There’s New York — the city that never sleeps (mainly because of all the sirens and honking), a haven of 24-hour convenience, aspiring starlets, eclectic art and exquisite dining. Then there’s fishing, a sport of silence, broken only by clanging cans of worms.
The two do not appear to mesh, but for Gregory C. Freeman, newly appointed senior engineer at BL Companies in Meriden, they are both familiar backgrounds.
With 11 years of experience as a senior engineer in New York City for Weidlinger Associates, and a few weeks at his new post at BL, Freeman has every intention of staying on his path, but said if he could ever veer, he would run a fishing charter.
“Maybe I enjoy it because I only do it on the weekends,” said Freeman. But for now, “I’d like to continue to watch [BL] grow,” he added.
Freeman, 35, grew up in West Hartford, moved to New York to get his bachelor of science degree from Columbia University in 1994 and then took off to the West to get his master of science degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1995. He went back to New York after school to work for Weidlinger and start a family, but the commute and real estate prices dug into his personal time and pockets. So he is back in West Hartford and reveling in his new position.
The staff “seemed like a good group of people to work with and that’s been confirmed in the first week,” he said.
Freeman, a licensed professional engineer in Connecticut and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, decided he wanted to be an engineer in college, but all the signs were present when he was younger, from his quick grasp of science and math to his love of building blocks when he was just a tot.
While he does enjoy the hands-on tasks such as technical issues and project management, Freeman could stand to dodge budgeting issues, although they are an important aspect of the job.
“I enjoy the technical challenges, but also seeing a building come together,” he said. “You can see the fruits of your work concretely.”
Amanda Blaszyk is a staff writer for the Hartford Business Journal.
