...served Stanley well in winning an assignment in Iraq last year and a construction management joint venture contract this year.

EXPAT CENTRAL Veteran Jim Hollatz (top, center) at Egyptian site runs overseas division. It now includes Iraq work teams run by Mak Wagner (center, above) and Mark Podzimek (far right). (Photos courtesy of Stanley Consultants)

Stanley also has won work directly from governments and private clients abroad. It is designing a $500-million military base for the United Arab Emirates’ Air Force, as well as cooling-water systems for local utilities that are new to the Persian Gulf, says Hollatz.

Thomopulos revels in remembering how Stanley won the UAE base contract despite a design-build offer from Bechtel Group that ultimately proved more expensive. Stanley has its own design-build unit, but the delivery method’s poor fit in the company has relegated it to small jobs. "We didn’t do well at self-performing," says Thomopulos. Stanley’s umbrella organization, The Stanley Group LLC, also includes a small environmental group.

But the firm prefers to seek international and domestic work as Stanley Consultants. Its overseas unit borrows operational employees from across the organization. Global work represents 25 to 30% of revenue, while power and government work split at least another 50%. Markets such as education, health care and industrial make up the rest.

Thomopulos also has helped expand Stanley’s domestic business with key acquisitions in Atlanta, Phoenix and Las Vegas that opened new markets and reduced the footprint in Muscatine. Of the firm’s 800 employees, only 260 still are based there. Expansion to 14 offices also has helped recruit younger professionals who might not relocate to Iowa, he points out. Even so, diversification has not always worked, as Thomopulos admits in discussing an office in Jacksonville, Fla., that went bust.

In the search for growth, Thomopulos now is setting up a wholly owned unit in India that he says would compete for work "strictly in the region." He says India has plans for huge infrastructure investments. But Thomopulos admits the plan generated many e-mails from employees nervous about possible offshoring of U.S. work. He emphatically denies it.

Thomopulos insists that while Stanley is not driving to be the next megafirm, "you can’t stand still." It is committed to providing return to its generous "member" ownership program, another ahead-of-its-time feature implemented by Max Stanley in 1961. The CEO and chairman are the largest shareholders, but each has only a single-digit stake. Despite recent market ups and downs, the firm’s double-digit stock appreciation has made the ownership program "way oversubscribed" for the last three years, says Thomopulos. Stanley also redistributes to members an amount equal to half of each year’s profits after taxes. Stanley also brought on outsiders to the board long before it was trendy in the industry.

Thomopulos, 62, will not get specific about retirement, but he notes the importance of developing Stanley’s "bench strength." In 2007, he will mark his 20th year as CEO but insists, "we won’t anoint anyone until the time comes." Noting his own struggles, Thomopulos says the industry needs more executive diversity. "A lot of our clients now have women and minorities in key roles," he says. "That will drive change."

In the meantime, Thomopulos’ possible second career in global engineering diplomacy already is under way. As new chairman of the American Council of Engineering Companies’ international committee, he is credited with rebuilding its stature and broadening its membership. "Gregs is not seen as a Washington insider," says Fred Berger, senior vice president of The Berger Group, East Orange, N.J. Adds committee director Tom McNulty: "He’s level-headed and says what needs to be said."

Thomopulos also is a new executive member of FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers in Geneva, Switzerland. While some observers question FIDIC’s effectiveness, he claims the group is very influential overseas and could convince international banks and other project owners to separate cost from quality-based A-E selection. Thomopulos says cost as a competitive factor still generates problem projects and does not always benefit local engineers. He and others also are lobbying the World Bank to study how cost criteria affect the number of project change orders.

"We’re getting jobs because the client wants us to do the work," Thomopulos points out. "We can negotiate the fee later."