2021 Economic Impact Awards 8-15 Years in Business Honoree: Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc.

Dan Meckes sums up Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc.’s success succinctly: “It’s our people, just empowering our people.”

CEO Meckes says that while growth has followed acquisitions, the majority of CMT’s expansion has been organic.

While the company was founded in 1946, it entered the Springfield market in 2011, when it acquired Mathews & Associates. It then had 13 local employees and roughly $1.1 million in revenue.

The past 10 years have marked a period of extraordinary growth, with more than $34 million in revenue and the delivery of more than $725 million of infrastructure investments that include surface transportation, airports and private development.

Steve Prange, Springfield’s office manager, reports 2020 was a record year. The Springfield office recorded $6 million in revenue, and it increased its staff to 21.

Some of CMT’s recent projects:

• the new Interstate 44 interchange in Marshfield;
• the redesigned entrance and parking area at Springfield Underground; and
• the redesigned James River Freeway and Glenstone Avenue interchange.

But perhaps its highest-profile and most eagerly awaited work is just ahead: the Grant Avenue Parkway project. CMT is responsible for the $22.5 million design-build portion of the project, to be completed by 2025, that calls for a 3-mile off-street pedestrian and bicycle path and other improvements. The hope is the project will spur additional revitalization and better connect the trail systems and Bass Pro Shops with downtown and Commercial Street.

Meckes says projects like these create an economic engine of their own.

“Any infrastructure project spurs economic growth,” he says.

And the improvements attract more capital investment along with the talent needed to make these investments succeed.

According to CMT officials, economic development centers on three elements: establishing a reliable and efficient transportation system, creating quality of life and places people want to call home, and developing a local workforce to meet demand.

To ensure the firm attracts and retains a quality workforce, the company audits its compensation and benefit plans annually. Effective Jan. 1, for example, the company revised its 401(k) plan to double the company match to 6%.

It also encourages its employees to support community nonprofits. Younger engineers also volunteer time to help education initiatives around science, technology, engineering and math – for instance, Fordland Schools’ robotics program.

Meckes says he hopes CMT’s growth will continue to give younger employees the opportunities he’s found in the company since he began working there in 1983.