Meet Our Leadership

Donald Gary Sherman, P.E.

Don, D.G., or the 'Shermanator'

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Developing Successful Business Development Programs

Don Sherman, Principal and Director of Market-Masters offers award-winning program and project leadership in Civil & Environmental Engineering, Architecture, and IT/Telecom/Broadband Infrastructure for public, private, and non-profit clients. He has specializes building A/E/C Business Development Program to consistently win and deliver large infrastructure programs/projects valued from $5 million to $5 billion USD. 

Don and the strategic pursuit leaders he has trained have been responsible for over 1,000 strategic pursuits with an 80% win rate, resulting in over $10 billion in fees since 2000.   He has led business development work in over 20 countries, with particular emphasis on the United States, Canada, United Kingdom,  Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, India, and Singapore.

Becoming a Seller-Doer

Don's business development career began as a young Project Engineer at SCS, when the firm's backlog was low and was given a choice -- win new work, or find a new employer. He won his first proposal with the U.S. Army COE and his role as a 'seller-doer' began.  Soon he began winning enough work for himself, his group, the office, and more.  

Learning How Selections Are Made

While working on assignment to the Dept. of Interior OWRT for Centec Corporation, Don reviewed hundreds of proposals to compile a publication of project abstracts and in whose Congressional Districts money was spent.  And he learned how final selections for competitive procurement were made.  If the review panel (of 'technical buyers') recommended selection of an unfamiliar firm, the procurement code allowed for additional reviewers. Multiple reviewers could be added until a known and trusted firm could be recommended to department head (the economic buyer'). 

Where Work Comes From - Clients with Challenges and Money to Spend

Don went on to become Federal Systems Marketing Manager for turnkey IT systems for Federal Budgeting and Program Management until the product line, was sold to a division of General Electric.  In this role, Don became a member of the AABPA (American Association for Budget & Program Analysis), and sat in on high-level Federal Agency budget decision-making sessions. The outcome determined what went to Congress (political buyers) for approval and funding.

Have a Systematic Approach to Building Strong Client Relationships

As Senor Associate at Malcolm Pirnie (Arcadis) Don continued as a seller-doer and worked' with the corporate IT group to implement the company's West Region business development CRM system.  As Dames & Moore's (AECOM) Don served as Inter-mountain Region Marketing Director.  

 Malcolm Pirnie operated as strong collaborative Client-Service Delivery Model without profit centers primarily with public sector clients in Arizona & California.  Dames & Moore operated as a Technical Expert Delivery Model firm with a global footprint and a mix of public sector and Fortune 500 clients.  Their business leaders were highly entrepreneurial experts whose individual and office P&L was closely tracked. Don learned to adapt his systematic, relationship driven BD approach from Malcolm Pirnie to Dames & Moore. 

Net Probable Revenue Forecasts and Client Debriefings Support Tough Decisions

Returning to Malcolm Pirnie, Don was relocated to Florida to assess the firm's market viability and service delivery approach.  Over the next year, he assessed the region's business development and service delivery strategy and resources to win work and satisfy clients. 

Analyzing the Florida offices' portfolio of opportunities showed that the ratio of 'net probable revenue/backlog' to 'total gross revenue revenue of targeted opportunities' was consistently less than 20%.  And, client debriefings revealed that the firm was "politically" unselectable due to firm's service delivery approach of sending work to a distant, corporate design center instead of working locally. Additionally, all significant technical, financial, and legal decisions required approval of one or more S-Corp Partners in the New York headquarters.  As a result, the Florida offices were closed until a Partner relocated to Florida.

Learning from the Masters - Winning by Design, not Chance 

Don's BD responsibility increased to ten Midwest and Gulf Coast offices for Malcolm Pirnie (Arcadis) when he participated in a hands-on course that would become the foundation of Market Masters' business development program success.  Dag Knudsen's workshops and publications "Client Account Analysis" and "Design & Delivery of Winning Presentation and Proposals" are processes are critical building blocks of Market Masters' templated Capture Planning process. 

Putting it all Together - BLIMPs and Strategic Pursuits

At HDR Engineering, Don was hired on the promise that he could create a Bottom Line Impact Maximizing Program (BLIMP) program to achieve a 75% win rate on large projects with fees of $5-million or more within four years.   Working with HDR's President and Water, Environment, and Transportation Executive Vice Presidents the targeted projects win rate exceeded 90% in the first year, and wins exceeding $5-million fees was achieved by the second year.  The keys to success were: 

1. developing a templated capture planning process, 
2. training senior corporate leaders and managers
3. CPR screening to target a portfolio of winnable opportunities 

The program was rebranded as HDR's Strategic Pursuit Program and specialized Strategic Pursuit Leadership training was provided to enable the program to expand to HDR Architecture as well as strategic teaming partner for large Design-Build construction and Program Management pursuits.

Global Business Development and the President's List

Don joined MWH Global (Stantec) as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) just as the 2008 recession dramatically slowed many of the firm's private sector business lines, including industrial and mining.  Don was responsible for implementing the "President's List" global strategic pursuit program and led firmwide training to enable MWH to maintain and grow its water and environment business lines.  While CMO, the firm won water & wastewater PM/CM contracts with seven of the ten privatized U.K. water companies, and design of the third set of locks for the Panama Canal expansion.