(This is one of our profiles on this year’s recipients selected by an anonymous committee out of an extensive list of nominees for the 2024 Lincoln Leader Award. The Lincoln Parish Journal thanks Mayor Ronny Walker and the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce for their support of this award. We would like to thank Kevin Hawkins at HawkinsPhoto.com for the headshots).
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Name: John Robert Smith
Age: 38
Employer: HGA (Hunt, Guillot & Associates)
Title: Ruston Operations Manager (Engineering Business Unit)
Hometown: Ruston, La.
Years Living in Ruston: 38 Years
Civic Volunteer Organizations: Active member of Trinity Methodist Church in Ruston: Served as member on the General Council for three years, serve as Traditional Service Usher, have served as a mentor for the 6th Grade Confirmation Class. Volunteer coach for Ruston Youth Baseball (Regular League Play and Allstars – Multiple Years); Volunteer coach for Ruston Parks and Recreation – Football and Soccer Leagues previously).
Professional Highlights: Working with a great team of professionals at HGA over the last 12+ years to find solutions that meet if not exceed our customers’ expectations. I have been fortunate to work in a variety of industries that HGA serves and roles from project engineering, project management, and now in operations. I enjoy building relationships with people which is at the core of HGA’s focus internally and externally. Getting to be a part of projects that help progress our local communities’ infrastructure as well as our Nation’s sustainability and growth is something I am very proud and appreciative to be a part of. I am currently in my second year of a three-year program called “ECC Future Leader Program”. I was nominated to be a part of this program by HGA, which promotes leadership, networking within our industry, and collaboration with peers in the Capital Projects Engineering & Construction Community. I recently completed Leadership Lincoln ’23-’24 program through the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce which was also supported by HGA. It was a great experience and opportunity to meet and hear from local leaders and see organizations and industries within our community.
Trotter Hunt, Vice President of HGA, on John Robert Smith:
“I’m proud to have John Robert Smith as a friend and as a colleague at HGA. He is sharp, a hard-worker and a great communicator. I appreciate the leadership he exhibits in the workplace and within our community.
“John Robert began his career at HGA as a junior project manager. In this position, in addition to managing a variety of smaller projects, he played a key role in supporting Williams Companies in the design of compressor stations for their cross-country transmission pipeline projects. Excellent performance on these projects led to Williams becoming an alliance client for HGA. HGA has been executing projects for Williams consistently since 2010. After serving as a project manager for many years, John Robert recently moved into the operations manager role for the HGA Ruston engineering office. In this role, in addition to project management, he also leads our engineering disciplines in the Ruston office.
“Throughout his career John Robert has been able to develop strong relationships with clients and colleagues by genuinely listening to concerns, being very prepared, and delivering on commitments. Everyone at HGA would like to congratulate John Robert on being nominated for the 2024 Rising Lincoln Leaders award.”
Q&A with John Robert Smith
What makes Lincoln Parish special?
Lincoln Parish is very unique in its makeup. To have two recognized and historical universities creates a great opportunity for people from all over to come to our area as well as provide an opportunity for our local communities to be a part of these great institutions. Being a lifetime resident of Ruston and Lincoln Parish, it is great to see the growth and progress our community has seen over my lifetime. The commitment of our local leaders to continue the investments in our Parish, Municipalities, Schools, Commerce, and Infrastructure is not something see in other “rural” areas like ours.
How do you see your role/place in making our parish such a wonderful place to call home?
Lincoln Parish is home. My beautiful wife (Mandy) of 14+ years and I are raising our kids here and do not intend to go anywhere else. We know that it takes more than the governing bodies to make our community succeed and we are committed to doing our part in contributing time and resources where we can.
Who has played a role in your professional development and why?
It is hard to narrow it down to one or even two individuals. I have worked with a multitude of great professionals over the last 12+ years at HGA who have all helped me along the way. From the time I came into this organization as a young project engineer with only 3 years of experience I have been greeted with helping hands, mentorship, and friendship(s). It is that culture that has played the biggest role on my professional development.
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