From his earliest memory, Timothy Psomas knew what he wanted to do when he grew up. His father had started his own engineering company in 1946, when Timothy was 5, and the son knew he wanted to follow his father’s path. After graduating from college, he joined his father’s company as a full-time engineer, working on projects that eventually would become key Southern California landmarks such as Vandenberg Air Force Base and Westminster Mall. By the late 1970s, he had risen through the ranks to become president. He set about adding new areas of practice, such as resources management, and expanding the company’s reach through several Western states. In 2000, Psomas relinquished his roles as chief executive and president he still remains chairman. He is now focusing more on his work for industry associations and personal pursuits, including the family farm in San Diego County. He represented private engineering firms in their fight with public employee unions over the right to get contracts from Caltrans. Now, as chairman of the American Council of Engineering Companies, Psomas is an industry voice on how to funnel federal stimulus dollars more effectively to engineering and construction projects. He recently sat down with the Business Journal in Psomas’ downtown L.A. headquarters to discuss his career history, the pleasures of farming and the challenges of long-distance commuting.
Question: When did you know you wanted to go into civil engineering?
Answer: All the time when I was growing up, my father would take me out on job sites. I loved it and that’s why I knew instantly what I wanted to do when I grew up.
Q: What was it like growing up in Los Angeles?
A: When I was growing up in L.A., it really felt like a small city. We lived in the Crenshaw area. I loved being able to ride in a streetcar downtown and go to the circus with a bunch of friends.
Q: When you joined your father’s firm, what were some of the projects you worked on?
A: I joined as a junior engineer and my father treated me like any other employee. I did the site civil engineering and surveying work for the Westminster Mall, the Boeing plant in Lancaster-Palmdale, and the initial surveying and development for Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Q: Those are big sites.
A: Yes, one of the rewards is seeing the tangible results of your work. It’s a special treat.
Q: How have things changed since then?
A: Amazing at it seems now, when I started, there were no computers and there weren’t even electronic calculators. Many of the calculations I had to do by hand. The drawings also had to be done by hand.
Q: How did you get on the business side?
A: I enjoyed client development, adding new service capabilities to the firm and the like. My father liked the technical engineering work. So, over time, we both realized that our skills complemented each other.
Q: What were the challenges you faced as president of Psomas?
A: In times of economic prosperity, the challenge was to find and keep good employees, and maintaining the quality of our work. Then, in down times and there have been plenty of those there’s the pain of making cuts. It’s really tough having to let go of friends you’ve worked with, but that’s what it takes to survive.
Q: Any other challenges?
A: Yes: giving people the opportunity to make their own mistakes that they can recover from. My job is coaching them on how to manage their projects.
Q: What about balancing the demands of the work place with your family life?
A: No question that was challenging. But my wife has been very forgiving over the years. I was never able to spend enough time with my children. I didn’t realize that until they had grown up and started having their own children.
Q: What was it you wanted to do when you stepped down from the CEO job?
A: Several things. I wanted to get more active in industry trade associations, like my father did before me. That takes quite a bit of time. I also wanted to spend more time with my family, especially my grandchildren. And my wife and I both wanted to spend more time working on our farm.
Q: You have a farm?
A: Yes, for nearly 20 years now we’ve had a commercial farm on 14 acres in northern San Diego County. We grow oranges, avocados, grapefruit, peaches, pears and flowers. We try to get down there at least two weekends a month and, every summer, we try to spend at least a week there.
Q: Why did you get a farm?
A: My wife grew up on a farm in Kansas and always had farming in her blood. Well, it turned out that some neighbors of ours on Balboa Island were interested in farming. They showed us the ropes on how to grow oranges and we decided to give it a try ourselves. So we purchased the land in San Diego County and started to grow Valencia oranges. It provides us with an escape from city life and the pressures of city jobs.
Q: What’s a day on your farm like?
A: On a typical day, I’ll get up early and check the irrigation systems to make sure they are working. Then I’ll check the trees to see if they any need pruning or pest control. Typically, I’ll spend the morning and early afternoon out in the fields. I will sometimes plant a new tree when needed. And I especially love picking all kinds of fruits and vegetables, and sharing them with friends. I also love having our grandkids come and spend time with us on the farm.
Q: What’s the biggest crisis you’ve ever faced on the farm?
A: The most frightening thing is dealing with fires. We’re right on the edge of the wilderness and several times we’ve had fires come right up to our property. I’ve watched neighbors’ houses burn down and we’ve often had to go out and hurriedly clear brush or hose things down. One fire in particular got very close and came roaring right up to our property line. The fire trucks were massed on our property but were preparing to retreat, forcing us to prepare for the worst. Then, at the last moment, the wind shifted and took the fire in a different direction. We breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Q: How did you get started in trade groups?
A: I started with a statewide group that’s now the California Chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies. I had already been active on several issues, most notably privatization of state contracts.
Q: The state engineers union fought hard to prevent that.
A: Yes, it did. We did win with Proposition 35 a few years back that upheld the ability of Caltrans to contract out engineering work, but we can’t turn our back because the state engineers union would challenge us the moment we let our guard down. I became a spokesperson on the issue because I believe that there are activities that are inherently governmental like public safety and there are other activities that the private sector is best suited for. Engineering work is one of those.
Q: What did you learn from that fight?
A: I realized that this wasn’t just a local or state issue. One of the biggest public policy issues that we have to come to grips with is the role of organized labor in civil service. It results in an imbalance in how elected officials deal with governance. Not enough attention is being paid to making sure that the government gets the best value for work that is done.
Q: Is that why you got involved in the national engineering company association?
A: In part, yes. But also I find that I really enjoy the work, meeting fellow engineers and dealing with issues like this. I guess I’ve enjoyed this ever since I was a kid watching my father participate in trade associations.
Q: As chairman of the national group, what’s the biggest issue you’re confronting?
A: Right now, it’s the flow of federal stimulus dollars for infrastructure projects. We’ve heard all this talk about how tens of billions of dollars are supposed to be flowing into these shovel-ready projects, but I’ve been surprised and disappointed to learn how little money is actually going to projects. Few projects are actually as shovel-ready as advertised, so we have built up this expectation that can’t realistically be met.
Q: How much time do you devote to this trade association work?
A: About one to two days per week. I spend another couple days a week in my office on Psomas matters. Even though I may not be running the company on a day-to-day basis, there are always interesting things to do. I’m always looking for strategic opportunities for mergers and acquisitions.
Q: What’s the biggest problem you’ve experienced in Los Angeles?
A: No question: traffic. I’ll just give one example: A couple of years ago I was looking for a new car and had some work-related errands to do on the same day. It took me nearly three hours to get to Los Angeles from our home in Newport Beach. That’s when I decided on the spot to buy a Prius with those yellow carpool lane stickers.
Q: Speaking of traffic, how is your commute from Orange County?
A: I work much of the time in our Costa Mesa office. I drive up here about once a week, so it’s not that unbearable.
Q: You like to sail. Any plans for ambitious sailing trips?
A: No, I’m not really into long sailing trips. We often sail on day trips to Catalina. When I was younger, I did learn how to race sailboats, but now I find I prefer short recreational trips.
Q: Where are your favorite travel destinations?
A: I do love to travel internationally. One of my favorite places is northern Spain. I have Basque heritage in my family, so I love to go to the Basque territory and explore our family’s roots. Tuscany and London are some of our other favorite places. But right now, I’m sort of tired out from traveling. As chairman of the ACEC, I’m constantly traveling and I find that’s quite enough to satisfy my travel bug.
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
A: My father always told me, “Treat others as you want to be treated.” Another piece of advice I received came from a number of people I grew up with friends, other engineering company executives, and the like: “Don’t wait for the future to happen to you, but make your own future happen by taking advantage of opportunities.”
Q: What’s the advice you give to young engineers looking to go into the field today?
A: I advise young engineers to get as much experience as they can while they are going to school. And then they should find a specialty area they really enjoy and focus on that area.
Q: How are today’s engineers different from the old times?
A: One thing I see in today’s young engineers: While they are willing to work long hours on a specific project, they don’t want to constantly work long hours, like many in my generation did. They want more of a work-life balance. And that’s a good thing.
Timothy Psomas
TITLE: Chairman
COMPANY: Psomas
BORN: 1941; Los Angeles
EDUCATION: B.S., civil engineering, Loyola Marymount University
CAREER TURNING POINTS: Decision to pursue engineering degree and join father’s firm upon graduation; decision to relinquish chief executive duties in 2000 to focus on other pursuits
MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE: Father, George Psomas, founder and longtime chief executive of Psomas; Herb Cooper, Art Sherman, Gordon Jennings and Jack Neville, executives at other engineering companies who helped guide him in the early stages of his career
PERSONAL: Lives on Balboa Island off Newport Beach with wife, Alana; couple has four grown children and eight grandchildren
HOBBIES: Farming, sailing, international travel
