minimizing turnover is essential.
“The company culture that Richard Maser established has enabled us to retain people and continue growing,” Kevin explains. “Finding those distinct benefits and selling points that maintain the foundational aspect of our culture has been a continual evolution. Still, it all comes back to people, and that is really where the challenge lies.”
Responsibilities of a CEO
Kevin does not micromanage the day-to-day operations of Colliers Engineering & Design. He has strong leadership teams overseeing the HR, Operations, Legal, and Marketing teams, as well as, eight technical divisions. “It’s my job to be available to those leaders and answer their questions, and provide guidance,” Kevin says.
He is also responsible for determining where the company is heading, its strategy, and what it intends to accomplish this year, next year and beyond. “I set those parameters, and then I communicate with those leaders to help take barriers out of their way to facilitate their success,” Kevin says. He does everything possible to remove or minimize obstacles that impact their execution, including having weekly calls or meetings with every one of his direct reports and every one of his leaders. “That’s probably about 40% of my job,” he adds.
The other 60% of his job is related to acquisitive growth. Now that Kevin and his team are part of Colliers International, one of their growth strategies is to look for acquisitions. Kevin says that he looks for other companies to join them that will help yield the organic growth that he is looking for in various regions or services.
Before a firm agrees to sign-on with the firm, Kevin works with their leadership to talk about alignment, value and the cultural aspects of the new company coming on board to ensure they are comfortable integrating into the firm. “It’s not just about the deal,” Kevin says. “It’s about making sure they feel at home with joining us.”
Leading by Example
Kevin believes in showing up. “I never expect somebody to do something that I wouldn’t do myself,” he says. “That mindset has earned me a significant amount of trust as a leader.” People know that if he asks them to do something, he will be right there beside them, doing it with them.
Even the little things count. If he walks by a conference room and sees it all disheveled, he will walk in, fix the chairs and clear the table. He does not walk away from the mess, telling himself that someone else will do it.
“By those small, everyday actions, you’re not just telling them what to do, but you’re also showing them by example,” Kevin says.
Building the Next Generation of Leaders
Kevin is already preparing for the future, where he is no longer at the helm of Colliers Engineering & Design. His goal? To have multiple people ready to step into his shoes when the time comes. “I want to mentor, train and develop people who are ready to run this company,” Kevin says.
As for the future of the firm? “To conquer the planet,” he said jokingly. His plan is to start with the U.S. and keep expanding. “If you don’t grow, you’re not improving people’s careers, you’re not improving their family’s lives to be better, and in turn, you’re not helping clients and communities thrive throughout the country,” he points out.
“There is no magic number of people that I want to have,” Kevin says. “There is no magic revenue target. We just want to keep growing.”
Changing Landscape of the Industry
When Kevin first began as a civil engineer, he barely used a computer for drafting and design. Most of the work was done by hand. “Now, it’s all computers,” he notes, reflecting on how far the industry has evolved. Today, the next frontier is artificial intelligence – and while Kevin sees its potential, he’s clear about its role.
“We need to figure out innovative ways to deliver more efficiently, effectively and quickly,” he says. “Labor costs are going up, but clients can’t always afford to pay more. So, we’re incorporating AI and other technologies to support our talented staff to help them produce even more incredible work.”
But he emphasizes, technology can only go so far. “AI will never replace the value of human insight, creativity or experience,” he adds. “It’s about enabling our people to their best work – not replacing them.”
Message to Aspiring Leaders
“Never say ‘no’ to a new opportunity,” is Kevin’s first piece of advice to aspiring leaders. He believes that new opportunities help expand one’s knowledge base.
His second piece of advice is the follow the “2% Rule”. While everyone should always deliver their best work, I keep preaching to all of my coworkers to always try to improve 2% every day,” he adds. He believes that if one can just improve what they do every day by even a tiny margin, whether it is getting up earlier, managing stress a little better, completing timesheets a little sooner, or improving their customer service, there can be an exponential impact on business, its people and their lives. “I start out every day thinking, how can I do things 2% better today?”
Kevin has an impressive roster of accomplishments, and despite them, he’s not slowing down any time soon. “I just want to keep going,” he says.
And while he is proud of his children, a healthy family and team, from a work or career perspective, he says, “I don’t have one ‘greatest accomplishment’, because I’m not yet done. I’ll never be done. But I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together as a group.”
