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D|F Benchmark Series – Mike Simpson
Mike Simpson, PE, PMP – Associate & Program Manager, CE&I
Davis & Floyd (D|F) was built on passionate professionals who enhance the world around us. D|F Benchmarks aims to highlight incredible team members who embody our purpose and values.
Next up for our D|F Benchmark series is Mike Simpson, PE, PMP! Get to know more about Mike here:
- What is your favorite part of working at our company?
The family atmosphere. D|F’s leadership cares about us not only on a company level, but also on a personal level. Our leadership team will do whatever it can to help us through any situation.
- What do you like most about the work we do here?
Because I am on the CE&I side of things, what I most like is seeing problems ahead of time and working to mitigate the cost and impact they will have on the projects we are managing.
- What are you most proud of in your career so far?
Aside from some key projects, longevity of my time at D|F. I hit 20 years this past May. That milestone is not something many people can claim.
- How would you describe our company culture?
Simple: family. The fact that anyone in the company can pick up the phone and call our chief executive officer, president, chief operating officer, chief engineering officer, or vice presidents and they will answer or call back is almost unheard of in other companies. They give you their time and that is nothing short of family in my opinion.
- What is the most interesting project you have worked on here?
ACE Basin where we widened US 17 from a two-lane to a four-lane highway. The project also had three bridge replacements over the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto Rivers. It was an interesting project where the CE&I team worked directly for the contractor. It was a great experience and a much-needed project for the community.
- How long have you been with the company?
20 years! I would consider myself part of the “blueprint”.
- What do you think makes our team culture unique?
As I mentioned before, the leadership works to create a family atmosphere. It is easy to get sucked into projects, but leadership team members care about the company. They see the employees who work and represent D|F and want to make sure we know they care about everyone at D|F.
- What are your goals for the next few months/years?
As a short-term goal, I would like to do more to land projects for CE&I or any other organization at D|F.
For long term, it is a few things. As an associate, we have several things on our radar here at D|F. The one I am most looking forward to tackling is project management. Taking our existing project management guidelines from the Project Delivery/PM Workbook, building upon them, and improving our project management training. I would like to combine feedback from young project managers, older project managers, project managers from different organizations, and leadership and then determine what can be done to make project management the best it can be at D|F.
- What is one thing that you wish people knew about your job?
How difficult it is for us to land CE&I-specific projects. Without the other disciplines, we would not have as many project opportunities.
- What is one thing that surprised you about your current role?
I have been in this/similar roles for many years now and I still love it!
- What is one thing people do not know about you that they would be surprised to find out?
My JV basketball coach was Charlie Floyd, son of D|F’s cofounder Phil Floyd. The first summer I was home from Clemson, Coach Floyd took me into the office of Emmett Davis, Jr. (D|F’s other cofounder) and introduced me to him, which fortunately gave me a summer job working on a survey crew. I did that for two summers. It was very rewarding and set me up for my full-time job after I graduated. My last semester at Clemson was a breeze with only one class to pass and a job lined up.
- What is one thing on your bucket list?
A trip to Italy.
- If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would you pick and why?
My dad. He passed away a couple of months before I was born, so I never got an opportunity to even meet him.
- What would you eat if you had to eat only one meal every day for the rest of your life?
Tacos—hands down.
- What was your first concert?
I saw the Smashing Pumpkins in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1996. And a matter of fact, the next concert I am going to is the Smashing Pumpkins in Charlotte in August.
- Any other interesting facts you would like to include?
I like to curl and break my Jeep off-roading.
