A Trusted Investment Strategy: Leadership and Community Giving

In this episode of PGA’s Breaking the ICE podcast, host Gordon Greene, PE sits down with Senior Roadway Project Manager Chris Smith to discuss leadership development, the importance of meaningful recognition, and giving-back initiatives, showcasing how the right combination can foster team engagement and retention.

Chris shares his experience with the Florida Department of Transportation and how those years helped shape the leader he is today—someone who is there for others and able to support large teams. They also explore how even the simplest acknowledgments can strengthen company culture and build a stronger team overall.

Tune in to hear from:

• Gordon Greene, PE – Co-Founder & Executive Vice President (Host): He’s the embodiment of a competitive spirit, and that motivation has fueled his work as an engineer, business owner, and civic volunteer for the past 25 years. He loves talking with people about where those passions overlap! Come join the conversation!
• Chris Smith – Senior Roadway Project Manager (Guest): With more than 42 years of experience, including three decades with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District One, Chris brings deep expertise and steady leadership to every project he touches. Throughout his career, he has served in key roles such as Project Manager, District Production Manager, and Director of Transportation Development. He’s driven by a passion for helping others and enjoys trying new things, from being a private pilot to unicycling and juggling—but never at the same time!

Connect with us on social media:

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patelgreene

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@patelgreene

Transcript

Gordon Greene, PE: [00:00:00] 

All right. Welcome back to PGA's podcast, Breaking the ICE. Uh, I think we're now the number one podcast in the engineering industry. I read that somewhere. 

Chris Smith: That's good news. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah, I wrote it down I think. Today we are glad to have, uh, uh, the illustrious Chris Smith with us, uh, joining us on the podcast, known Chris for a long time.

Chris Smith: Yes. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, and, uh, we're gonna talk a little bit about, uh, leadership. 

Chris Smith: Mm-hmm. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Uh, and we're talking about a few other things as well, but maybe before we get started, do a little introduction on yourself, a little bit about your background. Uh, and you, you can kind of pause that story, you know, at the end of your DOT career into PGA and we can 

Chris Smith: Okay.

Gordon Greene, PE: Tell some of that story too. 

Chris Smith: Sure, sure. Well, I was born and raised in Bartow, you know, that, uh, ended up in, uh, in the engineering field sort of by chance. Uh, I was asked to join a, a small engineering firm here in Bartow. So I, uh, [00:01:00] began the, the trip, uh, just surveying, drafting old school, drafting. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: And, uh, I worked there for about four years and then, uh, started my career at DOT in 87.

So I spent 30 years in District One, Bartow. And, um, it was a, it was a great time. Uh, and I'll talk a little bit later, I'm sure, about the culture that we found there and, and what we found here. Uh, but, but I've retired from FDOT in 2017. I made it to the level of director of transportation development. I'm pretty proud of that.

It was, uh, quite a role. Uh, status didn't matter to me, but just the fact that I could, I could work with people. So, uh, I was able to help a lot of folks out in their career as well. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah. And I can remember as a, a much younger guy, but having had work with you and gotten to know you a little bit, um, and, uh, I guess for the most part, they, they.

Like that position to, to be licensed for whatever reason. 

Chris Smith: Yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, but when it seemed obvious that you were [00:02:00] the choice for that position, it was just like, oh, well we're not gonna worry about that. Like, it was, it was una it felt unanimous. Anyway, that, oh, well that's, that position's open and that's, that's, that's for Chris.

Like he's gonna be great at it. And, and you really were. 

Chris Smith: Oh, thanks. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, and, uh, always enjoyed working with you at, you know, all the levels that we interacted while you were there, but then, you know, once you decided your DOT time was over, it was like, wait a minute. 

Chris Smith: Right. 

Gordon Greene, PE: We gotta get our hat in the ring on this.

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, so, uh, I don't know if you want to share a, share what you want about that. Um, but the, the fun part is the me badgering you until you did it, it it 

Chris Smith: Right. I, uh, that was the fun part. And it might've delayed me a little bit just because I had such a good time with it. Uh, yeah. So I, when I retired, I, um, you know, I knew that you would want to talk to me.

Gordon Greene, PE: Sure. 

Chris Smith: Um, just 'cause we've been, like you said, we've known each other a long time, so. Uh, you'll [00:03:00] remember that when we left, uh, when I left DOT, we took a trip to Massachusetts. My, my wife was doing a travel nursing assignment, and so I wasn't working or doing anything during the day. So I think that gave you the opportunity to feel comfortable to, uh, text me and call me when you wanted, which was, uh, a pleasure.

I gotta admit, uh, I got, I, I really felt like we got a chance to talk, uh, a lot. Yeah. And, uh, and, and two, it showed me that you were intent on, um, putting PGA's best foot forward to, to try to, uh, lure me to PGA. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Absolutely. 

Chris Smith: So, uh, it was a good time for sure, and it was about, uh, seven months of us talking back and forth and a lunch here and there when we were in town.

But, uh, it was, it was fun for sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Well, and it. I fancy myself a decent recruiter, um, you know, staying on top of those connections and, and doing that. But sure, it wasn't all me. It was sometimes Joe Lauk saying, Hey, what's Chris doing? You heard from Chris? 

Chris Smith: Okay. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Like, I don't know, man. I'll text him. And [00:04:00] so some of those were, were, uh, nudges from Joe Lauk.

Um, but, uh, I, I guess another little recruiting secret I'll share, uh, 'cause it's connected to this story. Uh, this, this might have been probably one of the last phone calls before, uh, we got you to accept. Um, I've got you in the, in the truck and we're talking and you're still deciding, and then I, I hear over the speaker phone that Patty, your wife, is in there with you, and I forget exactly what she said, but it was pretty positive for PGA, you know, something along the lines of, you know, 

Chris Smith: I can tell you.

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah, remind us exactly what she said. 

Chris Smith: She said, Chris, you know, you're gonna go to PGA. I mean, why don't you just do it? So, and she was excited too. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah. 

Chris Smith: Because she, she sensed what was going on. Uh, just the camaraderie, the connection. 

Yeah. 

And, uh, and you did definitely badger me and it was, like I said, it was fun to, fun to walk through that with you.

For sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah. Well, so the little recruiting secret was, once I heard that, I said, I [00:05:00] think probably said something like, all right Chris, we'll talk later. 

Chris Smith: Yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: I knew it was in the bag. I'm like, oh, we got Patty. So this is, this is, I can relax. Chris is coming. We'll just, uh, yeah. Yeah. That was funny. 

Chris Smith: It was good.

Gordon Greene, PE: All right. So, um. You joined us and um, you know, you, you took on several things and we had you plugged into some things, uh, and then, um, life threw you a few curve balls and um, and it was time for you to kind of go to drop back a little bit and work part-time. Um, uh, which was fine with us. You know, we, we, um.

From the initial bringing you on, it was all about bringing in the best people we possibly can. And you're like the best of the best people in my book. Um, and so if that's full-time, if it's part-time, we'll take, we'll take good people in whatever quantity we can get them, wherever they happen to be as well.

'cause part of that also meant you'd be, uh, remote and, and doing some traveling. And, [00:06:00] um, we said that's, that's fine. We'll, we'll work that out. Um, and, but you're, you weren't able to really tie yourself to like hard deadlines. So there were some things we, we couldn't get you plugged into. 

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, but there were definitely some things we could still get you involved in.

And they happened to be things that were like perfect for your talent and for your skillset. And so one of those was, uh, our leadership in training program. So that was one of the big goals from our first strategic plan and, um. We never really got it off the ground because ironically, the point behind the program was to free up time for company leadership, but company leadership didn't have enough time to get the program.

So one of those little catch 20 twos. Um, but once we were getting near the end of that plan and we're like, are we gonna punt this goal like a bunch of punks, are we gonna get this thing done? Um, and so none of us still really had the time to do it right. And we didn't wanna just [00:07:00] do it halfway or do it poorly.

Uh, and so the thought came, well, you know, if Chris is willing to take this on 'cause there's not like a hard deadline, and then we'll know he'll get it done. I'll, I'll call him. So we left that, that vision committee meeting with Alright, Gordon, call Chris and see if he'll, you know, take this on. Um, and we talked about it and, and kind of walked through what we were looking for and I think by the end of that pretty short phone call.

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: You were, you were very excited about it. So maybe you can, um. Take it from there. You know, we, we had the phone call and you say, yeah, that sounds good. I, I'd, I'd be happy to do that. Uh, and I think I said, well, hey, go ahead and assemble your team and, and, you know, 

Chris Smith: sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Go to, go to work and, you know, maybe take it from there.

Chris Smith: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when you called I, I, it was interesting for sure. I, I thought, well, I, I certainly can, um, use some of my experience. You know, I went through the DOT Leadership Academy and their graduate academy. PGA wanted me to be involved in the Bartow leadership mm-hmm. Uh, group. So, you know, all those [00:08:00] things really kind of came into play.

But, uh, of course the, the time that I spent at FDOT in leadership, um, really helped. But I, but as we began to develop the program, it was, it was, um, it turned into one of those things that we knew that it was gonna be big, uh, it was gonna be a lot of work. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: Which was fine. We were willing to do it, but when we assembled the team.

We, you know, this, this team was a group of leaders already. I mean, we, we knew they either led a division or a, a discipline or they were, you know, just in-house leaders just by the fact, the way they, they behaved. So, so it was a great team that, uh, we assembled and, uh, we began to meet and really kind of strategize what kind of content we wanted in the, uh, in the program.

So we, we, we began to do that, but we knew that it, it could be a little overwhelming to develop all of the content. And of course, you and I talked and, uh, we had already had some conversation about utilizing [00:09:00] IAG, Mark Isaak and his crew. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: So, so with your permission and encouragement, we went ahead and brought them in.

And so as we watched them develop content, we had a chance to review it and coordinate and, and direct and, uh, and so it, it honestly, the first year. It was our goal to have it ready by the beginning of that calendar year. And so we made it, we delivered it by that year. And um, the interesting thing was, is that we knew that the second year we could take pieces of the leadership, um, leadership program and make it PGA.

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: So we did that and, and even now we have, uh, PGA staff that lead almost all of the sessions. There's just one session that. We still utilize IAG just because of their, um, their, um, experience with mergers and acquisitions, that kind of thing. So, so we've, we've had a great experience with it and, um, I'm excited about next year.

As a matter of fact, I just sent out a [00:10:00] couple of emails about nominations for the coming year in 26. So, uh, yeah, we're rolling and, and excited about it. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah. Uh, we are too. Uh, we're, we're certainly proud of that when, when we set off to do it and made the investment. You never really know if. 

Chris Smith: Right. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Uh, if it's gonna take off and people are gonna respond positively to it.

'cause we want it to be a program where people, um, they see it as sort of, maybe not prestigious, but like, um, you know, they wanna do it. 

Chris Smith: Mm-hmm. 

Gordon Greene, PE: They wanna take part, they, they think they're gonna get something out of it. They, but you never really know until you put it together and, and run people through it and see what they think.

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Uh, when they're done. And I think so far it's been a huge success for us. Uh, we've always got interest in doing it. We keep the group fairly small. Um, which I think, I don't know how many were in this year's 

Chris Smith: eight 

Gordon Greene, PE: core, so eight, I don't know. Um, I think we had maybe a couple more than that last year.

Chris Smith: Yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Less than the year before it was. So we feeling like this is the sweet spot. 

Chris Smith: Yeah. It's a good, an [00:11:00] eight good size group. Yeah, absolutely. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah. Give or take. 

Chris Smith: Yes. And, and we've never had anybody turn down the opportunity to be in LIT, so that's, that says something in itself. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah. 

Chris Smith: Yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: So maybe we can get into that a little bit.

So, uh, we. He, uh, put a lot of effort, time, money that first year developing the thing out. And it was really Mark led, uh, for the, well not, yeah, it kind of was. Um, but major facilitation by you especially, uh, and I think probably some select team members, probably Katie. 'cause there's a big marketing component, uh, and the whole marketing team, I imagine.

Um, but maybe step through. So it's four major sessions. 

Chris Smith: Yes. 

Gordon Greene, PE: And then we have the graduation. Um, you wanna step through kind of how we built that curriculum? Uh, 'cause it hasn't, I mean, you can touch on some of the things we've tweaked along the way, but I feel like the, the main, the bones of the program are just as they were for the most part as [00:12:00] we started.

Um, we've just, uh, well, I'll let you let you tell.

Chris Smith: Yeah, no, I mean, you're right. We, we really, we, um. The outline had stayed the same. There was a lot of information that carried over, but the, the second year, well, let me start over. The, so, so the, the program really is, uh, four sessions. Um, the first one is kind of getting to know yourself, so personality traits and how you work with people.

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: And, um, and, and then know in others as well in that first session. So we, we walk folks through that kind of, um, personality analysis and discussion. Uh, session two, we're really trying to talk about how do you grow your personality type? How do you, how do you make a difference in your own life at work?

And of course, we, we believe it applies at home too. Mm-hmm. And that also rolls into, you know, how do we grow ourself and others? So that's sessions one and two. And then, uh, we begin to shift into business in session three. So we're, we're knowing your business, but what is the [00:13:00] business that you do at PGA and how do you get to understand that a little more?

Um, so we, we walk through that in session three and session four is how do you grow that? So it's, you know, know yourself, know your other, know others, um, grow yourself, grow others, and then grow in and knowing the business or knowing growing in the business. So, and then session five is a, uh, graduation. We do a capstone project presentation, and I know that, um, leadership has accepted those, um, gladly.

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: Those presentations 'cause they apply directly to how do we develop PGA. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yes. Yeah, they, those have been al already very helpful in real things that we're doing 

Chris Smith: right 

Gordon Greene, PE: to grow the company when we did that first year. Um, because we'd never done anything like that internally. Not, not plenty of us had participated in those sorts of things, but none of us had ever developed a program.

So, uh, mark and his team were definitely more involved, I think. Uh, well that first session, you know, we used the people map system for our [00:14:00] personality stuff, and so we had, uh, Jillian 

Chris Smith: mm-hmm. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Come in and lead that. Um, and then we had someone in the afternoon. 

Chris Smith: Mm-hmm. 

Gordon Greene, PE: A third party. I think the second session, uh, might have been all Mark, maybe y certainly the third one was second, third, and fourth was session mark and, uh, I guy named Mar, if I remember right.

Chris Smith: That's true. Yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Was, uh, someone he brought in. Uh, and then the fourth was, was All Mark again. Right. Um, so there's a lot of, you know, outside people coming in, which is pretty cool. Um, but we knew from the get go and, and this was, uh, mark encouraged, like, this needs to be our program. 

Chris Smith: Right. 

Gordon Greene, PE: And I think, was it somewhere in the middle of the first session or, I can't remember when we hired 

Eddy Gonzalez, if it was in the middle of the first year it was, or 

Chris Smith: mm-hmm.

Gordon Greene, PE: I feel like it was,

Chris Smith: it was, 

Gordon Greene, PE: we said. You should go to this and pay attention because you're running it next year. 

Chris Smith: That's right. He, yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, and so, yeah, he kind of joined up and, uh, you and him, I think that second year, uh, were [00:15:00] the major driving forces on, on pulling it together and, and, and organizing it. Uh, and I think that's when we, yeah.

So that's the year that he and Katie took over, uh, sort of that marketing. 

Chris Smith: Yes. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Uh, session three maybe? Is that what that was? Session three, I think. 

Chris Smith: Okay. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, and then Kaitlyn participated that year as a cohort member, but I think she also, she's like a, like a player coach or something. I think she, 

Chris Smith: she was, 

Gordon Greene, PE: she led session two, I believe. She, or Yes. Session two. 

Chris Smith: Well, 

Gordon Greene, PE: this year she's done more. She took on more. 

Chris Smith: So she did, she led session one actually, because she, you got sent her to the people in that training for this 

Gordon Greene, PE: year, for the third year 

Chris Smith: for, 

Gordon Greene, PE: she didn't do that. We had Jillian again second year. I believe 

Chris Smith: you're right, you. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, 

Chris Smith: so yeah, so she did, she did session one and two this year.

She did session two the previous year. Yeah. And she was a, 

Gordon Greene, PE: as, 

Chris Smith: as a, a presenter and a participant, right? Yeah. So she, but she did a great job and, uh, and, and it just keeps getting better. Yeah. I mean, we're, we're repeating now, uh, [00:16:00] from this point forward, you know, Kaitlyn will do session one, two A, Katie and Eddy three, and we bring Mark in for four and graduation.

So. They all are kind of honing their presentations and uh, it's just getting better. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah. And I think you all do a great job after every session you send out a survey, but you're having conversations with people too. We always end up with a happy hour, which is nice. 'cause um, we end up extending, you know, the day basically, you kind of, cover some of the things we talked about.

Um, uh, and, and obviously a little bit. I mean, it's a pretty relaxed atmosphere anyway. We, we by, by design. Okay. But obviously a little more relaxed in a, in a happy hour setting. 

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, but y'all do a really great job of, of getting that feedback, incorporating it, you know, we've made some changes to the program.

Chris Smith: Yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Uh, even, even in these first few years to, to make it as, as, as good as we can and we'll sure. Continue to do that. We'll never really be satisfied. 

Chris Smith: It's always growing and changing For sure. And I will make. Uh, comment that it [00:17:00] doesn't ever get really relaxed at happy Hour. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Correct. 

Chris Smith: Right, right. 

Gordon Greene, PE: We, we always behave.

Yes. We haven't got kicked out yet. Uh, alright. Anything else on the, on the LIT program that you wanted to share? 

Chris Smith: Uh, no, but, but, well, other than this, uh, 

Gordon Greene, PE: yeah, 

Chris Smith: this little, uh, um, uh, well, I, I don't wanna call award a trophy. Oh, yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Trophy feels weird. Yeah. I mean, I guess, 

Chris Smith: yeah. Trophy's not right. It's, it's actually more of an award.

Because they go through quite an effort. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah. 

Chris Smith: You know, the, the Capstone project is a, um, is a presentation and they have to work on it together, and generally they all present together. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: So it's a, it's an effort and, uh, it's appreciated. I mean, we know that it's appreciated. And, and so this is just a piece, just a token, you know, we, we give 'em fancy LIT pens and, you know, books and, and, and it's just, just so that it's a memorable event for them.

And honestly, as, as I've talked with some of the LIT participants. They noticed that other PGA employees are looking at, [00:18:00] you know, the, the, I don't know what you call it, the award. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: And, um, they all seem to be interested in, well, how'd you get that? What is, what is it about, you know, what do you, what do you like about this? So, 

Gordon Greene, PE: yeah. And this is Jonathan Jones. We, uh, we borrowed it for the podcast. So he, you took part in it, uh, last year and we handed out a few more of these here in a month or so. 

That's right. October. 

Alright, that's actually a, a good segue because as you can see, it is shaped in the, or it's shaped sort of like a diamond, uh, which is the symbol, ease for our ICE core values, our integrity, integrity, commitment, and excellence.

And so, uh, we kind of want to talk some about that too. Um, one of the things that we sort of borrowed from you when you joined, you always had a story of, of what you used to do. So I'll let you tell the story. Um, but it's just a great example of your style of leadership. Um, how good you are with people, how, um, positively they respond to you because you know [00:19:00] you're genuine and you're authentic, which is the kind of leadership we encourage here.

You know, it's nothing fake or plastic. Like we, we just wanna be genuine and authentic with people. 

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, as we lead them, if that's what we are called to do here. So tell your story about, you know, what you used to. Pass around, uh, to, to encourage folks. 

Chris Smith: Sure. So, early in my career as a director, I knew that there was, I needed to be able to express appreciation and, and I needed a reason to do it.

Um, but it was, it was, it, it quickly became how do I, how do I create this time where a manager might say, Hey, someone's done something nice or great, you know? So I, um, I, I created what I called York Awards. And so I, I issued the challenge to my managers that, look, I'm, I'm gonna walk to these people's desk and tell 'em thank you for whatever it was that they did.

So we, um, it started slow. 'cause you know, I, and [00:20:00] I, I guess I shared this in a pretty large group of managers at, at DOT and, and, and I really got a couple of blank stares and I said, look, it's just not that hard. We're just trying to show appreciation. So quickly it picked, it picked up and it caught on. And, uh, over that five years, I estimate around 1500 York Peppermint patties were given out as York Awards.

But it, but what really happened was I was going to the desk and say, Hey, so and so nominated you for a York Award and we just really appreciate it and here's your York award. And, and it was just that easy, but people weren't just eating their York award, I mean, some of 'em were pinning them on their wall or they might eat the York award and then hold onto the, to the plastic, you know?

So it was just, it really became a thing for me to continue to push it, because, you know, look, we, we all lack a little bit of appreciation, right? 

Gordon Greene, PE: Sure. 

Chris Smith: We don't all need as much as everybody else, but, uh, everybody likes just a little bit. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Nobody 

gets mad about it. 

Chris Smith: [00:21:00] No, no, it's it. Now they might get mad if you pull 'em up in front of a crowd, 

Gordon Greene, PE: maybe.

Chris Smith: So I avoided that, but. Uh, but I had a lot of fun doing it. And so when I came on with PGA and we were talking about ICE, and it was, it, it just seemed to just fall right into place. So I, I suggested at a leadership meeting at PGA that why don't we consider something like that? And, and, uh, it just really seemed to be taken, just taken right up by the PGA leadership group.

And, and I just thought it was fun that we created our own chocolate ice award. At PGA, that was designed by PGA with the ICE emblem. And uh, it was just really cool, uh, uh, thing that happened 

Gordon Greene, PE: that that was a fun thing to do. Uh, Robin figured out how to, who to call and do all that, right? Uh, and we get to taste a whole bunch of different varieties, uh, the, the prototypes and that was a very tasty part of the process.

Um, and of course we just [00:22:00] ended up with a, you know, uh, just a piece of chocolate, but it was really cool and pretty intricate, and it has our ICE logo and, uh, there's gonna be a lot of people at PGA listening to this podcast that are gonna go, what the heck? 

Chris Smith: Yeah, 

Gordon Greene, PE: I haven't seen any of this chocolate. What, what's going on?

So, we may have to bring those back because we were pretty good about 'em. Yeah. The, for a while, and then COVID kind of put a stop to handing out chocolate. Of course, every, you know, most everybody was working at home anyway, and then we just, we sort of let that fizzle. I think we may need to bring that back 

Chris Smith: maybe.

Yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: I mean. They'll make 'em. 

Chris Smith: Yeah. They'd be glad to sell 'em to 

Gordon Greene, PE: I think there's some ICE chocolate around here, but I don't know if I'm gonna give it out. 

Chris Smith: It was tasty. Mine are gone. So, uh, 

Gordon Greene, PE: I definitely have some in my office, but I don't think I want to give them out. Well, anyway, that was, uh, another one of those no-brainers, you know?

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: It's like an, I guess it's, it's an extra thing to do. It's, it's certainly, uh, not something that, that a lot of companies do, but, you know, it doesn't really cost anything. 

Chris Smith: It doesn't take much time either, and

Gordon Greene, PE: it doesn't take much time. [00:23:00] 

Chris Smith: Yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: And we need to be doing it anyway. Sure. Um, if, if carrying a piece of chocolate with you gives you a reason to walk up to somebody and say Thanks, then, then we'll get the chocolate to you.

Chris Smith: Yeah. I found out you can't really keep it in your pocket though. Yeah. It was, one's a little messy there. One of it's 

Gordon Greene, PE: disappointing when it gets to the other end. 

Chris Smith: Yeah. Mushy chocolate. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Uh, alright, so, um, you took up the LIT, you got that done for us. You know, we don't really have it on here to talk about, but of course we can.

You lead our QC committee. Um, and that's a huge, um, part of what you do for us each week. Um, but I think the, what we, what we really wanted to talk about is, uh, the giving committee. So, um, these are all things that, that I know are, are near and dear to your heart, including quality. 

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, but when we wanted someone to sort of be in charge of, uh, our giving.

Uh, and you can talk about how we break that up in a few different categories

Chris Smith: mm-hmm. 

Gordon Greene, PE: And, and some of the things that we do there. Um, but that just seemed perfect for you to, to, to handle even in, [00:24:00] you know, sort of that part-time 

Chris Smith: Yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Status. 'cause I know your, your passion would drive you to, to do a good job at it.

Chris Smith: Mm-hmm. 

Gordon Greene, PE: And, and of course you have. So tell us a little bit about, uh, PGA gives back and everything that we're doing here. 

Chris Smith: Sure, sure. That was a, 

that's been a fun time for sure. I've been chairing that committee for, uh, I don't know. Six years, maybe seven. It's been a long time. And, uh, and so we, we, we started out just trying to figure it out.

I mean, you were on the committee with me in the beginning, right? So, so we, we, we finally figured out that what we were doing is we were donating money to charities and community organizations and professional organizations. So we sort of, we sort of try to break that up into those three groups now and, and, and try to be focused a little bit more on how much we're given to each of those.

You know, organization groups. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: So, um, so we, we, um, we, we tend to, it's real easy to, you know, give to professional organizations because there's a lot of 'em and we're engaged in a lot of 'em. [00:25:00] But, um, but what, what we're doing now is really, especially this time of the year, we begin to focus on charities and community organizations, um, in the communities that we live and work.

So it's not just about the one next door, it's about the one next door all over the state. I mean, with our offices, you know, are all over the state now. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: So we are, we're really making an effort to, to, to try to donate in the Tampa area and the Sarasota area, Bartow area. So, and, and of course Fort Lauderdale and Tallahassee, uh, are new to it.

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: But, but we're, we are excited about where we're at today. Uh, I know we we're making recommendations for donations even, you know, as we speak almost. And, um. And, and so it's just a matter of an analyzing where we're at, at PGA and how much needs to go where, and, uh, and I'm telling you, we, we've often delivered the check.

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: Not for, it wasn't for any one of us, but just to get them a check. And, uh, I'm telling you the look on some of those, uh, charities, [00:26:00] faces and, and even some of the educational organizations that just don't have a lot of resources, it, it is kind of priceless, honestly. So a lot of people are very appreciative of PGA.

Gordon Greene, PE: Well, it, it's a big part of what we do. Uh, we, we talk about our mission, uh, every chance that we get. Yeah. And, uh, that probably lines up best with that giving and we elevate our, our, our families, our communities, and our profession. That's right. And so, uh, that fits right in especially the communities part and the profession part.

Um, and so, uh, it's something we're always gonna do. Um, and we communicate that internally. Uh, we tell people, uh, I mean, we hardly ever say no. Okay. Um, and we, we have a, a, a budget for it, but most people's asks, you know, aren't usually very large. And, and we're happy to do it, um, if folks are involved in stuff.

So usually we say, you know, if you're really involved in a, in a certain ministry or charity and, and you'd like us to help, you know, let us know. 

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: And we get those requests and Oh, I've been serving [00:27:00] with them for three or four years. 

Chris Smith: Right. 

Gordon Greene, PE: And they're looking for, you know, 250 bucks. We're like, 

Chris Smith: yeah, alright.

Gordon Greene, PE: Make it happen. 

Not a problem. 

Chris Smith: You know, and you'll know too that it's, it's, um, we, we like to support our people. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yes. 

Chris Smith: Right? Yes. So the organizations that our folks are either donating to or volunteering with, we often donate to them also. But we've got staff that have been affected by you know, storm damage or, uh, one had a car crash into their house.

You know, there's, we've, we've stepped out 

Gordon Greene, PE: literally, 

Chris Smith: literally. Yeah. It like in the bedroom or in the living room, bedroom, whatever. Um, and, and you know, other, I mean, there's other situations. Even recently the storm, PGA staff have stepped up and opened up their homes or their homes elsewhere out of harm's way.

And, uh, we've had PGA staff take advantage of an offer to stay in someone's home. So, you know, it's, it's about PGA people loving on PGA people 

Gordon Greene, PE: mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: And taking care of each other. And we do that. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yeah. [00:28:00] And, and while, you know, I think we, we give as much as we can. We talked about the budget. We can't give all our money away, obviously.

Um, what we focused on somewhat recently is, okay, well there's might be a limit to the money we can give, right. But there's, well, I guess there's a limit to the time we can give too. But that gives us another opportunity to increase our giving by donating some of our time. And so. I don't know when we, when we did this, I guess it's probably been a few years now, but we adopted a section of, uh, uh, of the highway over by the Skyway.

So, um, I think I'd signed up for the last one and bailed on you once again. Um, so, uh, you want to talk a little bit about our Adopt A Highway 

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Program. 

Chris Smith: Yeah, that was it. It took a while to get that figured out. Yeah, because we actually adopted part of the Pier Access Road on the south side of the Skyway, uh, Manatee County side.

And, um, and, and their, the issue wasn't that they didn't want us to, they were having to figure out how to do the mile posting on it. So it took 'em a while to get that, you know, that, [00:29:00] uh, figured out and, and, uh, of course we, we've been, we're probably in our third year now of, uh, the Adopt a Highway program, the land at the, uh, Skyway.

And it, it's, it's just a great opportunity for PGA to give back to the community in a different way. And so, I, I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but a lot of staff hours have gone into picking up garbage, 

Gordon Greene, PE: many bags, filled 

Chris Smith: many, many bags, uh, several times we've picked up 30 bags of garbage that was very quickly gonna end up in the gulf or in the bay.

Gordon Greene, PE: Sure. 

Chris Smith: So we caught it before it did, and we're, we're happy we're able to do that. It's a, um, but, but that's not the only way that PGA has volunteered and we've done work in, in other communities and, uh, and, and, and mostly that's driven by someone leading in, in that office. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Mm-hmm. 

Chris Smith: But, uh, there's been several other events that we've, uh, taken part of from helping out a botanical garden to, uh, marking storm drains, not to put trash down 'em.

So we, we are in the community and helping out. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Yes, absolutely. [00:30:00] Alright, I think we've covered, uh, our, our main topics we had on our list today. I think so. Um. What else is on your mind? Anything else? 

Chris Smith: You know, I talked about culture a minute ago, and I, I gotta go back to that because I spent 30 years at FDOT and you, you spent some time at FDOT in district one.

And, and FDOT family is just a, a wonderful family. But you know, when you spend 30 years at a place, you get really ingrained and there's, there's a lot of relationships and, um, it's just a good place to be, uh, for me. And so when I was leaving, I was trying to find a place like that. And, uh, and so what I found was there were some places sort of like that, but I felt like PGA was the closest thing to that family atmosphere that I could find.

And, and I, you know, obviously PGA leadership was just a major part of that. You know, we talked about recruiting earlier and, uh, you snuck David Long in there only too for lunch one [00:31:00] day. But that's the whole thing. It's like Dave and I went back many years, so it's still that family feel, the family connection that really drew me to PGA.

Gordon Greene, PE: It's funny, we, we do that a lot or I try to do it a lot. Um, 'cause, 'cause maybe, you know, I'm some silver tongue, whatever, and I can, somebody might think I can talk 'em into taking this job, but, uh, I like to bring other people. 

Chris Smith: Mm-hmm. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Like. Maybe, depending on who it is, maybe we have two or three interviews and I bring different people every time just so the person can see like, we're all, we're all like this.

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: We're all, it's all real. Like we're not, you're not gonna get over to PGA and go, wait a minute. There's like two nice people. And unless these people are jerks, man, um, you know, we all are like this. It's just, it's just the kind of people that we hire. 

Chris Smith: Right. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, and so, yeah, so bringing, of course you knew David, so that's not really the same, but, um.

Still, you know, to have another person go, yeah, you really should do it. 

Chris Smith: Yeah. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Uh, it never hurts. 

Chris Smith: No, absolutely not. [00:32:00] So it was good. 

Gordon Greene, PE: I'm glad you told that. I, I've 

always felt the same about district one, having worked there, you know, worked there for them for a little while, but obviously working for them as a consultant, um, pretty closely for a long time.

Uh, really just DOT, uh, in general. 

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: I haven't worked in other districts as well. Um. I, I mean, I, I know, I don't know if any DOT people are gonna listen to this podcast or not, not say it anyway. 

Chris Smith: Right.

Gordon Greene, PE: 'cause I've, I've told plenty people this, like, uh, in terms of government agencies not to qualify them or anything, or, or take away from the culture that they have at all.

Um, it's, it's, no one can compete. 

Chris Smith: Mm-hmm. 

Gordon Greene, PE: I mean, they, they really are a, a highly productive agency. It's super impressive. Uh, and they manage to do it like. And in, in a culture and an environment where people like to go to work. 

Chris Smith: Sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Which is what we're trying to do here. We want people like to, I mean, I'm not naive enough to think that people are literally jumping outta the bed to run in to do work here, but, um, I [00:33:00] like to think they're not, you know, pulling the head back over the covers, uh, dreading their, they're tripping to work either.

Chris Smith: Right. 

Gordon Greene, PE: So somewhere in between is what we're shooting for. 

Chris Smith: Right. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, closer to one than the other hopefully. 

Chris Smith: For sure. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Um, alright. Well. I appreciate the conversation today. 

Chris Smith: Absolutely. Me too. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Always enjoy having you around, uh, talking through some of these things. Uh, but I think we'll, we'll, we'll call this one all closed 

Chris Smith: maybe another day.

Gordon Greene, PE: Uh, we'll definitely do it again. 

Chris Smith: All right. Sounds, 

Gordon Greene, PE: there's plenty. Sounds good. Plenty for us to talk about. 

Chris Smith: Sounds good. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Alright, well that'll do it for us 

here on PGAs, uh, Breaking the ICE Podcast. Appreciate you listening in. Thanks again, Chris, for joining me. Uh, we will end our podcast as we always do with an asynchronous go PGA.

Okay. 

Chris Smith: All right. 

Gordon Greene, PE: Ready on 1, 2, 3, go. PGA