ST. LOUIS – The HFW Companies (HFW), a fast-growing professional services firm with a national focus on the architecture and engineering industry, is pleased to announce it has hired Scott Williams, P.E., as its new vice president of operations.
In this newly created position, Williams will support the growth of HFW’s expanding portfolio of strategic partners and develop both shared economies of scale and synergies between the partners that would allow them to leverage their expertise across a national footprint built by HFW.
Before joining HFW, Williams was president and CEO of CRANSTON, an Augusta, Ga.-based engineering, landscape architecture, surveying, and planning firm serving Southeast communities for more than half a century. CRANSTON solidified its partnership with HFW in June of 2022. Williams, who led the firm since 2019, had joined the firm as a civil engineer in 2002, right out of college. Since then, he orchestrated a strategic growth initiative that culminated this past June in a strategic partnership with HFW.
Meanwhile, Dennis Welch, P.E., who has been with CRANSTON for almost 30 years, has succeeded Williams as president and CEO.
“Scott understands our growth model and sees the value that can be gained in driving synergies between our partner firms,” said Michael Hein, AIA, CEO of HFW. “Scott is an accomplished engineer who really understands the business side of infrastructure design services. He has gained a tremendous amount of respect from us at HFW.”
HFW’s goal, Hein said, is to invest in a growing network of middle-market architecture and engineering firms serving metropolitan infrastructure markets with strong legacy brands and growth potential. Hein described the HFW model as one designed to retain and leverage each partnering firm’s own brand identity, loyal employee base, and the allegiance of its project partners to build a nationwide “House of Brands” network of architectural and engineering partner firms.
To date, HFW’s strategic partners include Fort Lauderdale-based Miller Legg, Boca Raton-based HSQ Group, Augusta, Ga.-based CRANSTON, and Austin-based 4Ward Land Surveying. Collectively, these partnering professional services firms employ more than 225 professionals.
“While working on our new partnership with HFW, I’ve seen what I would consider great potential for CRANSTON and the growing number of HFW partners across the country to benefit from greater economies of scale and technical collaboration in support of larger projects,” Williams said. “I’m looking forward to helping HFW develop such opportunities and create profitable synergies for all partner firms.”
As HFW’s vice president of operations, Williams will remain in Augusta and continue to work from CRANSTON’s corporate headquarters.
“We’re excited because we see Scott as an integrator connecting our national platform through shared partner benefits and by identifying synergies across our growing portfolio of strategic partner firms,” Hein added. “This new role has tremendous potential for us in creating new growth opportunities across our national footprint.”
For more information about The HFW Companies, contact Michael Hein at 618-560-4756 or at michael.hein@hfwcompanies.com.
Based in St. Louis, HFW is an AEC industry professional services company investing in architecture and engineering firms that serve metropolitan and infrastructure markets and are open to aligning with partners for growth. Its member firms, grounded in technical excellence, solve the most critical problems facing the built environment, improving communities through creative design, engineering, and planning.