During a boyhood in Abruzzo, Italy, Tony Franceschini aspired to great heights, climbing fig trees.

At age 50, the son of a labourer is still reaching for the stars as chief executive of Stantec Inc., a 47-year-old engineering firm with a market capitalization of $153 million.

Stantec, which has its head office in Edmonton and employs 3,000 people in 40 offices in North America and the Caribbean, led the engineering team that built the spectacular 12.9-kilometre Confederation Bridge connecting Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

But Franceschini isn’t resting on the company’s laurels. In fact, in a sense, the Edmontonian is still climbing that fig tree. He says he won’t rest easy until the company reaches its goal of being one of the world’s top 10 engineering firms.

Ben Hyatt, for Business Edge
Stantec CEO Tony Franceschini led the team that build the 12.9-kilometre Confederation Bridge.

1. Why did your family move to Toronto from Italy in 1960?

“My family was a working-class blue-collar family that was looking for better opportunities. At that time, things in Italy weren’t great so they decided to move to the New World for a better life. It has worked out well for our family.”

2. What was your boyhood dream?

“When I was 10, 11, 12, I used to mess around with mechanical engineering things. My first ambition was to be an aeronautical engineer. I liked planes and I liked building model airplanes. As I got older, I started to develop an interest in transportation.

I started to look at the Gardiner Expressway that had just been built in Toronto and I thought it would be interesting to work on projects like that.”

3. Your first work experience?

“I worked in a grocery store, selling fruits and vegetables, in Grade 5 in the west end of Toronto. I couldn’t get a paper route, so I got a TV Guide route.”

4. How important was education in your family?

“Neither of my parents had any post-secondary education, so to them going to university was a big deal for their son. Their goal in life was that I would have an opportunity to have a post-secondary education.”

5. Who was your mentor?

“My first mentor was Bill Malone, the president and CEO of the very first company that I worked for (De Leuw Cather). When I was very young, I read an article about Bill being head of the company that built the Gardiner Expressway. Eight years later, when I graduated from the University of Waterloo, I went to work for that company. For whatever reason, Bill Malone took this interest in me and it was great because he was showing me all the things I wanted to do. After that, Ron Triffo, our chairman with Stantec, was a mentor.”

6. What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received?

“Believe in your vision and your goals and achieve your goals while maintaining your integrity and the basic business values that you believe in. I think that nice guys can finish first.”

7. Is winning everything?

“Winning is better than losing. But how you win is very important to me. I think winning at all costs is not part of what drives me as an individual. I think that you have to do it with grace and humility and, if you don’t, it’s kind of a hollow win.”

8. How important is money to you?

“It’s a little bit like winning. Once you have a certain amount, it has decreasing importance. I think that when I was growing up and I had my first job and was making $10,000 a year and supporting a family, it becomes fairly important that you have a little more money. I have what you would call the more traditional, European culture where you saved first and then you spend. When I was younger, you had to be a little more discerning in how you spend your resources.”

9. So your lifestyle isn’t too extravagant?

“No. I wouldn’t make the A list on the social calendar.”

10. Of which personal accomplishment are you most proud?

“I’m proud to have been in a relationship with my wife since 1975 and we have two children.”

11. Of which business accomplishment are you most proud?

“It’s in achieving the CEO role in Stantec (in 1998), a company that I’ve worked with for 23 years. I’ve been able to see the evolution of the company and being in a position to lead a group of 3,000 staff, a third of which are professionals in the field that I’m passionate about. It’s the most fun I can have with my clothes on.”

12. Is there one project of which you’re particularly proud?

“The pivotal project for our organization was the Confederation Bridge. We were two firms from Calgary (SC Infrastructure Inc.) and Edmonton (Stantec) really competing against incredible odds against 13 different consortiums to design and build and operate this link. Nobody gave us a chance. It’s not the most technically challenging project we’ve done, but it’s the highest profile, being the one that has tremendous significance in terms of national unity. You probably only do one of those in your career. It was a tremendous feeling.”

13. What’s your vision for Stantec for 2008?

“We want to be one of the top 10 global design firms. What that means for us is that our fee revenue would have to increase to over a billion dollars (annually) and we’re at about 300 million today. It means we would have a major presence and be among the top four or five firms in North America. We’re well on our way to achieving that.”

14. How do you manage to balance business and personal life?

“That is probably the most difficult challenge. I’ve learned to say no a lot more often. You simply don’t have time to do everything — the social, the business, the family, the personal health, fitness and leisure. I’ve started to create more of a balance. In the last year, I’ve started to make time for my own personal health and fitness.”

15. What are you doing in terms of health and fitness?

“I set a goal about a year ago that I would run my first marathon this year at age 50. So on May 20 I’m running in the Edmonton Festival City Marathon. I’m comfortable that I can finish it in four and a half hours. Recently, I peaked my training at 30 miles a week. I feel better now and have more energy during the day. When I told my wife I was going to do this, she asked me if my insurance was all up to date.”

16. How do you train when on the road?

“I was in Barbados last month on business. The streets are very narrow and there’s no room to run, so I went out and ran on the horse race track — a three-quarter mile track.

The horses were running in the opposite direction. It changes your lifestyle. You go to bed earlier, you get up earlier and you don’t drink as much.”

17. If you could snap your fingers and do one thing to improve the quality of life in Edmonton, what would that be?

“I would say that I'd like to (ensure) that there were no homeless people. There are things we can do to make sure no one goes hungry and lives without shelter because everybody has to have those basics. . . . With the way the economy is and with the wealth that exists in the province, you would hope it’s not getting worse. There’s enough money and resources here where it shouldn’t be an issue.”

18. You call in sick tomorrow. How do you spend the day?

“I’d probably go golfing. It relaxes me. I would go for a short run, a nice run — only an hour and a half. If I had more time, I would go to Hawaii, sit on the beach and read a book.”

19. One celebrity you’d like to meet?

“I’ve always wanted to meet the president of the most powerful country in the world and see how they differ from someone like us. Regardless of the individual, and it happens to be (George W.) Bush right now and I have no strong opinion of him one way or the other, it would be exciting to meet him.”

20. What do you see in your life’s crystal ball?

“It’s very difficult to think about what happens in the future. What I’ve found in my life is that every time you reach a goal, it’s like reaching the top of a mountain and what you see is that the world looks different from atop the mountain that it did from half way up the mountain.

“When you reach the level where you can see that great expanse, there’s even more challenges and things you didn’t even know existed. Every time you reach a goal, you’re never at the end. You’re just really exploring what else is out there.”

THE COMPANY: Stantec Inc.

* Brass: Tony Franceschini, president/CEO; Ron Triffo, chairman.

* Profile: Stantec is an engineering firm providing knowledge-based solutions to infrastructure and facilities projects through professional services and technologies. It employs 3,000 people through 40 offices, including 500 in Edmonton and 300 in Calgary.

* Claim to fame: Stantec led the engineering team that built the 12.9-kilometre Confederation Bridge, which links New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

* Stats: Stantec recently announced a 42-per-cent increase in net revenue to $62.6 million for its latest quarter.

* Recent stock price (STN-TSE): $18.30 (year range, $12.05-$18.30).

* Website: www.stantec.com

* Address: #200-10160 112 St., Edmonton T5K 2L6.

* Phone/Fax: 780-917-7000, 780-917-7330.

IN PROFILE: Tony Franceschini

* Born/raised/age: Abruzzo, Italy; Abruzzo, Toronto; 50.

* Title: President/CEO (since 1998), Stantec Inc. (professional engineer).

* Education: University of Alberta graduate studies, University of Waterloo (civil engineering degree).

* Family: Wife Daniela, son Michael 23, daughter Laura, 21.

* Resume: Employed by Stantec for the past 23 years, previously vice-president and chief operating officer, consulting services.

* Claim to fame: Training to run his first full marathon on May 20.

* Passions: Fitness, golf.