ISG Breaks Through Rankings – Earns New Spot on ENR Top 500

ESOP Firm Positioned for Success with Continual Year-over-Year Growth and Another Engineering-News Record Top Spot

May 9, 2019 (Mankato, Minnesota) – ISG, an architecture, engineering, environmental, and planning firm, was recently recognized, again, as one of the Country’s leading design firms by the Engineering News-Record (ENR) magazine’s annual industry rankings. ISG broke through the 300 mark, continuing on an upward trajectory that builds upon 2018’s ranking of #324 and jumps 195+ spots from positions held over the past four years.

Earning spot #292, this milestone is monumental for the firm that started as an engineering practice of two in a Southern Minnesota basement to now a 300+ employee owned solutions provider for clients across the U.S. Comparing the 2015 ENR list with 2019, ISG has the second steepest growth curve and is 1 of 45 elite firms who have consistently maintained or increased their ranking between 2015 – 2019; only 9% of the ENR Top 500 firms fall into this category.

“Better decisions faster, fostering accountability, focusing on talent, listening first – all are core areas for our firm and support such growth,” notes CEO, Chad Surprenant, PE. “There isn’t a secret sauce or boastful share associated with this ranking, but rather empirical data that we must continue to push forward and provide value to our clients in ways that have not been successfully executed by the masses. We will no doubt continue to celebrate the victories, but also not lose sight of what it means to be more than just busy; forging ahead with strategic growth initiatives,” states Chad.

The ENR Top 500 Design Firm list is used to directly rank and outline the largest United States based design firms, both publicly and privately held, based on design-specific revenue; by most estimations, the industry includes nearly 50,000 firms.

ISG transitioned to 100 percent employee ownership in January 2017 through a firm-wide ESOP structure and exceeded its first year’s stock projections by nearly 64%. 2018 growth included two acquisitions and an organic startup of a Sioux Falls, South Dakota office, building upon work in the State long before the four walls were occupied. A downtown expansion in Green Bay also positioned the firm within Eastern Wisconsin and additional movement in Minnesota is set to be announced this spring/summer.

Note: Statistics provided within the release are unbiased and taken directly from ENR’s full Top 500 historical list.