N.K. Bhandari plans for leadership change

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — N.K. Bhandari, Architects & Engineering, P.C. (NKB) is shaking things up a little bit in its 45th year but isn’t straying from the mission that has kept the business going strong for more than four decades. Christopher Resig, who has served as NKB owner and president since 2015, announced he will be retiring later this year, and Glenn R. Woodbury, current VP and co-owner, will take the helm. Resig’s tenure at the firm spans more than 28 years. He initially worked at NKB from 1983-1995, later rejoining the firm in 2010.

“It’s just time for me to transition,” and start the next chapter, Resig says, adding that Woodbury is exceedingly qualified and capable of filling his shoes. Woodbury has been with NKB since 2017 and served as architectural practice leader before being promoted to VP. Looking back, Resig is proud of the growth the firm achieved during his tenure. “As an organization, we have expanded our market reach,” he says. “We have quadrupled our size in terms of revenue.” NKB also grew from two disciplines — architecture and structural engineering — with the addition of interior design, providing the firm more opportunities to collaborate with clients through an entire project. Through the adoption of a remote-work model, the firm has also expanded geographically with offices in Syracuse and Bethesda, Maryland and additional employees in New York City and Michigan, Resig notes. Even with this growth, NKB still considers itself a small business and plans to remain at a size that allows it to provide the highest level of service to clients and be responsive to both customers and the industry, he adds.

“For the clients, they know they are working a lot of the time with a principal of the firm as their direct contact,” Woodbury says. Additionally, there are numerous government set-asides for small businesses, and that’s important for NKB whose single largest client is the federal government. NKB also does a lot of work in the education sector at both the K-12 and higher education levels as well as laboratory subject-matter expert work. That means NKB serves as the “expert” to help various agencies design their labs to meet National Institutes of Health standards. When he takes the helm later this year, Woodbury hopes to continue to expand NKB’s reach starting in the areas it is already in growing both the number of people and projects in those markets. “We want to continue to be innovative in our work,” he adds. For him that means both design innovations as well as technological innovations that can change how they work. NKB will continue to be fully remote, Woodbury notes. “We are leaning into the remote work thing because it allows us to draw talent from anywhere.” Narindar K. Bhandari founded the company in 1980 as N.K. Bhandari, Consulting Engineers, P.C. When he retired in 2008, and James P. Resig assumed the role of president, the firm’s name changed to N.K. Bhandari, Architecture & Engineering, P.C. to better reflect the full scope of services provided.