Promoted From Within MD&A
Patrick Stuff
At MD&A, we value professional development in our employees & promote from within the company! Here is an example of one: Patrick Stuff – Engineering Manager in our Parts Division in Clifton Park, NY. Here’s his growth story:
Q: What do you do here at MD&A? And what was your career path – what were you promoted to?
A: I’m currently the Engineering Manager for the Parts division. Before this role, I spent two years as an engineer on the flow parts team, where I focused on reverse engineering, nonconformance disposition, and troubleshooting a wide range of valve components and designs. There was always something to learn in that role, I enjoyed how the job was both hands on and technical. Growth in our division led to the opportunity to step into the engineering manager role. In this capacity, I’ve had the opportunity to continue learning from the various engineering groups in our department. The challenges we face make every day interesting. Being around talented, hardworking individuals makes every day enjoyable.
Q: Why did you choose to work for MD&A and why have you continued to choose MD&A?
A: A colleague encouraged me to submit my resume to MD&A. To be honest, I didn’t think I would take the job, but I wanted to learn more about MD&A. Leaving the interviews, I wanted the job. The people sold me on the type of work. It was a chance to grow, a chance to be hands on and do the type of work I like doing, and it was a chance to work with some very smart and skilled folks.
Q: How has your job changed over the years?
A: With the ever-changing challenges of this type of work there are lots of opportunities to lead a project or take ownership of a problem. As I started gaining experience with the components and company, I was given the opportunity to grow and take on challenging tasks. With guidance from experienced colleagues, I’ve grown in many ways, technically and professionally. That growth hasn’t stopped; my new role continues to push me to learn and develop every day.
Q: How would you describe our company culture?
A: MD&A is a fast-paced environment where priorities shift, and new issues arise regularly. Those challenges create opportunities to grow and deliver results, which is satisfying. The people here are hardworking and committed to doing things the right way, and that inspires me to do my best too. And when it comes time to celebrate, we’re pretty good at taking a break, having some fun, and recharging the batteries.
Q: What has been your favorite project at MD&A?
A: One of my favorite projects was a valve reverse engineering project from a unit that were not in good shape and required a lot of extra work. Our team methodically tackled the problems while managing other urgent issues too. We pushed to complete as much reverse engineering as possible as quickly as we could. The result was multiple orders for most of the parts we worked on, a tangible, immediate impact we could point to with pride. Often, the toughest jobs lead to the greatest satisfaction, and this was one of those times. A Career with a Powerful Purpose!
A Career with a Powerful Purpose! Interested in joining our crew? Take a look at our careers available.
Mike Lanaro
At MD&A, we value professional development in our employees & promote from within the company! Here is an example of one: Mike Lanaro is MD&A’s Director of Operations of in our San Antonio and Houston Service centers, our Gas Turbine Parts Service Facilities. He has worked with MD&A and the previous company we acquired for 35 years. Here’s his growth story:
Q: What was your career path at MD&A?
A: I am the Director for IGT Repairs in the San Antonio and Houston Service centers, our Gas Turbine Parts Service Facility.
Q: Why did you choose to work for MD&A and why have you continued to choose to work at MD&A?
A: I enjoy the comradery, diversity, and dedication of my fellow employees, we have faced many challenges together, each employee contributes to our goal of exceeding our customers’ expectations. At MD&A, I personally enjoy coming to work each day.
Q: How would you describe our company culture?
A: In this company, people listen to your ideas. MD&A supports the growth and development of its personnel. MD&A understands it’s the working people that make this company successful.
Q: What has been your favorite project at MD&A?
A: Over the years we have developed advanced repairs to save customers’ parts from being scrapped. Our vast knowledge of repair is one of the reasons we can offer customers solutions other than them having to buy new parts. Repair development is one of my favorite team functions.
A Career with a Powerful Purpose! Interested in joining our crew? Take a look at our careers available.
Brandon DeLeon
At MD&A, we value professional development in our employees & promote from within the company! Here is an example of one: Brandon DeLeon is MD&A’s Operations Lead in Gas Turbine Parts Service Facility in Houston, TX & has worked for MD&A a little over a year. Here’s his growth story:
Q: What do you do here at MD&A?
A: I started with MD&A on the shop floor as a nozzle repair technician. I have recently been promoted to Operations lead. Now I am responsible for maintaining good scheduling on floor to ensure that we hit our production needs and deliver good quality products to our customers on time.
Q: Why did you choose to work for MD&A and why have you continued to choose to work at MD&A?
A: I choose to stay employed with MD&A because I enjoy the healthy work environment. We are free to express our views, process improvements, and concerns that arise without hesitation.
Q: How has your job changed over the years?
A: As the company has grown over the last couple of years my job has changed as well, I started by working with a small group of guys all working on all the parts in house. As we grew, we developed into different departments where I took over as lead on the nozzles and then moved to operations. I look forward to seeing where we will be in the next year.
Q: How would you describe our company culture?
A: Here at MD&A we all work as a team and that is what I like most. The negative energies that are associated with most companies is not very prevalent here. It is more like family.
A Career with a Powerful Purpose! Interested in joining our team? Take a look at our careers available.
Ryan Singleton
At MD&A, we value professional development in our employees & promote from within the company! Here is an example of one: Ryan Singleton is MD&A’s Engineering Manager in our Bearing Seals & Hydraulics Division & has worked for MD&A for nine years. Here’s his growth story:
Q: What do you do here at MD&A?
A: I started with MD&A as the Manufacturing and Quality Engineer for the Valve shop in the Parts division & I transitioned to the Lead Manufacturing Engineer for Parts division after about five years. I learned a lot on the shop floor and how to apply my engineering skill set and principles to manufacture better parts faster.
Q: How has your career path changed?
A: As I grew in my career and changed down the different career paths, I basically started understanding the different components that we made new manufacture and how they integrated into the turbine and what they did and achieved from an engineering standpoint. And then I learned how to actually manufacture those components and how to do it optimally and provide a better-quality product to our customer. And now in this new position, I’m able to see the other side with the refurbishment of those components and how we get those power generation customers back up and running as quickly as possible and how important that is to make sure to deliver power to the entire nation.
Q: How has MD&A helped you in your career development?
A: MD&A does a great job in trying to further their employees’ careers and give them the knowledge and tools to succeed. When I first started, right away I was put into the steam turbine fundamentals class to understand the “why” what we did was so critical and the engineering technology. MD&A continues to try to further my career and help me in my management development. They are always looking to see what can we do to support our employees better & how can we teach them new skill sets. It is great company to work for!
Q: What has been your favorite project at MD&A?
A: So one of my favorite projects so far here with MD&A was problem-solving and helping to develop our welding process when it comes to the stellite hard facing of the components. It’s such a critical aspect to the component and the function within the turbine. It was really a great project to be able to collaborate across the divisions & departments, and to be able to work with skilled individuals that have the tribal knowledge that made what we do successful. It was really a privilege to learn from those individuals and help develop it. It was really a career developing opportunity for me and a lot of fun too!
A Career with a Powerful Purpose! Interested in joining our team? Take a look at our careers available.
Amber Rogers
At MD&A, we value professional development in our employees & promote from within the company! Here is an example of one: Amber Rodgers is MD&A’s Commercial Manager in our Turbine and Generator Controls Division & has worked here 2 years. Here’s her growth story:
Q: What was your career path at MD&A?
A: I am the Commercial Manager for Controls Division. I started with a temp agency as an office administrator, next I was brought on full time as an MD&A employee; Then I was then Promoted to Commercial Manager.
Q: Why did you choose to work for MD&A and why have you continued to choose to work at MD&A?
A: When I first began with MD&A, I was completing my degree in accounting. The Office Administrator role allowed me to use the skill set I was learning in school and apply it to my everyday work. I have continued to work for MD&A because of the culture and the people I work with. I came from a demanding industry with little to no work life balance. When I started at MD&A I was impressed with the flexibility and trust I was given with my schedule. In the beginning, I knew almost nothing about engineering or the power generation industry upon joining the MD&A team, but I was welcomed by people who were willing to share their expertise and who were ready to teach me!
Q: How would you describe our company culture?
A: My experience of the culture at MD&A has been one of mentorship, respect, and appreciation. I feel as though my colleagues and my supervisors want to see me succeed and that my effort is met with investment. I have been lucky to work with very patient mentors, and my professional development has been a priority for those around me. No one has ever made me feel insecure about what I don’t know yet. In fact, I have learned so much about the technical side of our industry, that I have been able to get promoted from within our company. I know I still have a ton to learn, but more importantly I know that I am in the right place to be supported in this mission and that piece of MD&A culture is truly unique.
Q: How has MD&A helped you in your career development ?
A: MD&A has opened career opportunities that I did not even know existed for me! Not in a million years did I think I would be working where I am now and being able to do what I do every day! It has been an amazing journey for the past 2 years and I am really excited for where it will take me in the long haul!
A Career with a Powerful Purpose! Interested in joining our team? Take a look at our careers available.
Andres Rodriguez
At MD&A, we value professional development in our employees & promote from within the company! Here is an example of one: Andres Rodriguez is MD&A’s Operations Manager in OSD & has worked here 8 years. Here’s his growth story:
Q: What do you do here at MD&A and what was your career path?
A: I am currently an operations manager working on planning and execution of steam turbine and generator outages. I started out in the Parts division working on proposals and upgrades for turbine seal systems. As I worked through some of the more complex projects I got an interest in operations management and have been working on that for the last couple of years.
Q: How has MD&A helped you in your career development?
A: MD&A has helped me by increasingly growing through challenging projects with added responsibility. I always feel like I have support (co-workers/ experts) to work through challenges, which has allowed me to grow gradually while seeing new challenges every day.
Q: What has been your favorite project at MD&A?
A: There have been many but one that comes to mind is a recent onsite rotor repair on a large steam turbine. It was something that had not been tried before and coming together with a set of experts to execute a novel solution under a tight execution timeline was challenging but at the same time very rewarding!
A Career with a Powerful Purpose! Interested in joining our team? Take a look at our careers available.
New Hires At MD&A
Bradley Bottera
Explore A Career with a Powerful Purpose! At MD&A, We truly work together, as one team! We collaborate, we listen, we innovate. We put energy behind everything we do! Meet new hire Bradley Bottera, a Welder at our Houston Service Center, which is our Gas Turbine Parts Service Facility with his thoughts on MD&A:
Q: Why did you choose to work for MD&A?
A: I chose to work here because it was the best choice for my family. It is really close to home and it seemed like a real family environment to come into.
Q: How would you describe our company culture?
A: Our company culture is pretty unique compared to other places I’ve been. Everybody gets along here and if there’s any issue, it is talked about and then figured out. Everybody goes back to working as a team and they keep the team spirit really strong here.
Q: What aspect do you enjoy most about your role at MD&A?
A: The aspect I enjoy the most here is probably the variety of things I get to work on. There’s always something new coming in the door and there’s always something that needs to be fixed.
A Career with a Powerful Purpose! Interested in joining our team? Take a look at our careers available.
Douglas Witte
We put energy behind everything we do! Meet new hire Douglas Witte, an assistant controller in St. Louis with his thoughts on MD&A:
Q; Why did you choose to work for MD&A ?
A: Most of my career has been in the St. Louis manufacturing and machining services market. With MD&A I saw an exciting opportunity to apply that skillset and be part of an organization that has earned a reputation as a leader in turbine and generator needs and repairs, both locally and globally.
Q: How would you describe our company culture?
A: MD&A’s focus on its people and commitment to customer needs has far exceeded my expectations. There is a true “all hands-on deck” mentality and everyone is focused on producing the highest quality service for our customers all while maintaining a focus on the safety of our employees and creating a dynamic, collaborative environment to work in. The company values hard work and ensures employees are recognized and rewarded for their accomplishments and dedication.
Q: What aspect do you enjoy most about your role at MD&A?
A: In my role as a finance leader for the company, I get to work across departments and with all levels of the organization. It is a fast paced and dynamic work environment that requires collaboration, communication, and cooperation from all team effort to be successful.
Q: How would you describe your co-workers at MD&A?
A: I cannot say enough good things about my co-workers and company leadership. I truly enjoy waking up and coming to work every day with these people. As mentioned, it is a truly collaborative work environment in which everyone is engaged and eager to help where needed.
Explore A Career with a Powerful Purpose! At MD&A, We truly work together, as one team! We collaborate, we listen, we innovate. Interested in joining our team? Take a look at our careers available.
Nicholas Cokenour
We put energy behind everything we do! Meet new hire Nicholas Cokenour, a steampath project engineer in St. Louis with his thoughts on MD&A:
Q; Why did you choose to work for MD&A ?
A: I chose to work in the MD&A Repairs Division here in Saint Louis because of both the importance, and variety of work. I enjoy having a career where I can point at the results of my work, and when it comes to something as ubiquitous as electricity, I get to point a lot!
Q: How would you describe our company culture?
A: I’ve seen MD&A’s commitment to safety and quality clearly reflected in every project. Our key role in ensuring reliable electricity production is taken very seriously.
Q: How would you describe your co-workers at MD&A?
A: During my time here, everyone has been a great mentor with a very clear interest in my growth as a professional. Being a fairly recent graduate, there’s a lot that isn’t taught in the classroom, and having reliable help to fill in the gaps has been great.
Q: What aspect do you enjoy most about your role at MD&A?
A: As a steampath project engineer, I get to see a wide variety of ongoing projects and repair work every day in our shop. I enjoy learning new things, and this role allows me to consistently broaden my understanding of both engineering and the power industry.
Explore A Career with a Powerful Purpose! At MD&A, We truly work together, as one team! We collaborate, we listen, we innovate. Interested in joining our team? Take a look at our careers available.
Eddie Santos
We put energy behind everything we do! Meet new hire Eddie Santos, our CNC Machinist at our Parts Division in Euclid OH with his thoughts on MD&A:
Q: Why did you choose to work for MD&A?
A: I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, I moved to Cleveland Ohio in 2014 & I been working as a CNC Machinist Programmer 9 ½ years already. I was looking for a new opportunity to grow and after I get interviewed and I see the organization and the safety culture so I started.
Q: What aspect do you enjoy most about your role at MD&A?
A: I started in my CNC machinist programmer position but after two months they notice that I can handle the PD Lead Machinist so I’m glad to be in that position now. I also enjoy being an important part of this awesome team! I enjoy any task or any project that I’m working on to be honest, I work in different areas of this BSH location and very happy since day one.
Q: How do you like your colleagues or other co-workers?
A: They are very respectful and we have the practice to take care each other no matter what and look out for the safety of every employee. That practice come with me in my personal education.
Explore A Career with a Powerful Purpose! At MD&A, We truly work together, as one team! We collaborate, we listen, we innovate. Interested in joining our team? Take a look at our careers available.
Ricky Zohner
We put energy behind everything we do! Meet new hire Ricky Zohner, Diaphragm Technician and Welder – Steampath Division with his thoughts on MD&A:
Q: Why did you choose to work for MD&A?
A: I chose MD&A after contracting here for three years. I’ve seen how they treat their employees and how they respect each other and are positive in the workplace.
Q: How would you describe our company culture?
A: Our company culture is positive, safe and respectful. All the employees are very respectful, as well as the bosses.
Q: What was the organization like when you joined?
A: When I joined in MD&A, a key aspect is everybody works together and has each other’s backs. They all treat each other with respect.
A Career with a Powerful Purpose! Interested in joining our team? Take a look at our careers available.
Clifford McCracken
We put energy behind everything we do! Meet new hire Clifford McCracken, Winder – Generator Division with his thoughts on MD&A:
Q: Why did you choose to work for MD&A?
A: The reason why I chose to work for MD&A is because they’re outstanding people and they’re very knowledgeable about generator fields. Also MD&A as a company is diverse and full-service as they have many other divisions too.
Q: How would you describe your colleagues or other co-workers?
A: Most everyone in my department, in my division are younger than I am, and I feel like a father figure. I like to help train some of these guys, but I do learn from these guys too.
Q: What aspect do you enjoy most about your role?
A: I really enjoy being able to meet various people. As we get different projects, we work together on them, and I get to work with different people all the time.
A Career with a Powerful Purpose! Interested in joining our team? Take a look at our careers available.
