A Letter From Leadership

Over the past 65+ years of Latimer Sommers & Associates history there never has been a more challenging and unique year for the business as well as employee health. The year started with much promise and expectation and when the pandemic hit a new plan of action was needed. Everyone at the firm had to rethink ways to complete common in person tasks as well as balance home life with children out of school and makeshift office spaces. New technologies had to be used in homes where the internet was minimal. The administrative team started taking temperatures and screening any visitors. Drafting had to interpret different engineer communications and engineers learned how to design on digital platforms. I am so proud of our response as a firm with this challenge and it solidifies our strength and capability.  We were still able to accomplish our number one priority: meeting the clients’ expectations with a quick response time.

We hired 4 new employees during 2020 to fill a growing demand. We were faced with another challenge of training and integration into the firm. Our Building Information Modeling (BIM) staff flexed with these new needs and has come though stronger than ever. Each day brings new collaborations with the team to solve issues and advance the end product. Our group stayed together via Teams meetings keeping everyone engaged and to present issues as well as solutions. It allowed all to share with the group which brought us closer together while being farther apart than ever. With the remote visual and audio forms of interaction between team members, we learned new aspects of each other’s work responsibilities. When we are all back together, we will be closer as a group with new appreciation for the process that we all are striving to excel at.

I love learning and if there is one thing that 2020 has brought is being forced to learn new methods and re-centering on non-work priorities. We are hopeful for the new year, anxious for less stress, smarter about many aspects of work and life, and ready to meet tasks for our clients with great energy and care. We hope all people we touch this year will feel our momentum and positivity as the new year unfolds.

Rich Beardmore. P.E., LEED AP

President