Deadline to submit nominations – Friday, December 23 at 5:00 PM
Please share this businesses accomplishments and achievements within the last 12 months.
We have been extremely fortunate that 2022 has been really good to us at Schneider Engineering, LLC (SE). Our Client-base and service markets have grown substantially due to the technological advances in our industry, adding 57 new Clients to our portfolio in 2022 and opening our 1,000th project.
With this growth we have had the need to grow our team. Our team grew by 27% in 2022 and we are still hiring! We are adding and repositioning staff, looking for key people in strategic expansion areas to maintain the amazing customer service our Clients are used to receiving. Targeting new Clients in new markets and locations, we are looking into expanding and adding regional offices. We are licensed to perform engineering services in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Kentucky – and became licensed in New Mexico this year. Although we are rapidly growing and have added on a lot of new team members we are dedicated to sustaining our people first philosophy and as a testament 8% of our team has been with SE for 5 years with another 30% with SE for 10 years or more.
We were named 2022 Top Workplace in San Antonio Express-News Top Workplaces! This award was based solely on employee feedback that was gathered through a third-party survey administered by Energage (employee engagement technology partner). The workplace survey uncovered that Schneider Engineering is most valued by their employees for having a culture that is committed to Family, Fun, Focus and Dedication with 94% of employees sharing that the Company is first and foremost operated by strong values. They also described our culture as rewarding, welcoming, caring, helpful, hardworking, flexible, collaborative, honest, encouraging, and challenging. In the regional study, Schneider Engineering was ranked in the top 22nd percentile overall, compared to similar Engineering Firms, for all categories including culture drivers, engagement, and overall “basics” including benefits, pay, training, expectations, and work life balance. We were also in the top 10 percentile for innovation! Top Workplaces is the nation’s most credible employer recognition program. There were over 1,500 Companies nominated for the 2022 San Antonio Express-News award and only 103 Companies made this year’s list. We are honored, especially because the judges were our employees!
Please share any ways this business exhibits exemplary customer service.
Schneider Engineering, LLC has provided medium to high voltage energy-focused engineering and business consulting services to utility systems since 1991 – over three decades! We are proud that our first Clients remain Clients today, and that the vast majority continue to receive and expand the type and number of services year after year. We provide engineering and consulting services to more than 125 Clients across the state and region with systems ranging from 250,000 electric meters to Municipal systems with less than 3,000 electric and water meters. Historically we achieve a 90% success rate of delivering our products and services on or ahead of schedule and budget.
We are honored to have worked for the City for Boerne for almost 30 years! As the City has grown, and will continue to grow, we have assisted with multiple electric distribution design and planning projects to allow for the growth. We have also assisted incoming developers with electric and gas distribution design projects for new subdivisions being constructed. Our team takes pride in the ability to assist the City, that we live and work in, to meet urban engineering and operational challenges, evaluating and applying advances in technology, and understanding the changing expectations from consumers, navigating requirements from regulatory agencies, and adopting sound strategies to meet the dynamic challenges of the power supply market.
Our mission is to provide substantial value to our Clients by delivering high-quality business consulting services that support their project and organizational goals and contribute to their overall success. We strive to provide these services efficiently and in a manner that allows Schneider Engineering to sustain a profitable financial position and provide growth opportunities for employees. To support our mission, we have implemented the following core values that play a critical role in our ability to provide exceptional customer service to our Clients and to help our employees excel and flourish.
WORK SMART: Many consulting firms have grown and attained success by working more hours and working harder. While hard work in total billable hours is critical for growth and success, it is also important to work smarter and for us to be compensated for our knowledge and creativity.
TAKE PRIDE: By taking pride in our work, even the smallest details that may go unnoticed, you will have an accomplished feeling that comes from knowing you went the extra mile for our Clients, and that you played a bigger part in the larger effort to reach the SE mission.
BE ADAPTIVE: In our rapidly changing market and work environment, we all must be continually learning, growing, and adapting in order to succeed. Whether the opportunity for growth is in technical skills, inter-personal communication, or other professional development areas, being adaptive is a value that will benefit each of us and SE as an organization.
COMMIT TO THE TEAM: SE’s culture and organization has promoted a sense of teamwork from the earliest days of the Company. By communicating effectively and often with co-workers and other teams within the organization, we find opportunities to provide more value to our Clients and more opportunities to improve and expand our service offerings.
STAY FOCUSED: Focusing on project deliverables, budgets, and schedule we can ensure a positive outcome from the Clients’ perspective. Maintaining focus on what is important and on all our core values, you, your team, and all of us at SE will benefit in the long run. By focusing on what is important and on supporting each other, we will all win!
This year we instituted the Servant Leader Model, where our focus on the Client is of the utmost importance. This has in-turn facilitated strategic growth, created accountability, and focus on our team, and leaned into development of our staff. With the Client-focus mentality, we pride ourselves in our ability to maintain relationships with our current Clients as well as potential. We exemplify our appreciation as much as possible by sponsoring their events, providing gift cards and donations for their memberships at their Annual Meetings, gifting small tokens of our appreciation throughout the year, as well as just taking them out for a quick bite to eat and catch up on what is going on with them both personally and professionally.
Throughout the year we send our employees to 25+ different conferences/training events for continuing education. At a handful of these events, we treat our Clients, including their spouses/partners to a nice evening. Also, as part of our employees continuing education, we host company-wide cross-divisional training once a month. Topics are presented by division leaders and the presentations are typically technical or conceptual in nature. The goal is to share knowledge, skills, or ideas to others to improve efficiency and/or quality of work to develop employees and improve both the business and Client experience.
How does this business volunteer and/or support the community?
Throughout the year, we volunteer and donate to multiple organizations within the Boerne, TX, and Kendall County communities. Each year we host a Turkey Drive for the Hill Country Daily Bread Ministries (HCDBM), with this past year donating 225+ turkeys to families in need. We show our support by purchasing tables at their annual Vision Dinner, hosting Easter basket drives (this past year filling 489 baskets for families in need), and volunteering at the organization assisting with various duties. We also host an annual Client golf tournament benefiting the HCDBM, with this year raising more than $5,000 towards their cause. For each of our employees’ birthdays we give the option to donate $25 to HCDBM in lieu of a gift card.
We hosted our 5th annual #12DaysOfGiving campaign during this holiday season, lending our hearts and hands to twelve different organizations within our community. As one of our “biggest” days, we coordinate with the Boerne Parks and Recreation Department and Boerne Cemetery Foundation to host our #RestingPlaceWreaths event, placing wreaths on the headstones of all veterans that lay to rest in the Boerne Cemetery. This year we teamed up with Hope for Heros and Scout troops to place wreaths on 820+ graves of these fallen heroes. As part of our #12Days we volunteered or collected donations for Blessings in a Backpack – Boerne, South Texas Blood and Tissue Center (saving 90 lives through our blood drives this year), Kendall County Women’s Shelter, Kendall County Animal Shelter, Kendall County Sheriff’s Office, Rainbow Senior Center, Patrick Heath Public Library, Hill Country Pregnancy Care Center, Hill Country Family Services, and Taking it to the Streets Boerne to name a few. We are proud supporters of Hope for Heroes, with this year hosting a donation collection with our employees donating $500 to their cause.
We love our Boerne schools and show support by donating to them individually as well as participating in Boerne Education Foundation events. We are a Champion Charger Band Booster Gold Sponsor and BEF Table Sponsor for the “Rock On” Annual Dinner. This year we also sponsored the Green Machine Fabra Elementary School Run Club.
In addition to our philanthropic efforts and charitable donations, we implemented a summer internship program allowing students in High School and College to obtain a real understanding of the workforce. Fun fact: 70% of our college interns graduate from Boerne ISD! Last summer we hosted a summer intern from Champion High School with aspirations of becoming an Electrical Engineer. We were lucky enough to have her join us two summers in a row.
In 2021, we started participating in the Home to Texas program, a scholarship-funded summer program developed by the University of Texas that connects first year students with internship and research opportunities in their hometown communities. Taking out intern program a step further this year, we infused five interns into our business for the summer. The interns were spread across the business into different groups but came together every Friday for “Fun Fridays” where they learned about our business and all business functions. This gave them insight to how a business runs, leadership, many available career paths, along with activities to develop soft skills. We ended the summer with a project where interns presented what they learned to the leadership team.
This year, we partnered with Boerne ISD teachers to pilot a work program for Practicum students in the Digital Design and Engineering pathways. We currently have two students from Champion High School working for us part-time during their school day as an internship in our Distribution Design and Marketing Departments – and are already planning to “employ” two more Design students for the 2023 school year. We are grateful to be a part of this program that support the Boerne children and that offers students real hands-on experience in potential future career endeavors.
Schneider Engineering is also a member and sponsor of the Boerne Kendall County Economic Development Corporation. Our Chief Executive Officer, Lance Pettigrew, is passionate about developing the next generation of Leaders which has aligned our business with the BKCEDC. Through the BKCEDC we network with other like-minded business partners to grow the community.
Please share any additional information you’d like the selection committee to know about this business here.
We are a proud supporter of our Boerne community and are familiar with the history and growth of the city. Our main office has been located in the City of Boerne for over 30 years, with our current office residing off of Menger Springs Parkway. Out of our 75 employees, 44% of them live in Boerne or Kendall County. Our Chief Executive Officer, Lance Pettigrew who resides in Boerne in the Menger Springs Subdivision, is an active member of the First Baptist Church of Boerne. Our Vice President of Engineering Operations, Nakee Laws who also lives in Boerne/Kendall County, is an active member of Currey Creek Church.
Our culture is embedded in all aspects of our business. At Schneider Engineering, we cultivate and support a fun and healthy work environment, appreciating and celebrating every employee as much as possible. Whether through Company-sponsored events or internal awards, we want to ensure our employees are happy and enjoy coming to work every day.
Humor is a big part of the leadership style and interaction at Schneider Engineering. It is a culture that has been fostered since day one. Appropriate humor is one of the highest forms of communication and can serve to show compassion, understanding, break tension, and in general bring people together in a way nothing else can. We believe a bit of laughter in our hallways is a sign of a healthy work environment.
Our Company’s success is a direct reflection of our employees. Every team member has an important part that they play in the future of Schneider Engineering. We are committed to fostering an environment where all team members feel respected, challenged, and valued. Each quarter employees are nominated by their peers for exemplifying a particular core value – and then being presented by an award. We also host internal events throughout the year celebrating our employees such as Employee Appreciation Day, as well as fun events such as TopGolf or Fun at Work Day. This past year we hosted a SmashBurger event in honor of our field employees that don’t typically get to participate in in-office events.
2022 BUSINESSMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD – BOERNE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
What are the achievements and accomplishments of the nominee?
In what ways has the nominee served the local community (ex. volunteerism, service on a board, charitable, public service, etc.)? Please include the year.
Please share any additional information you’d like the selection committee to know about this nominee here. Examples include leadership traits, strong character, etc.
