HFW adds IT and communications directors to growing corporate team

ST. LOUIS – The HFW Companies (HFW) has announced the addition of newly created information technology (IT) and communications directors for this fast-growing professional services firm with a national focus on the architecture and engineering industry (AE).

HFW has hired David Clark, a U.S. Army veteran based in Augusta, Ga., to serve on the firm’s operations team as its newly created director of IT. Clark had been working since 2020 as the technology and facilities lead for CRANSTON, an Augusta-based civil and structural engineering, landscape architecture, and land surveying firm that had joined the HFW Partner Network in 2022. Clark has been providing IT guidance and support to HFW and its growing portfolio of AE partner firms since that partnership began.

As HFW’s IT director, Clark will continue to provide IT leadership for CRANSTON and other HFW Partner firms, as well as for HFW itself.

Clark previously has served in network/systems administration, corporate management and help-desk services in the military, as well as in the finance, manufacturing, education, health care and AEC industries. He earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in Networking at Augusta Tech and his Bachelor of Science degree in Management at the University of Phoenix.

“With our ever-changing tech world and ever-growing cybersecurity concerns, we’re excited to bring on board David, who can guide us through such issues, support our growth, and serve as a valuable resource for HFW, our employees, and our partner firms,” Scott Williams, PE, vice president of operations at HFW, said of Clark.

Meanwhile, HFW also has hired Daniel Bates, MPPM, to serve as its newly created director of communications. Bates, a native of Pittsburgh, Pa., who now lives in North Augusta, S.C., previously served at CRANSTON as strategic relations lead since October 2021, overseeing the firm’s branding efforts, marketing communications, and outreach. Like Clark, Bates had been providing communications consulting services for HFW since its partnership began with CRANSTON.

In his new role, Bates will work to develop HFW’s corporate communications and branding strategies, while also continuing to provide communications guidance to CRANSTON and other HFW Partner firms.

A former business writer and editor, Bates has spent much of career providing corporate communications, brand management, program development, media relations, and strategic planning across a diversity of industries, including higher education, health care, technology, financial services, nonprofits, publishing, and the AEC industry.

Bates graduated from the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Writing/Journalism. He later earned a Master of Public Policy and Management degree from Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

“As HFW continues to grow and expand, how we communicate to our employees, partner firms, clients, and the communities we serve becomes more and more important to our success in the AE industry,” said Michael Hein, AIA, CEO and a co-founder of HFW. “We look forward to working with Dan, an experienced communicator and strategist, to help us and our partner firms elevate our internal and external communications, as well as the HFW brand, to a whole new level.”

Clark and Bates join a fast-expanding team at HFW whose goal, Hein said, is to build a preeminent network of AE legacy partners that provides a gateway to accelerated growth while also leveraging the network’s collaborative expertise to better serve clients and their infrastructure design projects across HFW’s national footprint. To date, HFW has built a portfolio of nine strategic partner firms.

For more information about The HFW Companies, contact Daniel Bates, MPPM, at 412.310.3167 or via email at [email protected].