Step into the world of innovation and excellence with “Industry Champions”! Join us as we celebrate the trailblazers who are redefining success across diverse industries, sharing their journeys, strategies, and secrets to thriving in competitive landscapes. Today our hosts, Chris Budihas spoke with Peter Deiuliis.
Peter Deiuliis
Director of Architecture at Michael Baker International
Website Address: https://mbakerintl.com/en/
Short company description:
Michael Baker International, a leading provider of engineering and consulting services, including design, planning, architectural, environmental, construction and program management, has been solving some of the world’s most complex infrastructure challenges for more than 85 years with a legacy of expertise, experience, innovation and integrity.
Based in Pittsburgh and with more than 90 offices nationwide, we partner with clients on everything from roads, bridges, tunnels, mass transit, and airports, to water treatment plants, arctic oil pipelines, environmental restoration and specialized overseas construction. We serve as a trusted adviser to the communities we serve, making them safer, more accessible, more sustainable and more prosperous.
What was the most impactful moment of your transition out of the military?
Attending the Society of American Military Engineer (SAME) Career Transition Workshop in Baltimore, MD in early 2023.
What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?
I was responsible for a once in a generation facility build up at Naval Station Mayport overseeing a quarter billion dollars in construction in place from 2019-2022. This was all during COVID-19 Pandemic and the significant challenges that came along with that.
How do you see your field evolving in the next 3-5 years
The continued implementation of AI in the Architecture space will be fascinating to watch. I believe that the Architects that figure out how to use it the fastest will be way ahead of those slow to adapt.
Who in your industry do you see as a trend setter and why
Frank Gehry, who recently passed away, always inspired me with his cutting-edge designs and the unique spaces he created.
Transcript:
Chris:
Welcome to Industry Champions. I’m your host Chris Budihas. And joining me here in the studio is Peter Deiuliis with Michael Baker International. And I screwed up for your last name didn’t I know that right. I stuck to it.
Peter:
Landing in a good job. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chris:
So before we go on, on air here, you were telling me you were in the Navy. So before you get to that, where are you originally from? And what did you do in the Navy?
Peter:
Originally from Brockton, Massachusetts, about 20 minutes southeast of Boston. And when I joined the Navy in 1995, I was a radioman. Yeah. So I spent most of my first four years as a radioman on the DDG 997, USS Chandler. Yeah. Okay. Yep, yep. So class destroyers of the West Coast. So it was out of San Diego briefly when I came on, and then out of Everett at 32nd Street and then up out of Everett, Washington. Yep. Yeah.
Chris:
So a critical part of the country up there is in the north north west.
Peter:
It was gorgeous. I think I liked the weather a little bit more in San Diego when we were there. But when it was sunny up in the Pacific Northwest, it was gorgeous.
Chris:
In July, actually. Yeah. Yeah. Right. The other time. Let’s not forget it. Yeah. So. So you were enlisted in the Navy, and then you go on to get your degree, you know, both your undergrad and then your masters in architecture, and then you wound back up in the Navy. Can you talk about that?
Peter:
Yes, absolutely. So I got my undergraduate degree from the University of Maine at Augusta. Yeah. And that was a burgeoning professional architecture program at the time. And it was a fantastic school. And then I worked for a few years, ended up going back to school for Master of architecture at the Boston Architectural College. Yeah, another fantastic school and experience. But while I was at the Boston Architectural College, I was looking for scholarships. Yeah, found the Navy Civil Engineer Corps, Collegiate program. So active duty military officers, we handle all the construction design facilities, for the Department of the Navy. So Marine Corps and Navy, and then ended up spending from 2009 until 2023 at various Civil Engineer Corps pieces. And it was fantastic. I really loved my time. Retired. Yeah. And in 2023 out of Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
Chris:
That’s one here. Thanks for your service. Yes.
Peter:
Thank you, thank you.
Chris:
We did. We couldn’t do this here today. So that’s a great story because that takes us straight into Michael, Michael Baker. So Mike Baker, what is this company? It’s very large, I know that, but for the rest of the audience.
Peter:
Sure thing. Yeah. Michael Baker, international, 85 year old company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And traditionally, or historically, it was horizontal work, roads, highways, bridges. So what we would say in the industry, a big e a lot of engineering type work, but the architecture component has been growing considerably over the last, I’d say probably 10 to 20 years. Okay. And today, the integrated design and advisory group within Michael Baker. Yeah, just about, I don’t know, maybe about a fifth of the company. And this is all of your architects, your vertical disciplines, like mechanical engineer, plumbing, engineer, structural engineers, dealing with buildings. So we got about 5000 total staff. Do projects all over the world, largely federal work. Okay. But also, we’re doing a lot of dot work right now. We’re getting into or we’re doing a good amount of aviation, like airfield work. Okay. So. Yeah. So it’s a great place to work. I really enjoyed it.
Chris:
And what is your role there?
Peter:
So I’m the director of architecture here in North Florida. Okay. So I have a fairly small department, but,
Chris:
Small but powerful.
Peter:
Small, powerful, yes. Yep. But, we kind of work. It’s a pretty deep bench. So the southern region is from Texas over to Florida, and then, we go as far up as I think, South Carolina. Okay. But we, you know, we kind of work together as we need to. So a very deep bench is what we like to say. So if a project comes in, my local staff is pretty loaded up. I’m able to reach over to Dallas, reach down to Tampa, reach up to, you know, Moon Township in Pittsburgh to get additional resources to be able to execute the message.
Chris:
And then for our folks that are out there that are either putting, you know, RFP as a request for proposals out there, you know, what’s your what’s your guys’s value proposition? Why why Michael Baker, not somebody there’s other companies out there you bet with. I don’t know why you guys are not.
Peter:
To have differentiators. I think. So one of the things that Michael Baker really has going for it. Yeah, we’re at this unique size. We’re not one of the behemoths. Right. And you know, you I’m sure you’ve dealt with the behemoths. I have 60,000 people and companies and the bureaucracy rivals, you know, anything out there, you know, at 5000 people are still small enough to be agile, but we’re still entirely in-house. We have all the services you could need. And, you know, we’ve really kind of a large international company, however, we operate, like, small local companies. So when you start to work closely with the Tallahassee office, the Jacksonville office, the Tampa office, you really develop a relationship with those folks. Yeah. So that matters.
Chris:
Yeah. I mean, in today’s business, if you can’t, you know, you can only get so much done with a cell phone or a zoom call. I mean, you got to get the face to face and then the trust factor, right? Yeah. Because if you get burned with an organization, you’re contracting, you know, from a federal perspective or from a business perspective, you will not go back again. So the fact you guys have traction and you got a great reputation, it speaks for itself. Yep.
Peter:
No, absolutely. It’s been a great company. I was very lucky as I was transitioning out of the Navy. There’s probably, I don’t know, less than five similar roles to this one in this, you know, metropolitan area. Right, in terms of working for this size company, this type of market managing, you know, the staff that I do. Yeah. And I was just very lucky that all of the timing lined up. Yeah. Where my predecessor was transitioning out of early retirement. And I was looking to translate my operations management experience and design experience into the civilian side. Worked out great.
Chris:
So as we get ready to wrap up, what’s that one bit of advice since you recently retired in the last number of years that you would give our service members that are, you know, 12 to 24 months out from either getting out or retiring to so they can actually, you know, get on in their second chapter of life that, that they, that they want to find. Yeah. What bit of advice would you give them?
Peter:
Absolutely. It’s funny you say that. Yeah. Because I give this piece of advice consistently. Okay. Just two days ago, somebody reached out to me and I had a phone call with them. And the most important thing that I share is to start to build that network now. And that network is largely it doesn’t have to be folks you served with. It can be folks that were just in the community that you served with, you know, within the Civil Engineer Corps, a pretty small group, 1300 officers. I think folks just reach out on LinkedIn like, I know you don’t know me, but we’re both in the CTC. Yeah, 100%. Let’s get a phone call going. Let me introduce you to folks I know. So build that network.
Chris:
That’s huge. Yeah. I tell people, you know, a network is your network. And I got that from a friend. And, as I told my old on a monitor last night, I was at the veterans dinner for Jacksonville University. Is that, you know, net worth isn’t always monetary. Sometimes it is, but it’s also your reputation and things of that nature. You know, you’re helping others. Others are helping you with you, helping you in different ways. And our better community, especially on LinkedIn, is very. As I was transitioning, I said, hey, I’m thinking about getting this space. I noticed, you know, we’re in the military. Would you mind if I emailed you a couple questions so I could find out more? And every single person probably. Well, I’ll close to 30 folks for like, no, don’t email me. Let’s jump on a call together. Yep. And so it was awesome. You know, by the way, in today’s job market, you know, a couple of folks were like, hey, man, why don’t you come work for us?
Peter:
Come to work. Send me.
Chris:
Give me your email. I’m sorry. Send me your resume and I’ll walk it through our HR manager. Yeah. And that that matters. And I think sometimes our veterans kind of, you know, fail to realize, like, your network is your network and you got to put yourself out there 100% agree. That’s great advice. Yeah. So how do folks find you and how do they find the company?
Peter:
Well, I’m on LinkedIn, obviously. Peter Deiuliis. You can tell it’s my name because it looks spelt incorrectly with all of the vowels there, but.
Chris:
It’s a good Scrabble word.
Peter:
Yes, yes. But, Michael Baker International, easily searched online. We’ve got a pretty decent, web presence. But please look us up if anybody’s local reach out to me on LinkedIn. Wonderful. And I’d love to bring you into the office. Show you a little bit about what we have to offer.
Chris:
That’s great. Thanks a lot. Great to have you here. Hey, folks, check out Peter myself, in our show notes. First of all, take a look at their contact information, connect those both on LinkedIn. We’d love to connect with you. We’ll see our next segment and live with gratitude.
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