M/E
Engineering builds a solid reputation
A commitment to the
city has been a source of pride for M/E Engineering, P.C., the
Rochester firm founded by Allen Casey ’70, ’73 (A.A.S,
B.S. electrical engineering) and three partners in 1991.
 |
| About
20 of M/E Engineering employees are RIT grads, including,
from left: Calvin Puffer '76 (mechanical engineering), Charles
Sidoti '86 (mechanical engineering), John Dredger '92 (mechanical
engineering), James Chatelle '85 (electrical engineering technology),
Vice President Ronald Mead '81 (mechanical engineering), and
President Allen Casey '70, '73 (electrical engineering). |
That commitment was
recognized earlier this year when M/E Engineering was named to
Inc. Magazine’s Inner City 100 list of the country’s
most successful private companies located in urban centers. The
firm also ranked among Rochester’s Top 100 list of fastest
growing private companies six times since 1995, and M/E made Zweig
White & Associate’s “Hot Firm” list of the
100 fastest-growing architectural, engineering and planning firms
in the U.S. in 2000 and 2001. Revenues climbed every year to more
than $12 million by 2002.
Quite a track record.
And RIT figures prominently in M/E’s achievements. Of the
four founders, three are RIT alumni: President Casey, Vice President
William P. Liberto ’82 (mechanical engineering) and Vice
President Ronald C. Mead ’81 (mechanical engineering). (The
fourth partner, Joseph Straub Jr., is a University of Rochester
grad.) Of approximately 100 employees, 20 are RIT alums, and M/E
also has four RIT students in co-op jobs.
Casey, Liberto, Mead
and Straub were working in Rochester for a Syracuse firm when
they decided to start their own consulting business. By 1996,
the party of four had grown to more than 40. They expanded into
Buffalo where, three years later, they were approached by owners
of a competing firm who asked if M/E was interested in purchasing
their business. The culmination of that deal doubled the company’s
size. This year, M/E opened an office in Schenectady to achieve
a higher profile in the New York’s capital district.
“We’ve hustled
to expand,” says Casey. “We push very hard to provide
the kind of personal service and professional quality that our
clients expect.”
As a result, he says
90 percent of the company’s business comes from repeat customers.
M/E works with major architectural and construction firms on large
public and private projects ranging from libraries and laboratories
to casinos and churches. Among these projects are several on the
RIT campus.
“It’s night
and day what’s happened on campus,” says Casey, who
started college in 1968, the year RIT moved to the current location.
“The growth and improvements are fantastic.”
He’s pleased that
one aspect of RIT hasn’t changed: the emphasis on applied
education, particularly the co-op program.
“All of our RIT
graduates have been excellent,” Casey continues. “We
feel that the growth of M/E Engineering has been due in large
part to the quality of the education our staff members received
at RIT.”
The company gives back:
In 1999, the M/E Engineering, P.C. Scholarship was established
for students in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering and the
College of Applied Science and Technology.
To learn more about
M/E Engineering, visit the World Wide Web at www.meengineering.com.
RIT Works! focuses
on the contributions of RIT graduates in the workplace.
