History : A heritage built on trust
Our company was founded on core values that include caring about our clients and having integrity in all that we do.
Having clients who are satisfied with each project is just part of our legacy. We also have built our reputation by being trustworthy and establishing lasting relationships.
Our story begins in January 1968, when Tom Seckman, Andy Reid, Lester Smith and Bobby Smith gathered in a house in Nashville, Tennessee, to draft their “magna carta” for a new company. They agreed to 16 items that winter day, including core values of trust and reliability. They also named their new firm: Smith Seckman Reid, Inc., which opened for business the next month – and over the years has become known as SSR.
The first project was a small church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. We were paid $825. Later that year, SSR was hired by Hospital Corporation of America, at the time a new for-profit hospital company building 24 hospitals across the southeastern United States. That relationship set the foundation for our engineering firm and provided a steady stream of work and cash flow.
Since then, we have added staff, tools and offices. We have built experience and expertise to better serve our clients. We have expanded and diversified to provide consulting services to some of the country's most prestigious health care, infrastructure, sports and entertainment, education, commercial and industrial projects.
While almost every tool we use has changed in 40-plus years, our core values are still fundamental to our culture. We care about our people. We give them the freedom and autonomy to grow and succeed. We care about clients and want to ensure their satisfaction, always. These are the underlying reasons for our success.