At 82 Years Old, H2M Is An Ever-Growing Success
/By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com
Rich Humann came to the H2M architects + engineers in 1987 as an intern. Today, he serves as CEO of the Melville-based firm.
When Rich Humann came to H2M architects + engineers in 1987 he started out working as an intern, while attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After the internship, Humann landed a fulltime position with the company in the water resources division, and also transferred to New York Institute of Technology where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1991.
Stories like Humann’s can be found up and down the Melville-based firm.
“If you’re somebody who is driven to carve your own path and be whatever you want to be, the company allows that,” Humann, 48, of Nesconset, said. “I had that benefit where, even though I was working in the water resources group, I was able to grow professionally.”
Since then, Humann has worked up to CEO of the firm, which was founded in 1933 by Henry Holzmacher.
Holzmacher began the firm in his Bethpage home, offering both civil engineering and survey work.
“For the first five decades we were primarily a municipal engineering firm where we did water engineering, wastewater engineering, civil engineering, survey work,” Humann said. “In the mid 80s, we hired our first architect. And now we’re up to 100 architects. It was probably around that timeframe when we started to think about the benefits of diversifying our services.”
Now a multi-disciplined professional consulting and design firm, H2M offers architecture; civil engineering; environmental work; mechanical, electrical and plumbing; planning; and wastewater, designing water filtration systems and wastewater treatment systems.
“There’s really nothing that can come up in the physical world where we don’t have somebody in house,” Humann said. “We’re a rare firm that is so diversified in the professional services that we offer.”
H2M puts meaning to the term “one stop shop,” he added.
In addition, out of its 40,000-square-foot headquarters, H2M also services the public sector, including school districts, emergency services and fire stations, public agencies, and municipalities across upstate New York, New Jersey and across Long Island.
For more than 40 years, H2M has been a beneficial source for the Town of Huntington, servicing the Huntington Sewer District, South Huntington Water District, Dix Hills Water District, and Greenlawn Water District.
When Humann became CEO in January 2013, his primary responsibility was to make sure he understood the different elements of the firm, collaborating with senior leadership and creating a vision for the company.
“A lot of what I do is to create the right work environment, motivate people and make them feel engaged, regardless of where they are in the company,” he said.
H2M has grown 40 percent over a three year period, according to Humann. In addition to 538 Broad Hollow Road office, the firm has offices in Riverhead; White Plains; Suffern; Manhattan; Parsippany, New Jersey; and Howell, New Jersey.
But, while the firm continues to grow, Humann said, “We have to make sure that we don’t compromise our quality or compromise our intimate relationships with clients.”
