Member Portrait: Ray Cox, Highfill Infrastructure Engineering

This Member Portrait was originally printed in the Spring 2016 issue of NC Currents magazine. 

As a project manager, Highfill Infrastructure Engineering’s Ray Cox knows the importance of adjusting course. When working on a project, his first step involves understanding the parameters and objectives from all stakeholder perspectives. Then, he visualizes the finished product and plans a course to reach the final goal. “As conditions or circumstances change – and they often do with aging infrastructure – you adjust the course,” he explains. “The key is to stay focused on the end product and to take active steps toward it, not allowing distractions and other influences to cause you to stray off course.”

His approach to project management is an apt metaphor for his own life, including a career that features a decisive change in course, followed by an unflinching focus on developing his expertise as a consultant in the water and wastewater industry. After graduating from North Carolina State University in 1993, with a bachelor’s degree in biological and agricultural engineering, Cox worked for five years in various wastewater-related permitting jobs for what is now the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Part of his work involved serving on the first team to develop the Environmental Permit Information Center (EPIC), which evolved into DEQ’s Customer Service and One-Stop Permitting programs.

While he was at NC DEQ, his supervisor, Carolyn Underwood, encouraged him to attend the NC AWWA-WEA Annual Conference. “That was my first exposure to the industry and the beginning of my affinity for it,” recalls Cox. “It became evident to me, relatively quickly, that consulting was the proper fit.”

He continued to develop his project management and regulatory expertise with a couple of consulting firms over the next seven years. During that period, in 1998, the senior vice president of W.K Dickson, David Pond, encouraged Cox to become a member of both the Professional Engineers of North Carolina (PENC) and the NC AWWA-WEA.  Over the years, he served PENC in various local chapter officer and state-level committee roles, eventually joining the board of trustees and serving as president in 2007.

At the same time, he became actively involved with the NC AWWA-WEA. “I joined a committee and began to teach at some of the schools,” he recalls. “I was quickly exposed to a wealth of leadership development opportunities, and opportunities to collaborate with some of the best and brightest water industry and engineering professionals in the country.”

As his exposure grew, so did his passion for the industry. In 2005, Cox decided to join Tyler Highfill at his newly founded company, Highfill Infrastructure Engineering. “I purchased shares and began work as a vice-president and owner,” he recalls. “That has been the single best career decision of my life.”

Since then, Cox has continued to be actively involved in the NC AWWA-WEA. He has served as member and chair for both the Reuse and the Endowment committees, and has been part of the Distribution and Collection Schools Committee as a member and instructor. Currently the vice-chair of the NC AWWA-WEA board of trustees, he is scheduled to fulfill the position of chair in 2018. “I am honored and humbled that my peers see me as a leader in the industry and have entrusted this responsibility to me,” says Cox. “I am grateful to serve on the board of trustees with an impressive group of leaders from across North Carolina.”

He sees his involvement with the board as instrumental in the development of his own leadership skills, encompassing traits that make him an effective project manager. These include being a good listener; being organized, timely, and decisive; having empathy for all parties (client, project team, regulators, other stakeholders); and being able to communicate effectively.

Cox notes that his participation in NC AWWA-WEA has also afforded him the opportunity to build strong relationships with decision makers throughout the industry. This has resulted not only in many business opportunities, but also in a strong sense of community with other people working in water and wastewater. “The most active members of NC AWWA-WEA are like a very big family,” confirms Cox, adding that he believes that relationships built on trust are the key to being successful in business – and in life.

After starting in the water industry, Cox started pursuing another passion: playing the guitar. Learning to play in his late 20s, his talent and interest grew until five or so years ago he began performing professionally. “Music is such a powerful medium,” he says. “I love the way it can lift people’s spirits and make them want to move. Being able to help set up the ambience for people to enjoy themselves for a few minutes is such a rewarding experience. I played once on the back of the USS North Carolina battleship, which is permanently docked in Wilmington. That was probably the coolest setting for a gig to date. The fact that I was performing for a group of water industry professionals made it that much more special to me.”

Just as special has been the opportunity to perform his music at the past several NC AWWA-WEA conferences. “Having the opportunity to perform for peers whom I hold in high esteem is quite gratifying,” says Cox. Along with entertaining participants at the Annual Conference, he has also played for the Spring Conference held in the city of Wilmington, where he lives with his wife Heidi – also an engineer – their daughter, Marlee (nine), and their son, Miller (13).

Their home in Wilmington is about 10 minutes from several area beaches. “I grew up on the water in Bath, NC,” says Cox, “and I think it “gets in your blood,” so to speak. For us, the beach offers an opportunity to relax for a bit and enjoy God’s creation.” The family loves the beach so much that, when they go on vacation, they leave “their” beach for another beach or a coastal locale. As Cox begins to consider what he calls the “sunset of his career,” he hopes to adjust his course once again to including surfing and island dwelling. Until then, he’ll be busy doing his part in the water and wastewater industry, helping to preserve the integrity of the very environment he loves the most.