Executive engineers rapid growth at Garver's Tampa aviation hub

David Gordon’s aviation career began with a cold call and an offer few employers could refuse: He would work for free.

While studying civil engineering at the University of Florida, Gordon contacted Gainesville Regional Airport about becoming an unpaid intern. Airport officials agreed, and the role eventually became a paid position that exposed the energetic young student to nearly every corner of the operation — from engineering work to sweeping curbs and pulling weeds.

Photo by Mark Wemple

That job fueled a passion Gordon has carried into his role as a senior project manager for engineering firm Garver. He now leads the Arkansas-based firm’s Tampa Aviation Design Center, overseeing a team that works on airport projects nationwide. 

“We basically do aviation civil engineering across the country,” Gordon says. “I’ve got a team of about 15 people working on projects all over.”

Since joining Garver as its third employee based in Florida, Gordon has helped expand the firm’s aviation footprint throughout the state. His work includes projects at airports in Tampa, Orlando, Pensacola and South Florida, as well as a runway extension for a small general aviation airport in the Panhandle. Gordon also led Garver to its first project at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, managing a service-road safety improvement plan. 

Under Gordon’s leadership the Tampa design center has grown from six employees to 17, and revenue has increased around 130%, from $2.6 million in 2024 to a projected $6 million in 2026, the company says. The team has contributed to major projects nationwide, including a $4 billion terminal design at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

For Gordon, though, the most rewarding part of the job isn’t winning a high-dollar contract, but investing in the growth of developing engineers around him. 

“I’ve got a big group of young people,” he says. “They’re energetic. They have great attitudes. They love coming into work and it’s a fun place to be.”

The company’s rapid growth is a draw for young talent, but it also creates one of Gordon’s biggest leadership challenges: maintaining quality without personally influencing every project Garver takes on.

“Making sure that I’m raising up my leaders to push the mentality that I want is really key,” he says. “That’s definitely a growing pain.”

Gordon credits mentor Matt Serynek, his former boss and a colleague for more than a decade, with helping him become a more decisive and confident leader. Engineers, Gordon says, can spend too long searching for a perfect answer when the best course is often to make a well-informed choice with the available facts.

That lesson is particularly important in aviation engineering, where projects carry significant safety risks. Gordon says earning clients’ trust requires candor, especially when something goes wrong.

“If we make a mistake, own up to it. Don’t try and hide it,” he says. “You’ll gain a lot of respect from your clients if you’re very forthright with them.”