40th Anniversary Book 10.5x13.5 FINAL

adventure. Safety standards from the rail industry had to be adapted and applied to assure passenger safety. Lea+Elliott was instrumental in developing the design standards for automated transit systems, standards still in use today. As in any emerging industry, the first systems installed ran into challenges for which solutions had to be discovered and developed. Lea+Elliott staff were there to sort out problems as they arose and were able to take lessons learned and apply them to subsequent projects. An ingenious and enterprising spirit was, and remains, the cornerstone of the company. In the early, formative atmosphere was born the determination to always find the best solution for the client. In order for our work to be both credible and accepted, solutions had to work for all parties involved: owners, suppliers and the public. Thus was born our long-standing company policy of declining to work for any supplier. By remaining entirely independent and unbiased, we are able to provide our clients the most trustworthy, objective advice. The days of scrambling to get work taught our founders that the way to a client’s heart was simply to do top quality work, keep promises, and see that their needs were met. Lea+Elliott is now a mature, thriving company, widely recognized as a world leader in transit automation. Although transit automation was an emerging technology, starting before the advent of computers, it has since become ubiquitous; and Lea+Elliott has seen it through every step of the way. Other companies that began in the industry have since turned to other activities, but with innovation, open- mindedness and flexibility, Lea+Elliott has grown with it and helped mold it into what it is today. After years of toil and uncertainty, having invested, in some cases, every cent they had, seven people formed a relationship that has influenced the world.

Founder, Senior Principal Harley Moore

“In 1978 ,” Harley recalls, “DFW gave Dennis Elliott what was then a huge contract to manage the Airtrans expansion. In October, I went to see him and he said, ‘I’d like you to join me.’ It still gives me goose bumps to think about that. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.” Thirty-five years later, Harley is the last founder still working at Lea+Elliott. He is kept invigorated by the work and by his Lea+Elliott colleagues. “It’s a lot of fun and I get to travel,” he quips, “including to all 14 APM conferences and many interesting project sites.” In recent years, he has welcomed the challenge of working with many different clients, particularly those international clients who have a very different approach to business and doing work. “The basic work we do, we know well,” he says. “Making that work in those different business climates is pretty exciting stuff.”

“We stayed on through the rough patch because it was exciting! We knew what

needed to be done.” Don Ochsner| Founder

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