INDIANAPOLIS, IN While many of its competitors throughout the engineering and architectural industry have been paring back through mergers and acquisitions, and leaner staffing over the past few years, RQAW Corporation is responding strategically to new signals from the market signals that are affecting its staff and ownership team.

The Indianapolis, Indiana, based engineering and architectural consulting firm has added four new partners to its roster of owners, and is leveraging the expertise each brings to set up the firm for growth opportunity in the areas of construction inspection, transportation engineering, and architectural design.

Expanding the ownership team comes on the heels of significant growth at RQAW, where the staff size has tripled.

"Over the last 24 months we have added more than 36 new full-time employees, as well as 10 new contract employees, just to keep up with the growth of our firm," said Troy Woodruff, RQAW Vice President and Senior Partner. "We are continuously recruiting new talent that wants to be a part of an culture focused on matching expertise with innovative projects that we are successfully delivering to our clients."

For RQAW, which is building a new state-of-the-art headquarters in downtown Fishers, the move is part and parcel to staying ahead of an industry trend of talent shortage -- one industry expert like Mick Morrissey of Massachusetts-based Morrissey Goodale say is on the rise to pre-recession levels.

"The war for talent is back to pre-recession levels-and talent is winning," Morrissey warned as part of his advice to address 2016 trends.

Woodruff said Morrissey isn't off the mark, with the industry facing a feast of opportunity, and RQAW plans to earn as much of it as it can.

"We've been among the industry pioneers in our competency areas since the days when the Eisenhower Federal Aid Highway Act was signed," said Woodruff. "When you have nearly 60 years of delivering superior road design in all 92 counties of Indiana, and 150 public-projects under your belt, that attracts talent that wants to stay and invest for the long haul."

A big part of that talent retention starts at the top, where new voices with fresh ideas are needed in the firm's ownership group.

RQAW has recently added Director of Architecture Eric Welfen, with nearly two decades of experience in architectural-phase services, municipal and public-safety, medical and community planning projects, to the ownership team, along with Director of Transportation Kevin Jasinksi, who brings more than 30 years of design-and-build experience honed on Indiana's major roadways.

Director of Construction Inspection Chriss Jobe helps to round out the roster of new partners with 20 solid years of experience in construction administration, inspection oversight and engineering management. Jobe is joined at the partnership table by the firm's Director of Marketing Roger Stephens, who brings an impressive resume of more than 22 years of delivering innovative solutions to clients in engineering, residential building, and lobbying the Indiana state legislature for the homebuilders association.

Combined, these four new partners bring more than 100 years of experience and industry leadership to RQAW.

"We have always had a strong group in ownership from each of our books of business," said Woodruff. "These four pros will help us to continue that tradition by bringing a collection of diverse talent, energy, and expertise to RQAW ownership. We believe that's a key component of attracting the best and brightest talent to our firm."