Hunt Engineers and Architects has named Vice President Chris Bond, P.E. as its new president.
A Watkins Glen, NY resident, Bond takes over the leadership of the Horseheads-based firm from Dan Bower, who will remain as CEO and Chief Strategic Officer. Bond is only the third president of the 150-employee company, which was founded by Robert Hunt in the wake of the devastating 1972 Corning, NY floods.
Bond will manage the day-to-day operations of the firm while Bower will focus on corporate initiatives, strategic planning and business development, as well as the transition.
Bond is a familiar face in the Elmira, Corning, and neighboring municipalities. His engineering project experience has put him in front of innumerable planning and community groups, and he has held multiple leadership positions on the board of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACECNY), including the NYS Secretary in 2010, as well serving on the Watkins Glen Planning Board.
According to Bower, “As early as the drafting of our 2003 Hunt transition plan, Chris’s ultimate promotion to president was an integral ingredient. Even then we knew his knowledge, experience, and vision were exactly what we wanted in the next Hunt leader.”
Speaking in an interview at their Horseheads office, Bond asserted that “2018 was one of our strongest years, so I couldn’t have been luckier in regard to the timing of this appointment. Staying ahead of the curve when it comes to business practices and technology has always been a Hunt trademark, and at the same time my immediate priorities are going to be those cultural initiatives like personnel development and bolstering our project management capacity.”
Bond graduated from Clarkson University in 1988 and immediately joined Hunt’s Transportation Division -- then led by Chuck Franzese. He honed his skills as a structural engineer predominantly on bridges in upstate New York, and by 1995 was working on a variety of building structures. In 1993, Bond earned his Professional Engineering license, and subsequently rose within Hunt to Director of Structural Engineering in 2001, Principal (2004), Corporate Secretary (2006), and Vice President (2015).
Working on hundreds of horizontal and vertical design projects, Bond’s professional highlights include the structural design of additions and alterations at the Dansville Central School, the concrete design at the water filtration facility in the Village of Watkins Glen, and the horizontally curved, New York State Route 23 Bridge. Other projects included Cornell’s Beebe Dam Foot Bridge, Schuyler County’s Shared Service Building, and the Corning Nasser Civic Center Ice Rink renovations.
A longtime Finger Lakes resident, he and his wife, Michelle, have raised three daughters in Watkins Glen: Stephanie (teacher in Corning), Sarah (PhD candidate at the University of Penn), and Maggie (junior at RPI). They attend St. Mary’s Church.
Chris was raised on a wine grape farm, and he and his family enjoy DIY home improvement projects, traveling, and college sports (basketball, swimming and diving). A regular at the Army-Navy football game, Bond is known to travel all over the country for Cross Country, where his youngest competes at the national level.