Meet Gregg Moore: Civil Engineer, Becker Morgan Group Principal and Lifelong Delawarean

 

For Becker Morgan Group principal Gregg Moore, one of his greatest joys is creating architectural and engineering projects that produce designs which inspire the users, provide for the community and offer improvements to the areas in which we live. 

“I’ve worked since 1994 on the master plan for Dover International Speedway, from expanding the seating at the Monster Mile to 145,000 to designing the concrete mezzanines and elevators, the parking facilities and the casino and hotel,” he says.

Moore, a licensed civil engineer, says Becker Morgan was one of the first firms to co-locate engineers and architects to foster a greater spirit of collaboration. The lifelong Delaware resident leads the firm’s civil engineering and surveying division and business development efforts and manages the Delaware team of architects, landscape architects, engineers, surveyors and interior designers. He especially enjoys working on projects that are close to his heart.

“It was particularly exciting for me to be able to help prepare the master plan for Bayhealth’s Kent Campus and design the expansion of Kent General Hospital, where I was born,” says Moore, who’s a Bayhealth board member. “Getting to work on Bayhealth’s Sussex Campus in Milford has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on the infrastructure and move the existing hospital to a green field. “

Gregg Moore is also a founding board member of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP) and president of the Kent Economic Partnership. He is a board member for several other high-profile local organizations as well.

“We have a great business environment here in Delaware,” he says. “A connected business community can work with the state and influence how things are done, partly because we’re small. The creation of DPP came from the decision to go after business with businesspeople, and it’s been effective.”

Moore also appreciates the quality of engineering students from the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical Community College.

“UD is one of the reasons we opened an office in Newark,” he says. “We hire multiple intern engineers in the summer, and some of our best staff have come from that internship program.”

Moore grew up on the Delaware Bay, so, not surprisingly, boating is a huge passion. He even spent some time as a licensed boat captain.

“It’s part of the fabric of my whole life,” he says. “I spent a lot of time kayaking in the Leipsic River when it was still untouched. I can remember kayaking and thinking there were two alligators that turned out to be 3-foot-wide snapping turtles with really long tails.”

Learn more about Moore – and gain some wisdom applicable to any career field – through the answers he gave to the following quick questions:

What’s the question you wish more people would ask themselves?

“Am I really enjoying what I’m doing? What are my long-term goals and am I planning for that?” We tend to get distracted by life and “miss” our goals because we never set or established them.

What’s the pebble in your shoe, that thing that tends to derail you?

Bureaucracy. I’ve seen an increase over the years nationwide in how it affects the creative process of design. It can add some costs, but here in Delaware, we can interact with our government and discuss those things. There are places where that doesn’t happen, and we work in some of those places.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Set your goals and plan to get there. My parents taught me that, exposing me to people so I knew what I wanted to do when I got to college. In addition, my mentor, the late John E. Richter, reinforced that.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without sleeping on a project you were passionate about?

Some of my sleepless nights have come before public presentations so I can figure out how to explain a project that has taken years to create to the public in an hour. That can be much more difficult than figuring out how to design it.

What advice would you give your 20-year-old self?

I was able to pick a field I love from the very beginning. I’ve only worked for two companies in my life and enjoyed both of them. My advice would be to know what you want to do and reach for it and enjoy it. That’s difficult to do when you’re 18 or 20. You have to talk to people, investigate, understand and be lucky. I’ve always believed luck is a tremendous component, but when you set yourself up to do the right thing, maybe it’s not luck. Maybe it’s destiny.

Do you have a favorite failure?

I let my fishing boat captain’s license lapse in my 30s. Now that I’m near 60, I might enjoy doing that in my retirement. I talk about setting goals, but life changes and we have to adapt. I should have looked ahead.

In the last five years, have you gotten better at saying no?

When you get in your 50s and 60s, you have more experience and wisdom to bring to bear. I’m continually striving to achieve a better work/life balance and realize now that time is our greatest gift. I do enjoy giving back, so that remains important, but I try not to overextend myself.

When you feel overwhelmed, get distracted, or lose your focus, what do you do?

I work out. I don’t take my phone to the gym. I think about what I’m going to do, and I organize my thoughts in a way you can’t do with pods in your ears. Working out helps me both decompress and recharge.