Doug Ransdell, affectionately known as “Hooch” around H2E, was hired in 2005 when H2E was a relatively new firm with only ten employees. Doug has had many evolving titles over the years, including Director of First Impressions, Business Development Officer and now Marketing Lead. His impact on our company and culture in every era has been vast and is now ingrained in the very persona of H2E. This week we celebrate Doug as he is retiring after 20 years of excellence with H2E!
Originally from a farm in Burlington, Kentucky, Doug got his start in engineering during high school when he worked for a Civil Engineering firm doing surveys. Chasing his dream of being a Civil Engineer, he worked his way up the engineering ladder as a draftsman, in his words “CAD before CAD was cool”, while attending night school to get his Industrial Technology degree. Doug then departed on a 20-year whirlwind of managing projects and contract compliance for construction builds and new automation systems in a myriad of industries. His efforts included building Federal Reserves, new Cargo systems at Heathrow Airport, along with Nuclear Waste and Vaccination facility projects. These experiences led Doug to live all over the world, gaining an unprecedented depth of knowledge in new-age industrial systems and perfectly aligning him for his next venture in life.
In 2005, wanting to settle down from his life of travel, Doug and his wonderful wife Mary moved into their cabin in Coeur d'Alene. And after a brief meeting in a nearby hotel lobby, as H2E was to small to have a conference room at the time, Doug was hired as the Business Development Officer! Doug immediately noticed the “no boundaries” culture of H2E, noting that “anyone can work on anything they like, and evolve as far they want to”, while also adjusting to the spirited disagreements, which he notes always stemmed from passion, not conflict. Doug’s previous experience in legal and contract enforcement sparked H2E’s maturity in those areas and worked to solidify our brand of true process discipline. In reflecting on his tenure at H2E, Doug is proud to note not only the growth of the company, but the level of maturation he has seen from the individuals here, having watched a generation of engineers and designers go from college graduates to Team Leads, Principals and even owners of the company. Doug is known to take the time to make connections in and out of H2E, always having advice for the up-and-coming professionals, “Always be a student, work hard to be prepared, that’s the definition of luck, preparation meeting opportunity. There will be roadblocks fighting you at every turn, but everything worth having is hard to obtain.” these sentiments along with his many other “Doug-isms” are one of the many reasons that Doug is a beloved member of our institution.
In retirement Doug plans to hit the road in his camper with Mary and his Co-Captain, a Pekingese dog named Gibbs! They will be fly fishing, woodworking, camping and visiting grandchildren and great-grandchildren all over the country. While he may be living the dream, there are a few things about H2E that Doug will miss, “being a part of something from the ground up, the thrill of project wins and successes, seeing the team accomplish something great together, but most of all, I’ll miss seeing the people of H2E every day.” We at H2E were truly fortunate when Doug answered the call to join us 20 years ago. As he begins this next chapter, we wish him the same excellence in retirement as he brought to his work every day at H2E.