ST. LOUIS – The HFW Companies (HFW), in an effort to drive consistent project delivery excellence among all its civil engineering firms in the Southeast, has created a new director-of-projects position for the region and hired Lance Cheely, PLA, MBA, LEED AP, for the role.
Cheely, based in North Augusta, S.C., joins HFW from Augusta, Ga.-based CRANSTON, one of several engineering firms in the Southeast that are part of the HFW Comp
any Network. Cheely, a registered landscape architect, most recently served CRANSTON as its manager of projects, as well as principal of landscape architecture for the firm.
“We’re excited to have created this new role for the Southeast to help drive consistency and increase synergies in our project delivery across several of our engineering firms within that geographic market,” said Mike Desrochers, PE, PMP, vice president of Project Excellence & Delivery at HFW. “There’s no doubt that Lance was the right person for this new role. His intimate knowledge of the project delivery process and performance in his role at CRANSTON will be a great benefit as he settles into this newly created position.”
Cheely, for his part, said he brings a practical, delivery-focused approach to the new role that is grounded in 17 years of professional experience across planning, design, and project leadership.
“My work is driven by a clear belief that strong project outcomes come from equipping project managers with the tools, systems, and support they need to lead confidently and deliver at the highest level,” Cheely said of his business philosophy. “My leadership philosophy centers on people – developing project managers, fostering clarity in roles and expectations, and building teams that are both technically excellent and resilient under real-world pressures.”
Cheely earned his Master of Business Administration degree from Georgia Regents University and his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from The University of Georgia.
HFW, a professional services company founded in 2020, is a premier, best-in-class, national network of AE companies. HFW, in its role, amplifies the collective expertise of its network and provides the operations platform and resources needed to create greater long-term value for the network firms, employees, clients, investors, and the communities it serves.
HFW currently includes a portfolio of 10 AE firms with a combined 700-plus employees and collective annual revenues that placed HFW at No. 203 in Engineering News-Record’s Top 500 ranking of the largest AEC companies in 2025.
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For more information about The HFW Companies and its new director of projects, contact Daniel Bates at 412.310.3167 or at daniel.bates@hfwcompanies.com.