In October 1987, a 16-year-old boy who loved to solve problems was beginning his junior year at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City, NJ, studying math and science and planning on becoming an engineer—the ultimate problem-solving profession.
At the same time, a handful of employees at an engineering firm across the Hudson were setting up shop in a sparse office on West 25th Street in Chelsea. Although neither the boy nor the firm knew it then, both were embarking on journeys that would merge several years later.
The firm, of course, was RAND, and the boy, Peter Varsalona, now RAND's Principal and Vice President. The convergence itself didn't happen until the spring of 1992, when Peter, by then a mechanical engineering student in his junior year at Columbia University, saw an ad for an internship RAND posted on the school's job bulletin board.
Peter was one of three interns RAND hired that summer, and the only one who was asked to come back and work part time when school began in the fall. RAND's President Stephen Varone and the engineers Peter assisted were so impressed by his quick learning and enthusiasm that they offered him a full-time engineering position when he graduated the following spring. He's been here ever since.
Right from the start, Peter knew he had found his place. "I didn't want to be a cog in a big, impersonal company," Peter says. "I could see RAND was a different kind of company with a different kind of atmosphere."
For its part, RAND knew Peter was a different kind of engineer. Not only did he demonstrate a technical proficiency, but he was also a hit with clients, proving himself the adept problem solver he always wanted to be. Along the way, Peter continued to grow professionally, taking on larger, more complex projects and helping clients to better understand their buildings and keep them operating well. The former intern soon became a RAND superstar, receiving his Professional Engineer's license in 1999 and promoted to Principal and Vice President in 2001.
By all accounts, Peter's personal and professional journey at RAND has been a huge success—and not just on the engineering side. "Success is more than the nuts and bolts of getting something to work," Peter says. "It's also making your clients happy."
To read how Peter has been solving problems and making clients (and colleagues) happy since his intern days, click on his photo above to see the latest in RAND's 25th anniversary ad campaign in Habitat magazine, which previously featured the firm's Grand Dame, the engineer who has provided Moral and Structual Support, and RAND's Jack of All Trades.
In today's rapidly changing work world, it's rare for someone to spend his entire career at one company. For the intern who grew up to be Principal, it's not a problem he'll ever have to solve.
