Michael Reininger Joins AECOM
A longtime AECOM client, P. Michael Reininger knows firsthand the challenges that clients face today, in both developed and emerging economies.
Mike, who joined AECOM's planning, design + development business line in July as chief development officer, says fundamental political, economic and climatic shifts have brought new complexity to projects.
"The developed world has had its foundations shaken and needs to determine which repercussions are permanent, which are temporary, and which are somewhere in between," says Mike. In the emerging world, Mike points to the challenges of unprecedented scale and velocity. "In my travels in China and India, I've stood in a field of crops trying to wrap my mind around the fact that in ten years this place will be a city of equal size to Chicago."
It is the difficulties of these challenges and the unique alignment of resources within AECOM to address them that excite Mike about the opportunities ahead.
Accepting the challenge
"These challenges are daunting," says Mike. "It would be easy to worry that time will run out before we solve them, or that our contributions will be ineffectual. But we have two basic options: abdicate or dedicate. We have to take responsibility and commit ourselves to the tasks."
Mike makes a comparison to the builders of epochal structures like Brunelleschi's Dome in Florence, Italy. "These architects and engineers accepted a challenge for which there was no precedent or known technical solution. Many contemporaries did not believe they would succeed. But their conviction is a testament to the will of people to dedicate themselves to an ideal and an aspiration."
Mike notes that AECOM has evolved as a response to the driving issues of today's world: climate change, urbanization, environmental degradation, population increase, decaying infrastructure, and the shifting weights of economies. "AECOM has brought together a range of expertise, a collaborative fraternity of technical design professionals, with a very specific and meaningful shared purpose: to enhance and sustain the world's built, natural and social environments."
Aligning resources, vision
To Mike, that mission is at the heart of what makes AECOM unique.
"The strength of the uniting AECOM vision is central to what we offer to every client," he says. "Whether a project is big or small, behind the curtain there is an unparalleled wealth of experience that can be tapped as necessary, or as projects advance from one phase to another. This breadth of expertise combines to make the complex connections between design and planning, economics and culture, between energy and transportation, ecology and environment—all the elements that intertwine to create livable, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable places."
As chief development officer for AECOM's planning, design + development offer, Mike will be engaged in the strategy of developing and deploying resources of all kinds to fulfill our mission.
From ship to shore
An architect and graduate of Texas Tech, Mike built on the interdisciplinary aspects of his architectural training and applied it to a global development context. His wide-ranging career includes work with MGM Mirage, Walt Disney and the St. Joe Company. He's led mixed use transit-oriented-development in Denver, resort design in the Middle East, real estate development in Europe, even product development for the Disney Cruise Line.
His new role is the culmination of a long relationship as a client with various AECOM practices, ranging from architecture and landscape architecture to economics and transportation.
Real world design, solutions
Mike's breadth of experience has led him to understand project realities from the client side. And with experience in both private and public-private partnerships, he views design endeavors through a practical lens.
"The practice of applying creative talents can't be appropriately measured without parameters," he says. "Unlimited budgets don't tax your capabilities. Working with economic, social and political constraints requires a higher degree of expertise in applying your creative ability."
Against a global backdrop of market and environmental uncertainty, the project landscape for clients can feel daunting. Mike understands the feeling on that side of the table well. But he also understands the importance of persevering.
"I believe that the 'why' behind what you're doing is more important than the mundane," he says. "You've got to have a driving purpose to get you through the challenges of each day. One of my tasks with AECOM will be to remind people of that purpose."
Erik Miller