NewGround Expands Significantly in IT/Mission Critical Sector
St. Louis, MO (April 6, 2009)—NewGround, a leading international design and implementation firm, announced today a significant expansion of its IT/Mission Critical resources. This expansion will enable the company to better serve its growing client base with additional technical and executive talent. The IT/Mission Critical team joining NewGround will leverage technical planning and design skills with NewGround’s existing core strength in design and build, program management and consulting service offerings.
“Data technology will continue to expand exponentially over the next 10 years, and critical infrastructure will have to be expanded to support this growth” said Kevin Blair, President and CEO of NewGround. “Growing our technical capabilities across the various sectors in the IT/Mission Critical space ensures that NewGround is well positioned to take advantage of the many new growth opportunities ahead.”
NewGround’s expanded IT/Mission Critical team has a wealth of experience in the consulting, planning, design/build and program management of IT/Mission Critical facilities for companies such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Bank One, Northern Trust, First Chicago NBD, and other large corporate and public sector clients such as the Chicago Board of Trade and the GSA/IRS.
“We have assembled a team of leaders with a successful history of innovation and insight to build our IT/Mission Critical group, complementing our core company expertise,” said Blair.
Joining the NewGround team are:
Thomas Stratford
Tom Stratford joins NewGround as a nationally recognized planner in the IT/Mission Critical sector for over 25 years. He has served a large client base of both financial institutions, as well as corporate clients, nationwide. He specializes in the consulting, planning and design of data centers, operations centers, communications facilities, network centers, co-location operations, call centers and other IT/Mission Critical facilities. Tom is well regarded for program/criteria development, work process analysis, infrastructure planning and design, redundancy/reliability/maintainability planning, power planning and hardware planning.
Tom spent the majority of his career at Austin/AECOM, formerly McClier, where he was Vice President and Director of Information Technology. Additionally, Tom served as the lead member of the IT/Mission Critical team at the Facility Group. Throughout his career, he has worked with large corporate and institutional clients such as Wells Fargo, Digital Realty Trust, Comdisco, BankOne, TransUnion, etc. Tom holds an undergraduate degree from Marquette University and is a registered architect.
Alan Belohlavek
Alan Belohlavek joins NewGround as an architect and senior project manager. He has worked in the IT/Mission Critical industry for over 25 years, and for 12 of those years, Alan has worked in partnership with Tom Stratford. He specializes in space planning, workflow and material handling, technology infrastructure design, systems design including redundancy/reliability/maintainability, architectural/mechanical/electrical peer review, contract and lease negotiations, property management, interior architecture, furniture, fixtures and equipment selection, and project coordination/management.
Alan also spent over 10 years managing large scale IT/Mission Critical projects at Austin/AECOM, formerly McClier. He has also held the position of Corporate Architect with Sempra Energy/Southern California Gas Company and Saunders Development Corporation. Alan has a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Southern Illinois University, is a registered architect, and a certified Facility Manager.
Hope Alexander
Hope Alexander joins NewGround with more than 25 years of proven experience in marketing and sales of technically sophisticated facilities worldwide. She has been a leader in selling management consulting, architecture, engineering, design/build and program management services throughout her career and will focus on the IT/Mission Critical sector.
Hope has worked with this executive team for over 20 years starting her career in consulting and design/build as Vice President at McClier Corporation where she was instrumental in its rapid growth. More recently, Hope was Senior Vice President at The Facility Group. Hope holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Michigan, and a Master’s Degree in Manufacturing Management from Northwestern University.
Grant McCullagh
Grant G. McCullagh, Chairman of GIBS, Inc and formerly Vice Chairman/Executive Vice President of AECOM, will join NewGround’s Board of Directors and serve as the company’s Vice Chairman.
In addition to a deep and broad design/build background, Grant, with experience in multiple niche markets, will assist in leading NewGround’s IT/Mission Critical initiative. He is a highly regarded leader in the engineering and construction industry, serving the infrastructure, environmental, and facilities sectors, and will draw upon his strong background in the global and financial markets to aid NewGround clients in the development of strategic operations platforms.
Prior to his tenure at AECOM, Grant co-founded McClier Corporation, a leader in integrated consulting, engineering and design/build services, which specialized in a variety of technical niche markets, including IT/Mission Critical.
“I’ve known Grant for 40 years and have seen his growth and expertise advance the architecture and infrastructure of the IT/Mission Critical world. I’m very excited to have someone of his caliber join our team,” said Ted Golitz, Chairman of NewGround.
Grant holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois, an MBA from the University of Chicago, and a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and is a member of the AIA College of Fellows.
Thomas Samuels
Thomas Samuels, also from GIBS, will join NewGround as a Senior Vice President focusing on the IT/Mission Critical Sector. He brings a strong and successful background in design/build/finance of these and other technically sophisticated facilities in both the private, as well as the growing public sector. During a 30 year career in the engineering and construction industry, Tom served as Executive Vice President of Higgins Development Partners, where he led the Public Sector and Institutional Division. He was responsible for public/private partnerships and DB Finance initiatives across the IT/Mission Critical, Life Sciences, and more complex and technical corporate projects.
Tom received his Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard University Graduate School of Business. He also received a Master’s Degree in City Planning as a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development National Fellow. Tom is also a member of the AIA College of Fellows.
About NewGround
NewGround is a leading international design and implementation firm. For nearly a century, NewGround has been a premier provider of growth solutions, helping organizations advance by focusing on the design and delivery of customer and employee experiences. NewGround provides strategic solutions through the integration of their core offerings, which include: Brand, Consult, Design, Build, Retail and Culture.
The company’s headquarters are in St. Louis, MO, and corporate office in Chicago, IL; with principal offices in San Francisco, CA; Atlanta, GA; Portsmouth, NH and Toronto, Canada.
To learn more about NewGround, call 888.613.0001, or visit www.newground.com.