Randolph’s DuBois & King

Has New President

By Sandy Vondrasek

Engineers carefully research and plan things—everything from buildings, bridges, and hydroelectric dams to drainage systems.

So—no surprise—the engineers who run DuBois & King, Inc., have spent years fine-tuning a blueprint for running and growing the firm, with the goal of keeping it strong—and locally owned—in the future.

Years of boardroom planning surfaced publicly a few weeks ago when the engineering firm formally announced that it had appointed a new president, Jeffrey W. Tucker, effective February 29.

Tucker, a Vermont native and Barre resident, had formerly been senior vice president and director of operations.

Tucker took over the post from William H. Baumann, Jr., who had served as D&K’s president and CEO since 1985. Baumann will retain his position as chairman of the board of the privately-owned corporation, and will also continue to work actively on engineering projects, he said this week.

DuBois & King, founded by engineers Richard DuBois and Joe King in 1962 as a partnership practice, now employs more than 80 people at its three locations in Randolph, Williston, and Nashua, N.H. D&K’s corporate headquarters relocated three years ago from Route 66 in Randolph to a new, energy-efficient building on North Main Street.

In a recent interview in that building, Baumann explained that he joined D&K in 1969, as the partnership began its steady growth into a "multi-discipline engineering firm." A few years after King left the firm in 1983, Baumann began working with DuBois on an ownership transition.

That internal buyout process turned out to be a long and complicated one, Baumann said, and it made him realize the importance of carefully setting the stage for an easier transition to the "next generation" of leadership.

Part of that stage-setting involved planning to establish an ESOP, or Employee Stock Ownership Program at D&K. As of 2001, 60% of the firm’s stock is owned by the employees through the ESOP, with the balance held by Baumann, Tucker, and others outside of the employee pool.

Baumann emphasized that his primary goal, in all this planning, has been to keep D&K locally owned. Growing firms—and DuBois & King has been steadily growing—need capital to expand, and one way to access capital is to be bought out by a larger firm. However, that kind of buyout, Baumann noted, carries the steep cost of losing control over operations.

Baumann said D&K has been able to grow, in part, by buying several smaller engineering firms.

In the process of growing, D&K has expanded the kinds of services it offers. Today, using a team or "holistic engineering" approach, D&K has positioned itself as a leader in energy-efficient and sustainable design, Baumann said.

Tucker, the new CEO and a civil engineer, has the credentials to continue to lead D&K forward in the increasingly green world of engineering, Baumann said.

A 22-year D&K employee, Tucker is also certified as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) engineer.

He was born in Randolph, graduated from VTC with an associate’s degree in civil engineering in 1983, and went on to complete a degree program in the same field at UVM in 1986. Tucker started working at DuBois & King "right out of college," he said this week.

He lives in Barre with his wife Susan and their 11-year-old twin sons Eric and Brian.

In addition to LEED-certified engineering, D&K is also adding "commissioning" services, a new field in engineering, Tucker noted.

D&K now has a "certified commissioning agent," an engineer who can certify that systems and equipment, as built or installed, meet the standards of the engineering design.

Also, as it heads towards its 50^th anniversary, D&K is in the midst of a five-year pledge to provide $5000 worth of donated engineering services to one Vermont and one New Hampshire municipality annually.

As new CEO, Tucker has taken over the reins of day-to-day management of the firm, allowing Baumann, as chairman of the board, to focus longer-term strategies.

Although the total number of D&K employees at the three locations has dropped somewhat recently, Baumann said he anticipates re-growth in the near future as several large contracts, which have been on hold, move forward. Two of those are federal contracts for border stations, he said, and another is "an energy-based, private sector" project.

Of the recent leadership transfer, Baumann said, "I’m thrilled. I’ve been at this for 40 years, averaging 60-hour work weeks."

Trimming his professional life back a bit, he said, will make way for more time for "skiing, golf, family, and grandkids."