Spirit of communication

Rick Morsches’ mantra at work is simple.

“I make connections with my clients and communicate with them,” Morsches, the CEO of TranSystems, an engineering and architectural planning, design and construction solutions firm, said.

Morsches credits early marketing and finance classes at UD for sparking an interest in networking as well as opportunities helping to organize a student spring break trip.

“You can say I’m one of the grandfathers of Dayton to Daytona,” said Morsches who also took the helm as the director of student organizations while at UD.

“There was a real bond that formed among students at UD,” Morsches said. “I think that’s unique.”

After graduating with a degree in civil engineering in 1983, Morsches pursued his MBA from Northwestern University in Chicago. Then in 1989 he started a firm with several of his mentors that “blossomed from there,” said Morsches.

Today 800 employees work at 30 offices on design projects like the Hudson News stores found in many airports and other transportation-related structures.

Because his employees are diverse and geographically distributed, Morsches sticks strongly to that ethos.

“We have a connection to the community rather than our balance sheet,” Morsches said. He’s also extremely proud of the fact that his company is also 100 percent employee owned, opening up the chance for staff to have emotional and financial buy-in.

“Again, it’s all about care and commitment,” said Morsches. “We’re a family.”

Little wonder, then, that Morsches also mobilized The Woodpecker Club, a once-a-quarter gathering for nine Chicago-based couples, almost all of whom went to UD, including his wife, Mary Kay Limburg Morsches ’83. In hindsight, Morsches didn’t think the club would last, but he’s glad the tradition lives on.

“We all share that very special UD spirit,” he said.