Chris Poland

CULTURE:

The freedom and encouragement to learn is the best of part of my job. We are expected to be professionally active, to stay current in our areas of expertise, and to actually drive the advancement of the profession along the way.

In the beginning (1974), Degenkolb was the only job available. Those were tough times in this industry. Since then, it has been too good to leave. New opportunities, new types of projects, and new levels of responsibility came as quickly as I could accommodate them.

CAREER:

Thirty plus years of advocating for seismic safety has been the most meaningful. It began with earthquake reconnaissance that lead to working on research projects and new codes that delivered new methods to the profession. In the last 10 years has grown to include advocating for new local, state and federal policies. All, of course, while working on hundreds of fascinating projects.

In the past 33 years, I have moved from summer intern to Chairman, President and CEO. Along the way I chose to maintain a technical practice and earthquake engineering expertise while taking on my leadership roles. For the first 8 years, the path focused on the structural engineering practice until I earned my SE registration. It then broadened to include business operations, first as the CFO for 8 years and then as the CEO. I’ve done that for the past 17 years and have a few more to go…

PASSIONS:

I am constantly looking for new ways to solve the problems and issues we face. I also maintain a wide diversity of projects and responsibilities. I like to be very busy, and involved in all aspects of our profession and business.

For fun, I snow ski, bike, run, water-ski, and golf – preferably with my wife, kids and grandkids.

ON THE JOB:

The best of the best has to be the work I did on the Stanford Memorial Church after the Loma Prieta Earthquake. The damage was not all that or life threatening, but it was very complex to fix. From the hours of crawling through the attics, to figuring out what had happened and how to fix it, to working through the details during construction, it was a very rewarding experience to be a part of the design and construction team that gave back to the University a fully rehabilitated icon that will not only stand the test of time but also the next major earthquake.