Salt Lake office. Pretty soon, the office was up to 30, 40 and 60 people. One of our major competitors was Thomas Peterson Hammond, who were healthcare planners/designers. We were always competing, then we collaborated on a $110 million project for the University of Utah. We decided that we worked together so well that we’d merge. Now, we were a 135-person firm. The culture was so good that we soon didn’t know where anybody came from. We didn’t know if they were from Jensen Haslem or from TPH. What was your role? I started off doing everything. Then I focused on design. Bruce Haslam came to me and said, “Tom, we’ll do the work. You find the work.” So, I started to become a marketer. That’s what I was doing when Don joined us and I was president. After the merger, the main body of the firm was in Salt Lake, but I was in Logan. So, I became chairman of the board, and he became president. Then we hired a great designer, Dave Cassil. I realized that my role was not designing. So, I did marketing, risk management, problem-solving, and client relations. I redefined myself three or four times, and that was actually interesting. My focus was on building a firm, focusing on the people, and getting them to do what they do best. The gift came in the form of talented people like Bruce, Don and David. We always seem to get the right people at the right time. The firm kept growing, and the fun was in growing the firm. We teamed with Fred Babcock, pursuing the Huntsman Cancer Center. He had a relationship with the Huntsmans, and we had a technical background in laboratories and medical. In the interview, we were competing against five or six national firms, SOM, NBBJ … I gave the technical presentation, then Fred got up, and it was like a spiritual experience. He talked about giving hope to the patients, giving hope to the families and making a cancer center that would serve and bless people. And bang, that won the job. I was managing the first phase. I was way over my head. We did the first phase and they wanted to do another phase and another phase. Don Finlayson had joined us by the second phase. This was his forte; he could manage huge jobs. The timing was just right. They’re still doing phases, and each of these are $150 million or so. When we met with Karen Huntsman, she said, “This is about giving hope.” Our conversations were about how we build hope. The facility was not designed as a hospital. It was designed more like a lodge or a resort, a hotel, so patients felt like they were being treated well. They all had beautiful views into the valley or up the mountain. The facility was designed for people who had been told that they had cancer. This would give them some brightness. The sunshine came in, and they had decks they could go out on. Instead of being down a corridor with green walls and little cubicles, they were treated like they were in the best lodge in Park City. What other projects are you particularly proud of? During the recession of 2008, I got a call from an architect from Philadelphia. He said, “We understand you’ve done data centers, and you’ve done federal work, government work. Our firm would like to collaborate with you on a project in Utah. We did one of these projects in Virginia, and that’s the only one. It’s kind of a larger project.” And I said, “100,000 square feet?” He said, “It’s actually several million square feet.” That is the National Security Agency at Point of the Mountain. Huge job, important job, nobody sees it because it’s top secret. 16 REFLEXION
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