NJIT Trustee Gary Dahms Is A Force for Change Honoree
Gary Dahms, president and CEO of T&M Associates, has been recognized as Force for Change (FFC) honoree for the Engineering category. Force for Change highlights New Jersey’s most innovative leaders, and for 2021 recognizes those individuals who made a significant and positive impact upon the lives of others during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As president and CEO, Dahms oversees a leading national consulting, engineering, environmental, technical services and construction management company servicing a broad spectrum of public and private clients for 55 years.
Linda Wellbrock, CEO and founder of FFC and Leading Women Entrepreneurs, says, “These honorees are amazing role models representative of the increasing impact diverse leaders are making in the world of business. We are excited to celebrate men, women, and companies who, despite challenges, excel in innovation and advocacy and have helped to make New Jersey strong.”
T&M formed a COVID-19 committee in February of 2020 foreseeing the necessity to develop a plan to best protect its employees and clients while maintaining business continuity. On Friday, March 13, after major preparations, the call to pivot remotely was made. On Monday, March 16, T&M employees were fully remote with no interruptions to client projects in both design and construction phases.
“We did prepare for it,” said Dahms. “Having that change over a weekend, in three days, with everything else going on in the world … I was very proud of the success in doing that.”
The committee’s preparations to move entire operations remotely were benefited by engineers’ natural inclination to play out all scenarios, so when it came time to flip the switch there were few surprises. All areas of consideration went through scrutiny, such as IT and equipment, to remote VPN and managerial preparation.
“We are a stronger company coming out of the pandemic than we were before we went into it,” said Dahms. “One of the things that came out of this was a better balance between work and life.”
To watch the interview with Dahms and Wellbrock, click below:
