ACEC Research Institute’s New Keystone Circle Amplifies Voice of Smaller Firms

If you were to spend a day with the leader of a smaller engineering firm, you’d see the whole business in action. In the morning, they’re looking over a design with a project team. By lunchtime, they’re on the phone with a client the firm has served for decades. In the afternoon, they’re interviewing a promising young engineer, weighing a new software platform, and thinking about who will lead the firm 10 years from now.

That’s not the exception in our industry. It’s the norm. Most engineering firms are small. Approximately 3/4 of ACEC’s member firms have fewer than 50 employees; smaller firms are the heart of our membership. Their leaders see our industry from every angle at once, and that perspective is no less important than the view from a firm many times their size.

That conviction is why the ACEC Research Institute launched the Keystone Circle, a new donor and engagement opportunity created exclusively for engineering firms with 100 or fewer full-time employees. The name was chosen with care. In an arch, the keystone is the stone at the very top that locks every other piece in place. Small firms play that role across our industry, and we wanted a program that recognizes and honors it.

What makes the Keystone Circle different is what sits at its center: a seat at the table. Each Keystone Circle member firm will designate a senior executive to serve on the new Keystone Leadership Team. That group will work directly with the Institute’s leadership and research team to identify the issues, challenges, and opportunities that are top of mind for smaller firms. When we sit down to decide what the Institute should study next, which questions need answers, and which topics will shape our industry’s future, small firm leaders will be part of that conversation from the very start.

The timing couldn’t be better, because this is a critical moment for our industry. Project delivery is evolving. AI and other emerging technologies are opening new ways to design and build. Firms everywhere are rethinking how they attract, develop, and retain the next generation of talent.

Every firm is part of that story, and each firm writes a distinct chapter. Small firms move quickly. They know their clients by name. They’re woven into the communities they serve. The insights that come from that vantage point can benefit our entire industry, and the Keystone Leadership Team will ensure they inform our research.

I’m proud to announce the inaugural members of the Keystone Circle:

• Birkhoff, Hendricks & Carter, L.L.P.
• FOXXSTEM
• KL&A
• Sheladia
• Summer Consultants
• Wooten

These firms will help establish the Keystone Leadership Team and ensure the perspectives of smaller engineering firms are represented from the beginning. As the Institute’s research and reach continues to expand, the Keystone Circle adds a vital voice to our work.

If your firm has 100 or fewer full-time employees, I’d love to talk. Contact me at dbryant@acec.org to learn more about the Keystone Circle and the Keystone Leadership Team.

Every arch needs its Keystone. So does our research.