The SMPS Emerging Leaders Forum (ELF)

By Evan Shields, Marketing Manager at Rockridge Geotechnical

When I joined SMPS, I had a thought that many members seem to have: are there really people out there with the same job as me? I’m Evan Shields, a Marketing Manager at Rockridge Geotechnical who runs our one-person marketing and business development team. I have been with the firm for about three-and-a-half years after a tumultuous start to my career which began during the COVID-19 pandemic. When I graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 2020, the job market was in a tough place, which saw me take jobs in fields I did not truly enjoy, such as internal communications. After multiple resignations and a layoff from a startup that was failing, I found myself at Rockridge Geotechnical with the task of building out our marketing efforts.

Initially, my work focused on our brand, revamping our website and LinkedIn page while also starting a client-facing newsletter. Once these efforts started paying dividends, I started my first proposal work, helping respond to RFPs with updated marketing collateral while maintaining contact with clients. I was overwhelmed trying to teach myself these marketing and business development best practices, so I joined SMPS and immediately joined the Mentoring Pathways program. My mentor, Kate Albee, taught me the ropes of the industry, increasing my confidence as I dove deeper into proposal work. I learned how to write full responses to RFPs and inbound leads without constantly asking for help from the technical staff, which allowed me to take control of our proposal process.

My time with Kate transformed me from someone with an A/E/C marketing title into a confident A/E/C marketer. The natural next step was to join the SMPS Emerging Leaders Forum (ELF), which I felt would help me learn not just about the marketing processes of larger firms but also how these firms are innovating their marketing and business development strategies for the future via peer-to-peer conversations and presentations from speakers. Our ELF cohort consisted of 13 people, with sessions led by Matt Carvell and Annika Dukes. These topics of these sessions varied, leading to focused discussions about topics like managing up and artificial intelligence. Matt and Annika brought in speakers to teach us more about cloud resource management and business development, and after these presentations, we would bounce ideas off each other to see what would work in each of our firms. Although the size of firms differed amongst members of our cohort, our roles were often very similar, allowing us to discuss how we could practically implement each other’s ideas when we returned to our own teams. I also appreciated the community building aspect of ELF, as I enjoyed our shared breakfasts of bagels and coffee over small talk before our meetings formally began.

ELF provided me with the knowledge I was hoping for; for example, our firm has historically struggled with our CRM usage and tracking data in general. Our discussion during our Best Practices Catchall session taught me how other marketers use their CRMs, which CRMs they use, and how I can better analyze our data appropriately even with a lower budget and less advanced CRM. Our discussion on Data furthered these points while also discussing the implementation of artificial intelligence, an industry hot button that has already changed the proposal process for various firms. Our speaker during this session, Stacey Ho, discussed the importance of sourcing good data for AI programs, emphasizing the importance of data collection and organization.

My knowledge of the industry has improved tremendously through ELF, and I am excited to continue learning, networking, and honing my skills to constantly become a better asset for my firm.


About Evan:

Born and raised in Oakland, Evan Shields is a graduate of Cornell University’s College of Arts and Sciences, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 2020. He entered the A/E/C marketing and business development field with Rockridge Geotechnical in January of 2022, and he became a member of SMPS in January of 2024. In his free time, Evan spends time with his cat, Fetti, coaches high school basketball, and writes, and he is hoping to publish his grandfather’s biography in the coming years.