How HDR’s Acquisition of an Economic Research and Consulting Firm Has Transformed Infrastructure Services

This year marks the 20th anniversary of HDR’s acquisition of HLB Decision Economics, an economic research and consulting firm. The acquisition merged two traditionally distinct disciplines: the design of major infrastructure projects and the objective, economic analysis of such projects. HDR now makes economics a core element of our services, and the result has been transformative.

This article discusses the dynamics of integrating economic analysis into engineering design, leading to communities that are much better-off. It also discusses the incorporation of risk analysis into the design process. The paper concludes that blending economics and engineering design has transformed the provision of HDR’s infrastructure services.

HDR – engineering and economics[97]

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About the authors:

Eric L. Keen

Chairman, HDR Board of Directors

Eric Keen serves as chairman of HDR’s Board of Directors, after directing the company as CEO and as its former president, chief operating officer and engineering company president. As CEO, he led the 100% employee-owned firm through eight acquisitions and oversaw continuous revenue growth and the addition of more than 2,600 employees.

A civil engineer by training, Keen has spent his career helping develop and deliver some of the United States’ most notable transportation infrastructure projects, including the Whittier Access project in Prince William Sound, Alaska; the Legacy Parkway project in Salt Lake City, Utah; and the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina.

Keen was instrumental in establishing the firm’s transportation alternative delivery practice, and under his leadership, the transportation practice grew its planning, program management, design-build and management consulting services to complement an already strong design practice.

David Lewis

HLB Decision Economics Founder, former Senior Vice President, HDR

David Lewis, Ph.D., has held numerous leadership positions in the field of economics.

Trained at the London School of Economics, Lewis has served as an economist and policy analyst in the private sector and for Canada’s Office of the Auditor General, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, and the Greater London Council in the U.K.

Lewis founded the consulting firm HLB Decision Economics, acquired in 2005 by HDR, where he served as a senior vice president and chief economist before retiring in 2014. He is internationally recognized for his research and applied work in cost-benefit analysis, social policy, and public infrastructure economics and finance.

Chris Williges

Director of Economics and Statistics, HDR

Chris Williges is the director of HDR’s economics, finance and statistics practice. He has more than 30 years of experience conducting transportation planning, economics, engineering and strategic assignments for public and private sector clients. He has been with HDR for the past 11 years; prior to that, Williges served as vice president of System Metrics Group.

He has overseen the development of a wide range of analysis tools involving revenue forecasting, regional economic models, benefit-cost and financial models, and asset management systems.