Amid a struggling economy, in a city at the center of the recent energy industry upheaval and at a time when corporate scandals and governance concerns dominate the news, Varello sees one more trend emerging – one of unprecedented opportunity. In fact, he expects Commonwealth to employ a team of more than 200 engineering and construction management personnel.

I'm getting consistent feedback from potential customers that there's a growing need for firms that can provide cost effective new technologies to manage projects,” said Varello. He said this often includes working on owner's teams during the planning, design and construction phases of a project. It also involves supporting special projects for plant engineering and maintenance personnel and coordinating the work of other contractors and engineers.

While exchanging views with industry colleagues on the best approach to serve this market, Varello also made another discovery. The recent downturn had created a pool of very capable and experienced individuals willing to support his new initiative. As a result, he was able to access the collective wisdom and experience of many executives from the industry who had recently retired or sold their businesses. Younger employees, seeing limited career opportunities with larger firms, have also joined the company.

Commonwealth's founder and key management personnel are professional engineers who have served in both owner and engineering organizations. This perspective brings additional understanding and appreciation of clients' priorities and operating challenges. It also inspired the Commonwealth name; selected to underscore the shared motivations and rewards of the firm and its clients, and among employees, their families and other stakeholders of the company.

Varello also takes a decidedly positive view on the recent media attention to corporate ethics and governance. "As a new entity, we have a unique opportunity to create an organization with the highest standards of ethics and professionalism as the foundation of our company values and culture," said Varello. "In addition to our client relationships, we will reinforce these values in our compensation structure, our employment policies and our community relations." He noted that he intends to create an employee culture that meets or exceeds his most recent experience at American Ref-Fuel Company, which rated in the top three companies of its size among the Houston Business Journal's Best Places to Work during Varello's tenure as CEO.

Commonwealth's offices are at 10255 Richmond Avenue, in the Westchase area of Houston, a location selected to capitalize on the concentration of high profile engineering firms in the area.

"We have every intention to grow," said Varello, "but never at the expense of customer focus." He adds, "We expect that to be the hallmark of Commonwealth's approach for many years to come.