Fostering Partnerships to Grow a Business in Transportation

Susan Park Rani is being honored as a Transportation Ladders of Opportunity Champion of Change.

I am truly honored to be a White House Champion of Change and to have the opportunity to take part in this event.   

Like education, public safety, and health and wellness, transportation is a critically important bipartisan issue facing our nation. Moving goods and people to their destinations efficiently and effectively gives our nation the competitive advantage it needs to compete and thrive in the global marketplace today. This is an important and exciting sector of the economy where much innovation in planning, design, and project delivery is destined to provide a greater positive economic impact than in days past.

I began my career as a professional engineer/business owner when there were no female minority engineering firms in Minnesota. As a pioneer, I looked for creative ways to partner with other firms, engaged in trade and business association with the goal of making a difference in my community. I did not start out with the sole intent to create jobs, but today that is exactly what Rani Engineering is doing for our community.

From the start, I knew that I had much to learn about the business of consulting engineering and that I needed to find ways to get my foot in the door on new projects. Being a minority female owned engineering firm gave me both a challenge and a great opportunity. The opportunity was that given the economic development goals identified on federally funded transportation projects, we had a chance to compete and earn business.  Our company began by securing small contracts working as a sub-consultant to larger established engineering firms in the community. With time, we accumulated a growing list of successful projects and earned our reputation for quality work and name recognition. Successful project completion invited more invitations for greater participation on larger projects.  This also allowed our firm to establish trusted relationships and partnerships in the engineering and transportation community. At the same time, we sought to be active in both trade and business associations on the board level. Those organizations included St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, American Consulting Engineering Companies, MN, Association of Women Contractors and National Association of Minority Contractors.

Another important decision was to join the City of St. Paul Mayor’s taskforce established to engage with the businesses along the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit (Green Line) in developing a land use framework that would affect the project well before the design effort. This participation resulted in Rani Engineering being chosen to join the team that ultimately won the design contract. Since that time, we have had the opportunity to work on three major light rail transit (LRT) projects in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area and this gave us a chance to start and grow a rail signal niche. Future transit rail and other transportation improvement projects are expected, so we continue to work diligently to earn business, develop and deepen relationships and to grow within our community. 

Today we are a mature firm with over 20 years of history and unlike in the days I began Rani Engineering, there are many women owned and/or minority firms successfully navigating and thriving in the transportation consulting industry in our community.    

Susan Park Rani is Founder and President of Rani Engineering Inc. A DBE Certified firm specializing in Civil Engineering, Land Surveying, and Rail Signal Services.