Wilson Miller

In their second year at the helm, the next generation of Wilson Miller principals share a bird's-eye view of development industry trends, plus insights into how they have achieved a 20 percent annual growth following the 1997 transition in ownership.

Focused Intent

"People today tend to be impatient," says Alan Reynolds, who became president and CEO of Wilson Miller after two decades with the firm. "The extent of client loyalty is not unlike that of employee loyalty. You must consider and plan for that. We want to be in both relationships for the long haul."

Evidence says the larger, long-term view works. Clients like the fact that Wilson Miller persists in adding value to the land planning, design and engineering services they need. Staff members strive to make collaboration an enjoyable experience. And they seem to do it with a sense of urgency.

"Everything today is compressed," says Fermin Diaz, executive vice president and COO. "Technology has had a tremendous impact on how we produce our product and communicate with clients. Staying on the cutting edge is expensive, but clients appreciate our ability to produce a drawing within hours rather than days."

Many Wilson Miller employees say they stay with the company because dedication pays off. Increasingly complex, demanding projects keep them challenged. Continuing growth provides opportunity. Seasoned producers are mentored into management positions. Fresh university hires are trained for greater responsibilities. And everyone can own a piece of the action through stock options.

Staying power is key to Wilson Miller's success. Repeat customers account for 80 percent of the company's business. The firm designs above ground projects to hold their character and underground infrastructure that works so well that one could easily forget it's there.

It all adds up to a formidable record of new business wins, averaging 70 percent in the private sector and 30 percent in public sector bids. Long-range planning has opened new opportunities in Caribbean markets.

Advantageous Trends

"We've always tried to build on the past, but look to the horizon," says Reynolds, whose charter is moving this locally dominant company into status as a national competitor.

Already, Wilson Miller qualifies among the top 10 privately owned firms of its type in Florida. Last year's revenues of $19.7 million placed it among the top 300 in its industry nationally. The firm has also moved up 65 notches since its 1997 listing as one of the "Top 500 Design Firms" in the United States as reported in industry publication Engineering News Record.

Wilson Miller's earlier, closely held partnership (operating under several permutations of the corporate name) had parlayed the company's original 20 years of surveying and engineering experience into expanded capabilities in planning, environmental consulting, landscape architecture and construction management. Thus, in 1978, concurrent with Reynolds' arrival as Wilson Miller's first professional land planner, the company was positioned to help the large-scale Bonita Bay development get off the ground.

Bonita Bay Properties is still a client, attesting to the relationship's staying power. Wilson Miller is integrally involved in two of the developer's newest ventures, The Brooks of Bonita Springs and Mediterra in Bonita Springs.

"It was our good fortune to be headquartered in Southwest Florida, a growing area in the forefront of master planned communities," says Reynolds. The company's list of these projects reads like a local "Who's Who" of upscale communities. Prognosticators say this type of community will dominate residential development in emerging markets through the next decade.

"We like master planned communities because they are long-term projects that require a high level of expertise and multi-disciplinary services," says Diaz, a professional engineer who, like Reynolds, loves to rise to a challenge.

Both principals agree that developers are doing a great job of marketing their properties in terms of location, lifestyle and amenities. But they are missing an opportunity in not promoting the quality of their development infrastructure -- how utilities, drainage, access and roadways work impact residents over the long term. (One needs look no further than the advantages of marketing a soundly engineered automobile to understand the point.)

While the majority of Wilson Miller's products are below ground, hidden from view, the elegant landscape stands visible to any passerby. That's where the firm's neighborhood designers, landscape architects and environmental scientists apply added expertise. They understand that people not only buy into a project based on location, but they buy finishing touches. They are charmed by visual details that give an architectural project a sense of place.

Georgianne Ratliff, vice president and director of planning, leads Wilson Miller's fifth and newest office in Tampa, which joined offices in Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota and Bradenton last June. She merged her company with Wilson Miller "because they are client oriented, manage their rate of growth and emphasize planning as much as engineering."

Ratliff says she is encouraged by the fact that the new administration in Tallahassee is serious about sparking workable solutions to urban sprawl, burgeoning school districts and affordable housing. A highlight of her current focus is planning a new Florida town through a precedent-setting public/private partnership in Pasco County. Redesigning communities with inviting town centers and well-functioning neighborhoods constitutes a good part of her business. Helping to pioneer an interlocal agreement between Hillsborough County and its school district adds a creative twist.

"The Greater Tampa area is running out of approved DRIs - Development of Regional Impacts - to market to industries," says Ratliff, who is active in the Chamber of Commerce's new Economic Development and Land Use Committee. "So we're identifying new sites and using public/private partnerships to find ways to get them ready for business."

Master planned communities, environmentally-attuned design of residential and commercial sites, and public/private partnerships that extend business opportunities are all the types of non-commodity services that have qualified Wilson Miller to compete nationally.

The firm's principals acknowledge that the pace and extent of development in Southwest Florida is a mounting concern. They have been positioning Wilson Miller to export services for several years.

"This year, we went up against the best in the business and won a high level, high profile destination res