

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gerry Ryan.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After graduation from Illinois Institute of Technology with a BS in Electrical Engineering, I went to work for a large A/E firm in Chicago. That is where I found my passion for all things engineering. As I grew in knowledge on how this business operated, I was elevated from electrical engineer to project manager over a multi-million-dollar project. This was a rare occurrence for an electrical engineer to be allowed to be a project manager over a mostly civil project. The project ran smoothly, was designed and built on time and on budget. I was also given the honor of being elected to the “Rising Stars” at this company. The Rising Stars was a group of select young engineers whom the company thought would be the future leaders; they were brought together for several meetings to discuss how business was done, where they saw us going etc. Unfortunately, once these meetings ended, so did the opportunities, I hit my glass ceiling. It was time to move on.
I went to work for a smaller A/E firm that focused on the telecommunications industry and I was the Lead Engineer over the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering group.
That is where I met my future business partners. We found common ground on what we thought was important to our clients, and what we thought we could do better on our own. In April of 1999 we formed Intelligent Design & Construction Solutions, LLC. (IDCS). The IDCS name is a combination of the things we strive to give our clients, an Intelligent Design, along with Intelligent Construction Solutions. Four friends started IDCS. Two engineers (a mechanical engineer) and an Electrical Engineer (me) along with two CAD Drafting Technicians. Once we had the business plan completed, we leased a small office on Chicago’s north side.
Our business client consisted of telecom and other contacts that I had made in the industry.
After one year, the mechanical engineer wanted to pursue a different path in life and we bought out his investment. Leaving us with three partners. Shortly after the mechanical engineer left, one of the CADD Techs left, again the two remaining partners bought out his investment. Thus, leaving me and the one CADD Tech with the business. Being that I live in Oak Park and I was the president of IDCS, I moved our office from the city into a small office above an antique store in Oak Park. This is where things got really fun. I hired on an architect that I used to work with along with another CADD Tech. We kept busy working on small projects with a discount shoe outlet as well as a major drug store chain. This was until we could certify our business as a Woman Owned Business. Once certification was completed, a whole new market sector opened up to us.
Due to increasing workloads, we were lucky enough to bring in another business partner, Steve Wrzesinski, P.E. Steve is the person who hired me right out of college. He once said to me “Ryan, one day I will be working for you.” He is now a business partner.
Shortly after that, the last original partner was moving his family out of state and we bought out his share of the company. Now there are two partners, myself and Steve Wrzesinski. We were able to hire on two more electrical engineers and quickly out grew our space in Oak Park and we looked for office space in Chicago. We began looking for relatively small space in the loop, this took quite some time to find a location to fit our footprint and financial needs. We used a local broker who found us a sublease that made it quite affordable for the first 18 months. After that sublease ended we renegotiated our lease and have been in the same location ever since. We now have a staff of 9 and three office locations, Chicago, St. Louis and recently opened New York City.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road has not always been smooth. Things that pop up that are not in your control such as clients not paying on time, employees who don’t work out, re-certifications with departments that don’t go as smoothly as you think they should, not to mention slow times. We are a small business and each member of our team is like family to us. We are not the kind of engineering firm that hires on during busy times and lays-off during slow times. We like to keep our staff on, keep them busy and productive. Therefore, some stresses that come up include meeting payroll, ensuring that you have a constant stream of work, which is not as easy as one would hope. But we have made it through these times, and we continue to keep busy.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Intelligent Design & Construction Solutions – what should we know?
A. We are an Electrical Engineering Design Firm – We provide Electrical and Instrumentation & Controls Design and Construction Services, our focus is in the Water and Wastewater industries. We are a Woman-Owned Business, and have been in business since April 5, 1999.
B. I love that fact that we get to work on cleaning up drinking water and cleaning up the water that ends up in our lakes/rivers and streams. We have worked on some very special projects in the wastewater industry. We were part of the team that completed the design of the world’s largest Ultraviolet Disinfection which directly impacts the quality of the water released into the Chicago River (Skokie, IL at O’Brien Plant), and Second Largest (St. Louis, MO at the Lemay Plant). IDCS was directly involved with the instrumentation and control of these facility expansions. On the clean water side of things, we have been on the design teams for several of the “Electrification” of City of Chicago 1930’s steam pumping stations, most recently Central Park Pumping Station.
C. We are a small company and we run like a family owned business. Each and every team member is important and we make sure that they feel appreciated. We enjoy working together, we help each other studying for PE exam, we celebrate each other’s birthdays with birthday lunches and of course cake or the birthday persons choice of dessert (once we had calamari salad for dessert), we have office lunches just to catch up on what is going on in each other’s lives and the office favorite is Office Olympics for Christmas. We devise a number of games that are timed and we compete for the quickest time for all. That team member gets to hold the trophy in their office until the next Olympics. Oh, and not to be out done, the slowest time also gets a trophy. We have had Team building times, one year after a very very busy year we took the team to Key West for a company meeting and much needed sun time. Teams of three had to produce a power point presentation for the last day in Key West that showed how each team did on gathering things from a scavenger hunt. All power points were shown on the morning of the last day and votes were cast to select the winning power point presentation.
Another event was held in the winter at Apple Canyon Lake, just in time to see 9 inches of snow fall. This event was particular team builder, as teams of two were selected out of a hat and that team then selected out of a hat which meal they were preparing. We had a lot of fun with the meals.
D. QUINTy Awards (Quarterly Unsung Individual’s Noteworthy Trinket) – We recognize the hardest working/most unsung individual per quarter. The winner is awarded one of five funny “trophies” and a speech about their work is given. The QUINTy winner receives gift card the company to use as they please.
E. We host yearly team building events with some of our clients, this is typically held on a WhirlyBall court, where we play several matches of WhirlyBall and tally up the winners at the end. There is an ElecTrophy given to the winners to hold onto for a year until the next match.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Everyone that has been in my life in some way or another deserves credit for my success.
My father for encouraging me to get my Electrical Engineering Degree, my husband of 32 years for standing by my side, earning a living while I did nothing but pour money back into the company to get it off the ground and being my biggest cheerleader. My daughters for understanding that mommy had to put in extra hours, which at times meant that they would fall asleep on my office floor waiting me to finish my work so we could go home for the night.
My siblings for always telling me I could do this, Josie Thiele, you are my rock, Mike Dicentio, what would my morning coffee be without you, Rosanne VanVuren always in my corner. My mentors in the industry who opened up doors for me (Bob Fischer, Bob Bella, Brian Hoelscher, Don Lutch, just to name a few).
Steve Wrzesinski, my business partner, for knowing that we could do this and never faltering.
Contact Info:
- Address: 200 W. Adams,
Suite 1825
Chicago, IL 60606 - Website: www.IDCS-LLC.com
- Phone: 708-445-7537 x7501
- Email: Gerry.R@IDCS-LLC.com
- Twitter: @IDCSLLC
Image Credit:
KimberleeB Photography – Personal photo
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