While studying mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota in the late 1990s, Cloquet native Jason Mangan landed a summertime gig at LHB, an architecture and engineering firm with deep roots in Duluth.
“I was very fortunate to work a couple of summers here as an intern before I finished college and came back as an engineer,” Mangan recalls.
That was just the start of a journey that eventually led to his current position as LHB’s CEO. He recently took the baton from longtime LHB leader Rick Carter, who will remain as chairman of the board until the end of this year.
Mangan has worn a number of hats with LHB, which was established in Duluth and has offices in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Most recently, he led the company’s Energy & Industry Group. In that role, he worked for clients in industries ranging from pulp and paper to power and utilities.
In a press release, LHB said Mangan “has shaped and managed LHB’s strategies for expanding work in solar, wind and biomass energy and transmission. He is deeply familiar with the design, installation and operation of pipelines and power infrastructure.”
A member of the advisory board for the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s engineering department, Mangan is a volunteer mentor for a high school robotics team in Cloquet and a past member of the city’s Planning Commission.
In the following interview, Mangan talks about his new role with LHB, how he became interested in engineering, his vision for the company and more. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: When exactly did you start your new role as CEO?
A: April 1.
Q: Tell us about other positions you’ve had with LHB.
A: Prior to being selected as CEO, I was vice president of our Energy & Industry Group. We focus on power and utilities, pulp and paper, mining and manufacturing within that group. So I worked in that group for a long time over the years in various different roles.
Q: LHB has been known for its sustainability work. Tell us about that.
A: Rick [Carter] has been a champion of that for almost his entire career. So it’s kind of a neat opportunity to continue on with that. I’ve always been particularly interested, myself, in efficiency from the engineering side of it.
There are lots of opportunities for energy efficiency increases, both in new buildings and retrofitting of existing buildings. Also, lots of expansion of energy infrastructure relating around electrification — renewables and all those.
Q: Given the state and federal funding opportunities related to renewables, do you expect to stay busy in that area in the coming years?
A: Absolutely. Renewable energy sources, geothermal, solar — all of those have come down in cost, but the incentives out there from the government are making those projects much more viable than they had been historically.
Q: What inspired you to become an engineer?
A: I originally thought I wanted to be an architect. But every building I designed was square or rectangular, like a shoebox. So fortunately, I had a couple of uncles who very quickly corrected me and said, “Well, you like the efficiency side of it, obviously. You should just be an engineer.” I was always strong in and enjoyed science and math, so it seemed to be a good fit to go into engineering.
What really did it for me was I got a tour of one of the local paper mills when I was working on a pulp and paper merit badge when I was in Boy Scouts, and walked into the new wood room they had constructed. It’s a big shipping facility. They run full logs through it and debark them and ship them and then send them into the paper process.
My uncle was one of the engineers in the project and had worked on it for a long time. And I just remember walking in there and seeing this really large machinery operating. I looked at him and said, “This is what you’ve been working on for the last few years?” He’s like, “Yeah, absolutely.” I knew then that’s what I wanted to do.
Q: How many offices does LHB have now?
A: We have Duluth and Minneapolis. And we’ve got an office in Cambridge and an office in Superior, Wisconsin.
Q: How many employees?
A: About 225.
Q: What are some of your goals for the company? Do you expect to expand geographically or in the types of work you do? What are some of the opportunities?
A: Geographically, we’re pretty close on our offices, but we have a fairly large footprint. We work across about 22 states.
I do see opportunity for expansion. Lots of opportunities on repurposing old buildings, revitalization of downtowns. The energy infrastructure build-out is a big one I see as opportunities for us. Efficiency updates in buildings. I think those are some of our bigger opportunities.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges? There has been a lot of talk about workforce and things of that nature. Where do you see the industry heading with that?
A: The workforce in the engineering and architecture field is difficult. There are not enough candidates for open positions. It’s really a challenge. We’ve been working really hard on outreach. I would say even grassroots outreach. We have lots of staff that have volunteered in different capacities at the colleges or at the elementary schools or at the high schools to encourage students to go into the STEM-type programs.
Q: I was at a recent University of Minnesota forum where college students talked about sustainability initiatives. I was impressed with their passion for the topic.
A: We’ve got lots of very talented young people up and coming in the industry. And they’re certainly much more open to pushing some boundaries that way that I think historically haven’t happened. So it’s really encouraging.
Q: What do you like to do in your free time?
A: I enjoy woodworking. I was able to help mentor one of the local robotics teams this past year, so that was a pretty neat opportunity. I had a lot of fun doing that. I like spending a lot of time in the outdoors: fishing, hiking, camping.
Q: Are there any particular LHB projects that you would care to highlight?
A: I’ll take zero credit for this. This is all Rick and many of our other architectural staff, but they’re working on The Heights [the mixed-used redevelopment of the former Hillcrest Golf Course in St. Paul], a great project down there. I know you guys have talked about that in the past. That’s an exciting project, so I really want to see how that turns out.
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