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Planning & Design Group Brings Many Talents into One Unified Team for a Holistic Approach to Placemaking & Community Development

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Ginny Loaney & Nichole Mendinsky collaborate on a projectThe HRG team has two primary focuses: One is helping people create safe, healthy, resilient, and desirable communities. The other is providing the highest level of service to our clients. Our newly named Planning & Design Group helps us do both in an enhanced way.

We’ve always had broad-ranging talent to create desirable spaces for living, working, shopping, learning, and gathering with family and friends. Our team includes planners, engineers, landscape architects, funding strategists, and construction specialists with creative ideas and extensive experience across many sectors.  Now we’re bringing these diverse perspectives into one unified team: the Planning & Design Group.

We know that every planning and design decision impacts other decisions in a multitude of ways, so we’re fostering collaboration throughout the project life-cycle.  This helps us be nimble and responsive, saving you time and money while ensuring a carefully considered and well-executed end product.

The group is lead by Nichole Mendinsky as practice area leader. As a certified planner, parks and recreation professional, and registered landscape architect, Nichole embodies the vision of this team to bring many disciplines together for a holistic approach to community development.

She is supported by a group of more than two dozen talented practitioners, including our newly promoted group manager, Laura Ludwig, and newly promoted team leader, Scott Bert.

Laura has a deep understanding of the duties and challenges municipal planners face due to her prior experience as community development director for North Fayette Township.  She’s a certified planner and the southwestern Pennsylvania section chair of the American Planning Association.

Laura LudwigScott BertScott is a licensed professional engineer with 29 years of experience. He provides land development and site design services for warehouses and distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, retail, healthcare, educational facilities, and residential communities.

Ryan Cummings Joins HRG’s Civil Team in York

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Ryan CummingsHRG has hired Ryan Cummings as a project engineer in our York office. Ryan has seven years of experience in stormwater management, land development, and site design.  He has primarily supported the construction of pipelines, well pads, roadways, bridges, and culverts. He is a licensed professional engineer in Pennsylvania and a member of both the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Society of Highway Engineers.

HRG assistant vice president Tim Staub welcomed Cummings to the team, saying, “I am excited to match Ryan’s outgoing community-driven personality with our municipal clients. Ryan has the technical capabilities and passion to be a leader for the communities we represent to drive results.”

Governor Appoints Letavic to Science & Technical Advisory Committee at Chesapeake Bay Program

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Our senior project manager Erin Letavic has been appointed by Governor Wolf to the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Science & Technical Advisory Committee. The Chesapeake Bay Program is the leading voice directing the restoration of our nation’s largest estuary for recreation, industry, and the environment.  It advises state and federal agencies on policy and provides both funding and resources to entities working to improve water quality at the grassroots level.  The program’s Scientific & Technical Advisory Committee ensures that the advice and resources it provides are scientifically sound.  Members offer independent scientific and technical guidance, serve as a liaison to the region’s scientific community, and facilitate cooperation among research institutions and agencies within the watershed.

We believe Erin will be a great addition to this committee because of her broad-ranging knowledge and experience with Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts: She has two degrees – one in environmental engineering and the other in geology.  She has more than 17 years of experience helping municipalities with MS4 permitting and compliance, and she leads HRG’s work as the coordinator for 13 counties currently participating in DEP’s Phase 3 WIP Countywide Action Plan program.  She’s also an impaired streamside landowner herself and a passionate watershed advocate.

Erin Letavic

“I’m excited to bring my perspective as a practitioner and my experience on the ground to the committee. I want to give a program-level perspective on local implementation challenges, and I’m grateful that the governor and the Chesapeake Bay Program are giving me that opportunity.”

 

Nikki Mendinsky Recognized Among Women Making a Difference

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Nikki MendinskyCongratulations to our land development practice area leader Nikki Mendinsky, who has been recognized by PA Business Central as a Woman Making a Difference. Anyone who works with Nikki knows her drive to make a positive impact with her work as a planner, landscape architect, and certified parks and recreation professional. She believes strongly in the power of place to improve people’s lives, and you believe it, too, once you’ve had the chance to talk with her or work alongside her.  We’re so happy to see her recognized with a very talented and influential group of leaders in Central Pennsylvania. (Read Nikki’s full bio here.)

Bob Grubic to Be Honored as ICON by Central Penn Business Journal

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Bob GrubicWe’re so happy to share that our CEO Bob Grubic is being recognized as an ICON by the Central Penn Business Journal.  His name appears in an ad in this week’s edition featuring all of the 2021 honorees, and he’ll be formally recognized at the award ceremony next month.

Bob has played an instrumental role in making HRG the company it is today, and his work has significantly shaped the landscape of Central Pennsylvania and beyond. He took the baton handed to him by HRG’s founders and built on their standard of professionalism, excellence, and care (for our team, our clients, and our community).  We congratulate him on this recognition.

ENR Names Liz Lackey Top Young Professional in Mid-Atlantic Region

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Congratulations to Liz Lackey, who has been named one of the Top Young Professionals in the Mid-Atlantic Region by Engineering News-Record magazine (ENR)! She is one of just 20 professionals selected in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

At only 32 years of age, Liz has already built an impressive resume of experience in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining HRG, she worked as an environmental engineer at IBM Microelectronics and as a water treatment process specialist for the City of Thornton in Colorado. She is a talented engineer with a passion for data analytics, an innovative thinker who continually improves processes, and a trusted mentor to her fellow team members. She’s also actively involved in the industry (as a member of the young professionals and communications committees at the Western Pennsylvania Water Pollution Control Association) and an avid supporter of her community (contributing time and money to numerous conservation groups).

We are lucky to have her on our team and so happy to see her being recognized alongside such talented, accomplished professionals on this list.

You can read the full list of this year’s honorees on ENR’s website.

(Liz is the most recent in a long line of HRG employee-owners who have been recognized by ENR.  Read about our other honorees here )

Liz Lackey Recognized as Top Young Pro by Water & Wastes Digest

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Our team leader Liz Lackey is one of only 10 water and wastewater professionals across the United States chosen by Water & Wastes Digest for its 2021 Young Pros list. This list is published annually to recognize rising stars in the water and wastewater industry for their role as leaders, influencers, and advocates.

Liz and the other honorees are featured in the May issue of the magazine. (Read the Water & Wastes Digest Young Pros profile here.) Liz is also featured in a video interview on the magazine’s social media channels. (View Liz’s video interview with Water & Wastes Digest here)

At just 32 years of age, Liz has already built an impressive resume of experience in both the public and private sectors.  Prior to joining HRG, she worked as an environmental engineer at IBM Microelectronics and as a water treatment process specialist for the City of Thornton in Colorado.  She is a talented engineer with a passion for data analytics and a trusted mentor to her fellow team members.  She’s also a member of the Western Pennsylvania Water Pollution Control Association, where she chairs the young professionals’ committee and serves as a member of the communications committee.

We want to congratulate Liz and all of the other men and women on this list for this well-deserved honor.