Steven Gerazounis.
Steven Gerazounis, 23
Mechanical designer at MG Engineering
One advantage of entering a family business is getting to learn a lot about it early enough to steer you in the right direction.
By the time he was 16, Steven Gerazounis — whose father and uncle, Peter and Michael Gerazounis, are the senior principal and president and managing principal, respectively, at MG Engineering — thought he wanted to be an architect. But when his father brought him to a meeting during an early internship with MG, that decision changed.
“I thought that all architects did was make fancy-looking skyscrapers,” said Gerazounis. “But my dad took me to a meeting where an architect was pitching their design to a developer, and they ripped the architect’s design apart. I realized it wasn’t just about making fancy designs.”
Gerazounis took his dual interests in construction and problem solving, and turned them toward mechanical engineering and finance, receiving degrees in each from Lehigh University.
He has designed tenant office fit-outs and base-building mechanical equipment rooms for the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway. He is also currently working on the renovation of the M&M’s Times Square flagship store at 1600 Broadway, designing 60 tons of air conditioning and providing value engineering services as well.
“It’s going for LEED Gold status, so we’re switching out the hot water radiators for electric duct heaters,” said Gerazounis. “Also, they wanted chocolate-scented diffusers so the space would smell like chocolate. That was unique.”
While he’s still in the early stage of his career, Gerazounis hopes to advance innovation at the firm his family has worked so hard to create and grow.
“I always had the advice that if you go into the family business, you have to bring something new,” said Gerazounis. “So maybe we branch out from more than just engineering in the future — we are offering other services, such as IT or lighting design. I’d like to help expand the business in that way, or another way like that.” —L.G.
