SSOE Group, the global A/E and construction management firm, has promoted Vince DiPofi, PE, to be its next President and CEO. He will replace current CEO Bob Howell, who will retire in the first quarter of 2020. DiPofi officially assumes his new roles on December 4, when the company will hold its shareholders’ meeting.
DiPofi, the company’s COO and Executive Vice President, is a 35-year industry vet who has been with SSOE since 2000, when he started as Business Leader for the firm’s food group.
“For a firm like SSOE, that has enjoyed continued success for over 70 years, the role of CEO is a great responsibility,” says DiPofi. “I’m confident in the entire SSOE team’s ability to work together to continue this company’s history of innovation and great client service.”
Last August, SSOE celebrated its 70th anniversary. Howell has been with the firm since 1980, starting as a draftsman trainee. He has led SSOE since December 2014, and during his leadership tenure the Toledo, Ohio-based company has ranked among the industry’s 10 largest engineering and architecture firms, and 15 largest international engineering firms, according to BD+C’s annual GIANTS rankings.
Last December, the company stated that, since 2009—when it committed to delivering projects on schedule for lower total costs—it had saved clients more than $1 billion in project costs: at least $10 million each for 34 clients and more than $1 million each for 95 clients. The firm had also returned 95% of its fees to clients in the form of project savings over the previous five years.
DiPofi is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and has been a registered Professional Engineer in Ohio and Michigan since 1990. He received his Bachelor of Science from The University of Toledo in Mechanical Engineering in 1985.
At SSOE, DiPofi has been influential in fostering a culture of business development, having held previous roles as Director of Business Development, Chief Strategy Officer, and provided oversight of SSOE’s Mexico and China operations. He served as SSOE's Chairman of the Board until 2018. In his current capacity, DiPofi has executive level oversight over the firm's Advanced Technology Strategic Business Unit; Healthcare, Cmmercial, and Education practices; and its virtual design and construction team.
Related Stories
Urban Planning | Aug 16, 2021
Building with bikes in mind: How cities can capitalize on the pandemic’s ‘bike boom’ to make streets safer for everyone
Since early 2020, Americans have been forced to sequester themselves in their homes with outdoor activities, in most cases, being the sole respite for social distancing. And many of people are going back to the basics with a quintessential outdoor activity: biking. Bike sales absolutely skyrocketed during the pandemic, growing by 69% in 2020.
Contractors | Jul 23, 2021
The aggressive growth of Salas O'Brien, with CEO Darin Anderson
Engineering firm Salas O'Brien has made multiple acquisitions over the past two years to achieve its Be Local Everywhere business model. In this exclusive interview for HorizonTV, BD+C's John Caulfield sits down with the firm's Chairman and CEO, Darin Anderson, to discuss its business model.
Wood | Jul 16, 2021
The future of mass timber construction, with Swinerton's Timberlab
In this exclusive for HorizonTV, BD+C's John Caulfield sat down with three Timberlab leaders to discuss the launch of the firm and what factors will lead to greater mass timber demand.
Multifamily Housing | Jul 15, 2021
Economic rebound leads to record increase in multifamily asking rents
Across the country, multifamily rents have skyrocketed. Year-over-year rents are up by double digits in nine of the top 30 markets, while national YoY rent growth is up 6.3%. Emerging from the pandemic, a perfect storm of migration, enhanced government stimulus and a hot housing market, among other factors, has enabled this extremely strong growth.
AEC Business Innovation | Jul 11, 2021
Staffing, office changes at SCB, SmithGroup, RKTB, Ryan Cos., Jacobsen, Boldt, and Adolfson & Peterson
AEC firms take strategic action as construction picks up steam with Covid openings.
K-12 Schools | Jul 9, 2021
LPA Architects' STEM high school post-occupancy evaluation
LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.
Multifamily Housing | Jul 7, 2021
Make sure to get your multifamily amenities mix right
One of the hardest decisions multifamily developers and their design teams have to make is what mix of amenities they’re going to put into each project. A lot of squiggly factors go into that decision: the type of community, the geographic market, local recreation preferences, climate/weather conditions, physical parameters, and of course the budget. The permutations are mind-boggling.
Industrial Facilities | Jul 2, 2021
A new approach to cold storage buildings
Cameron Trefry and Kate Lyle of Ware Malcomb talk about their firm's cold storage building prototype that is serving a market that is rapidly expanding across the supply chain.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 30, 2021
A post-pandemic ‘new normal’ for apartment buildings
Grimm + Parker’s vision foresees buildings with rentable offices and refrigerated package storage.
Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021
Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]
New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.