“Help your brother’s boat across, and your own will reach the shore.” — Hindu proverb
Over the years, Hanson’s staff has included many family relationships — among them, parents and children, husbands and wives and siblings. With National Siblings Day falling on April 10, the time is right to spotlight two of our sibling pairs. How do they feel about working together? Where did they find their inspiration to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers? These strong family connections nurtured in childhood have flourished into productive professional relationships.
Meet our stellar sibs!
Judy Dittmer and Gary Clack
Judy is a civil engineer who has worked in Hanson’s Springfield, Illinois, office since 1984. Her brother, Gary, a project manager and assistant vice president, started with Hanson in 1990.
Q: What is it like working with your sibling?
Judy: We’ve always enjoyed chatting about our projects, and sometimes those chats produce a fresh perspective as we pull together the vantage points of differing technical expertise.
Gary: It’s great! While we typically don’t work on the same projects, we do have that opportunity occasionally. I have the utmost respect for my sister, and I am pleased to let people know that we work for the same firm.
Q: What has been the best part of working together? Have there been any challenges?
Gary: The best part is having someone that I’ve admired and trusted all my life (Judy’s a few years older than me) two floors away. We were great friends as we were growing up together; especially after the loss of my son in 2018, having Judy close at hand has been a true blessing. I have not had any challenges working with Judy. For those times when we do work together professionally, I know that she is a very talented engineer and that I can rely wholeheartedly on her decisions.
Judy: This year is our first opportunity to work together on a project, so give us a few months and then ask about challenges!
Q: What similarities do you share in your personal and professional lives? How do you differ?
Judy: I think our faith in Christ is our greatest similarity. That makes us who we are in and out of the workplace. Gary is far more organized, more capable of sizing up issues, charting a course and following though than I will ever be, personally or professionally.
Gary: Our Christian faith is the single-greatest similarity. As for a notable difference, Judy is gifted with patience!
Q: What’s the best memory you’ve made together so far at Hanson?
Gary: I would have to say that our lunchtime walks have been reinvigorating the friendship that we shared growing up and have proven to be a regular source of enjoyment.
Judy: We’ve worked in the same office for years, but last year we began walking together at lunchtime. I really treasure that time with Gary.
Q: Has anyone else in your family worked in engineering? If so, how have they inspired you? Have you encouraged anyone else in your family to pursue a STEM career?
Judy: Our dad was a civil engineer, and our mom worked in Illinois Department of Transportation aerial surveys before she joined the Clack team. Sketches on napkins to augment conversations at family dinners were not uncommon! Dad carved up cardboard boxes and scrap Styrofoam to help me grasp plan, elevation and section views when I wrestled my way through engineering graphics. He almost always responded to my questions with questions that led me to find the answer myself.
Gary: I think it’s fair to say that our dad’s ability to do just about anything came from his engineering background, which was honed by his wartime and other life experiences. In no way did he force my decision to be an engineer, but I think I might have been prewired for a career in engineering.
Jim and Steven Crew
Jim is a transportation designer who started at Hanson’s Jacksonville, Florida, office, in February 2021. Steven joined his brother in Jacksonville as a civil designer in August 2021.
Q: What brought you to Hanson? How much of an influence was Jim on your choice to pursue working here?
Steven: I worked with some current Hanson employees at an earlier engineering job in the Jacksonville area. The relationship I had with my prior bosses and co-workers are what initially led me to give Jim their Hanson contact information when he was in the job market. He was a large influence in my choice to pursue employment at Hanson when he echoed my experience of an enjoyable and pleasant work atmosphere and the professional relationships that I had previously experienced.
Q: What is it like working with your sibling?
Jim: It has been great. There is an understanding that at work we are colleagues, and outside of those hours we are brothers and friends. It has gone extremely smoothly, and it is great to have a very familiar face just a few doors down.
Steven: Working together has been fantastic. We have a great dynamic and knowledge of each other. We have a good balance of knowing when to be co-workers on a project and when we can relax a little and be brothers. We have always been close personally, so thankfully, there haven’t been any challenges on the professional side.
Q: What has been the best part of working together? Have there been any challenges?
Jim: The best part of working together has been growing our careers together in the same field. We share the same passion for transportation engineering and design, and it’s been great to experience career growth and experience as closely as we have. The only challenge has been calling him by his real name, Steven. Being brothers, especially me as the older brother, I didn’t often refer to him as Steven growing up, so it has taken some time to adjust to that.
Q: How has your brother inspired you in life? In your professional life?
Jim: My brother has always been an inspiration to me. I have almost five years on him, so growing up, and even now, I feel a responsibility to be a good role model and good man to hopefully serve as an example. We are different in many ways; many of my weaknesses are his strengths, so I rely on him to inspire me to be better in those ways.
Steven: Jim has always been a role model for me, professionally and personally. Growing up, my taste in music, style of clothes and interest in sports were always in line with his. Seeing his success in both aspects just strengthens that outlook.
Q: What’s the best memory you have of each other from your childhoods?
Steven: We have a very close and tight-knit family, so there was always some kind of vacation being cooked up. Being able to travel and experience different places, people and cultures together and spending quality time with each other helped build the strong relationship we have now.
Jim: We both were very involved in sports growing up, so my childhood answer would have to be going out to the baseball field together with our dad almost every weekend. As we have gotten older, we both got involved in rec league ice hockey here in Jacksonville, so playing on the same team together has created some great memories, too.
Q: What similarities do you share in your personal and professional lives? How do you differ?
Jim: We share a lot of similarities in both. We are both heavily into sports, both play hockey, both grew up with baseball as our favorite sport. We hang out quite a bit, so our hobbies are similar. We both ended up with a passion and interest for transportation and roadway/highway design. I enjoy geometric design, while he favors ADA design and traffic control. However, we have slight differences in personality. For instance, he loves the Colorado Avalanche (which is silly), and I love the Detroit Red Wings (which is smart).
Q: Has anyone else in your family worked in engineering? If so, how have they inspired you?
Steven: Our father is a civil engineer and P.E. in the hydroelectricity industry. He was the biggest influence in guiding me toward a STEM career. Our dad would bring us to the office, and we would take trips out into the field with him, when appropriate. Being able to see large-scale engineering, such as hydroelectric dams and facilities, and discussing the engineering of the Golden Gate bridge on a family vacation planted the engineering seed early, and I wanted to learn as much about it as I could. We also have a cousin in the civil field. I would encourage anyone in the family to pursue STEM.
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