Reid Middleton’s Honolulu office on Ualena Street.
While the rest of the company is celebrating our 60th Anniversary, here in Hawaii, we are also celebrating our first year in our newest office in the 50th state! Let’s talk story…
Why Hawaii?
Since opening the office in August 2012, people have asked the question, “Why Hawaii?” The answer is easy. When a longtime employee expresses a great personal drive to return home to Hawaii, leadership takes notice. When it aligns with the company’s long term plan to diversify geographically – the idea catches wind and moves fast. One key element to success is having the right person leading the office. With my decision to return home, the firm took advantage of the opportunity to start up a Reid Middleton Hawaii office,
and we haven’t looked back.
A Focused Practice
My name is Lance Kawehionalei Lum. I was born and raised in Aiea, Hawaii, and I am a civil/structural engineer with a practice in military, healthcare, transportation, municipal, industrial, waterfront, and slope stabilization projects. Being away for 20 years, I still considered Hawaii to be my home. I always had a vision that someday I would be able to work on projects in the Pacific region and give back to the community no matter where I resided. After graduating from college in Washington state, I came back to Hawaii in search of a position with an engineering firm and found that work was scarce at that time. I ended up working in the construction industry as an office manager for about a year until I decided to move back to Washington. Now that Reid Middleton has given me a chance to start a practice in Hawaii, we are working on some exciting projects, including a variety of design-build (DB) or design-bid-build (DBB) work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Navy, County of Maui, and the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation.
Partnering for Success
Besides being skilled engineers, in the land of Aloha, partnering, relationships, and understanding the culture in Hawaii are critical elements to success. Helping me, and serving as Principal for the Hawaii operations, is Brian Moon, SE, who worked in Hawaii as a structural engineer for approximately 15 years before deciding to move to Washington. Brian is a principal engineer in Reid Middleton’s Everett, Wash., office and has worked for Reid Middleton for the last 14 years. Together, we are building these relationships by getting to know people better and trying to truly understand how we can help them. We are grateful for and cherish the working relationships that we have with the people here.
The Next 60 Years
Reid Middleton is committed to a long-term local presence here. Our corporate culture that values people and relationships meshes well in the Pacific Islands environment. As we look toward the next 60 years, we believe Reid Middleton’s Hawaii office has the potential to be a leader in creating sustainable design solutions for clients across the Pacific region.