December 2007

InBusiness executive profile of Raj Seth

In every issue, InBusiness magazine profiles corporate leaders in Dane County. This is a reprint of that article.

For more than 30 years, Rajan Sheth, the president and CEO of Mead & Hunt, has been designing buildings, bridges, and dozens of other structures — including cheese factories — which dot the Wisconsin landscape.

“I was with someone the other day on our way to the Concourse Hotel and I told them, “It’s safe to go in.  I designed this,” he jested.

These days, it’s becoming easy for Sheth to point out projects Mead & Hunt has had a hand in creating, not only in Wisconsin, but across the country.

Since being named president and CEO of the firm in 1994, Sheth’s time at the helm has led to unprecedented company growth.  The growth is fostered, he said, by a corporate culture that encourages its employees to have a creative, entrepreneurial spirit.

Sheth said he has focused on steering the company toward expansion.  The numbers prove he has had success.  In the past 13 years, Mead & Hunt has grown from two to 15 offices.  More offices have led to more employees.  In that same time frame the company’s employee count has nearly tripled from 130 to 350, and the turnover rate is less than five percent.

Mead & Hunt now is also ranked as one of the 500 largest engineering firms, and one of the top 300 consulting firms in the country.  It also has been listed among the Top 25 civil engineering firms to work for in the country by CE News.

“We attract and hire employees that are entrepreneurial types and team players,” Sheth said.  “We give our employees the chance to grow and take on new challenges.  We give them opportunities to do what they want to do.”

Colleague Paul Powers, Business Unit Leader for Aviation Architecture and Vice President with Mead & Hunt, was hired in 1994 to help expand the company’s architecture focus.  While still a relative newcomer to the company, Powers was asked to pitch his ideas to Sheth.

He said Sheth took out a red pen and crossed out all the projects that he didn’t think would be big money–makers for the company; they were to “light.”

The list (it had included everything from malls, residential projects and airports) was quite whittled down.  The company now focuses its efforts in airport, prison, and other government work.

The experience, and numerous others since, convinced Powers that Sheth is both open minded and fair with regard to new ideas.  Most important, his business instincts are routinely on target.

“He doesn’t for the frivolous B.S.,” Powers added.  “He knew that going without light–construction projects was the wave of the future.”

Financially speaking, the company’s billing amount as quadrupled from $10 million to $40 million in the past 10 years.  Sheth said he wants the company to double in size over the next five years.

This is a lofty goal because Mead & Hunt is a multi–disciplinary firm trying to grow not only in Madison but across the country, said Jeff Welch, the Regional President with JP Morgan Chase.

“This is a very fast-growing company that has benefited from the disciplined approach [Sheth] has to his money management style,” Welch said.  “He has walked away from a number of acquisitions that he didn’t feel were the right fit.  Some of those companies have come back to him later on.”

Sheth makes the company’s accomplishments sound easy:  “Even though we provide a highly technical service, this is a simple business.  We take care of our employees and we take care of our clients by trying to exceed their expectations.”

By Jessica VanEgeren, InBusiness December 2008