Click here for Part I

Carrying forward a 115-year-old legacy of quality electrical and mechanical engineering services

Tony DiLeonardo is the president of Wick Fisher White, one of Philadelphia’s preeminent engineering firms. Since 1901, Wick Fisher White has been committed to providing its clients with quality, innovative, and enduring mechanical and electrical designs. The company’s capabilities include heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems; lighting and energy generation, distribution, and conservation; plumbing; fire protection; commissioning; and a host of other auditing and planning services. Tony joined Wick Fisher White in 1985, quickly working his way up from a project manager and engineer to the leadership position he holds today. Earlier this year, he was one of three individuals recognized by the inaugural SMPS Philadelphia Honoring Legends Awards.

EDWIN WARFIELD: Is Wick Fisher White involved in any corporate giving or community-building projects?

TONY DILEONARDO: We are passionate about [the] ACE [Mentoring Program]. We’ve been involved with that organization: it’s Architecture, Construction and Engineering for high school students since the year 2000. Since 2001, we’ve had Chris Arnold, our vice president, on the board, and he does a scholarship plan for them. I’ve been a mentor, and some people have been mentors in the office. It started in the city, and now we’ve branched out into the suburbs. We go and we teach [these students] about architecture, construction, and engineering—that there is a career in this.

I’ll take, for example, my son, who’s a mechanical engineer at Penn State. He doesn’t really do ductwork. He knows how to size and do pump friction loss, but really doesn’t know what’s the pump pumping, what’s the air conditioning unit doing, how to size the ductwork. He doesn’t know about construction. So we show these high school students this is what a career is in this industry, whether it’s architecture, construction, or engineering. That’s been pretty fun. They’ve been pretty receptive, because it’s after school, so the kids that are serious are the ones that want to learn. That’s encouraging to me.

Q. What are some of your biggest challenges?

A. Retention is an issue. If there are good people, we want to keep them. We’re trying to retain them. We’re trying to make it a more friendly environment in the office. We’re trying to train them. We’re trying to engage them to be part of our process. Maybe if they’re unhappy about an office policy: come and try to change it and tell me what’s wrong and how would you think we could fix it. We’re lenient on the dress code. We’re trying to have little fun days. You know, we had Hot Dog Day, where we had a Phillies theme. We’re trying to make it a more relaxed atmosphere.

And, as I said before, we’re trying to train them, have them mentored, so they keep engaged, they keep learning. The more valuable they are to themselves, they are to us. It’s a win-win situation. We train them, they feel they’re empowered, and then we use them because they’re trained. It just makes for a good atmosphere in the office, and hopefully they appreciate that and they’re going to stay. They’re not going to look elsewhere. Because anybody can get an extra cut, a dollar or two, anywhere else around the city. That’s how we’re trying to make it more friendly for them to stay with us.

Q. What is your five-year plan for Wick Fisher White? Are you interested in growing the company?

A. The vision for the company is to grow, to grow gradually, and to keep ahead of the curve and maybe move into other industries as things go on. We’re monitoring what’s going on in the construction industry and we’re trying to stay ahead of that so we can serve our clients best. We really don’t want to just sit still, be stagnant, and then get run over by the firm that’s like us. We want to be aggressive and we want to really grow and be that firm that everybody goes to.

Connect with Tony on LinkedIn

ABOUT NEWMARK GRUBB KNIGHT FRANK

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) is one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF’s 12,800 professionals operate from more than 370 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents.

With roots dating back to 1929, NGKF’s strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. NGKF’s full-service platform comprises BGC’s real estate services segment, offering commercial real estate tenants, landlords, investors and developers a wide range of services including leasing; capital markets services, including investment sales, debt placement, appraisal, and valuation services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; as well as corporate advisory services, consulting, project and development management, and property and corporate facilities management services. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

NGKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit www.bgcpartners.com.

Matt Guerrieri, Managing Director

Matt Guerrieri began his commercial real estate career in the Client Services division at Grubb & Ellis Company (now Newmark Grubb Knight Frank) and served as the Research Services Manager for the Philadelphia district for four years. Transitioning over to Transaction Services in early 2005, matt focuses the majority of his time on Tenant representation.

Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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