Ed Young Joins GBA as New Aviation Market Leader

GBA is expanding its transportation services to include aviation. To help with the new focus, GBA has hired Ed Young as the aviation market leader. He will be headquartered in the Lenexa, KS office with efforts focused on growing GBA’s presence as a trusted partner with aviation consultants and airports within the FAA Central Region. Young’s specialties include airport planning, airspace, land acquisition, project financing, public engagement and environmental issues.

“We’re looking to increase GBA’s transportation group to include all modes of transportation and offer a more well-rounded service to our clients and the community. Ed brings a vast amount of knowledge and experience in the aviation sector and we’re excited to grow this group with him,” said Jim Jarrett, GBA’s Bridge Group Principal and Vice President.

Ed brings 20 years of aviation experience, most notably as the Director of Aviation for the Kansas Department of Transportation, Aviation Division. During his time there the division was recognized with several awards including the President’s Award for Aviation from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Engineers. Along with Ed’s aviation experience he also spent several years in city and county government serving as a city administrator, county administrator and county counselor.

Most recently, Ed taught airport law and airport environmental planning for Kansas State Polytechnic (K-State Salina). He is a commercial pilot and flight instructor as well as a licensed attorney. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Kansas, School of Law, a Master in Public Administration from the University of Kansas School of Public Affairs and Administration and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Kansas. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Kansas Association of Airports, Kansas Commission on Aerospace Education and the Fly Kansas Foundation.

GBA Recognized as a Healthiest Employer of Kansas City

GBA has been recognized as a finalist of the 2015 Healthiest Employers, an annual award program presented by the Kansas City Business Journal.

Select employers from Kansas City were named winners at the awards program, held on February 6, 2015. Organizations were honored for their commitment to employee health, with exceptional corporate wellness programming.

Applicants were evaluated across six key categories: Culture and Leadership, Foundational Components, Strategic Planning, Communication and Marketing, Programming and Interventions, and Reporting and Analysis. Completed assessments were ranked with the proprietary Healthiest Employer Index, a 1-100 metric for wellness programming.

Wendee Woodson, Director of Human Resources, accepted the honoree award on behalf of GBA.

To see more, please read the Business Journal article.

Healthiest Employers is an innovative awards program that recognizes organizations that proactively shape the health of their employees. To date, Healthiest Employer has served as a resource to over 4,000 U.S. employers that represent 60 million employees, and offers Springbuk health analytics. Learn more at www.HealthiestEmployers.com and www.Springbuk.com.

Announcing a New Member of the GBA Life Sciences Group

Shaun Mc Carthy has joined GBA’s Life Sciences team, adding more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He brings extensive experience in process engineering and project management and excels when challenged with fast-track schedules. After more than two decades of hands on experience with all aspects of API manufacturing, he brings the significant knowledge gained to the GBA Life Sciences team. In particular, an expertise in containment associated with high potency product handling facilities, having worked extensively over the years with technology leaders within this highly specialized field. His first assignment with GBA will be working as part of our team on a large equipment design and installation project within a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. 

"We are eager to welcome Shaun to the GBA team. His expertise will greatly enhance the services we offer clients in the pharmaceutical industry," - Michael Glasker, Principal-in-Charge of Life Sciences.

GBA is growing rapidly in the Life Sciences sector and is excited about the opportunity to add depth to our team. Shaun has a strong technical background and has been recognized as a team leader, having led multiple cross-functional teams on small and large projects.

GBA Kicks Off Wellness Program

After starting our initiative this past summer with an on-site health screening, our team members were then invited to participate in a Health Risk Assessment (HRA).  With a FANTASTIC response and participation rate, in August St. Lukes Health helped us compile the results.  We were happy to find that while we are a pretty healthy group, there were three main health issues team members wanted to address:  1)  Physical Activity/ Exercise, 2) Diet/ Nutrition and 3) Stress Relief. 

The Wellness Committee (comprised of employees from around the company) decided to launch our program with a healthy lunch and give away GBA water bottles.  Inside the bottle was a note with all the benefits of staying well hydrated.  We also offered at that time for team members and their spouses to purchase an activity tracker (Fit Bit) at a reduced rate.  They could then take an eight-week “Step Challenge” and have the opportunity to earn back the cost of the devise at two different levels.  The goal is 7,000 steps a day!

We have over half of our team members and many of their spouses participating in multiple locations.  We’re broken up into teams to help create fun competition and motivation.   We are half way through the challenge and having a lot of fun with it!  The idea is to get people to realize that if they just keep moving, they can reach their extended goal of 10,000 steps/day.  AND we are creating some healthy new habits along the way– Like taking the stairs instead of the elevator. 

Stay tuned for our next Wellness initiative  - Financial Fitness, which helps to reduce stress. (especially after the holidays!)