Nick Golon
President and Chief Engineer of TFMoran
When Nick Golon was in seventh grade, his shop teacher challenged students to build a bridge out of balsa wood. Told his ambitious design would never be finished in time, Golon built it anyway and watched it withstand every weight the class could throw at it.
“I remember looking at my teacher and saying, ‘This is really cool. Is this something I could do for a living?’” Golon recalls. “He said, ‘Yeah, that’s what engineers do.’ From seventh grade on, I pretty much knew the path I wanted to follow.”
That path led Golon to the top of one of NH’s leading engineering firms. Golon became president and chief engineer of TFMoran in July, succeeding Robert Duval, who stepped down as president while remaining chairman of the board. Golon, who joined the Bedford-based civil engineering and surveying firm in 2005, is just the fourth president in the company’s 58-year history.
“It’s exciting. It’s something you build your career toward,” Golon says. “I’m incredibly grateful that my co-principals and our board of directors were unanimous in selecting me.”
Raised in Maine’s Lakes Region, Golon studied civil engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, where cooperative education placements included work on the Big Dig. “The job site was amazing,” he says. “It really opened my eyes to what civil engineering projects could be.”
After graduating, Golon worked for engineering firms in Massachusetts before moving to NH, where “a random job posting” led him to TFMoran. He began as a project manager, embracing responsibilities that stretched his experience. “They threw me into the deep end, and honestly, that’s where I thrive,” he says.
Within a year, Golon was leading work on the Merrimack Station Clean Air Project, one of TFMoran’s largest undertakings. “We showed our capabilities, and that project really became a launching point for my career,” he says.
Golon has helped lead many projects including the 160-acre Lilac State Solar Project in Farmington and the 110-acre Village on Technology Hill mixed-use
development in Londonderry.
As president, Golon says his leadership philosophy centers on trust. “You can’t lead everyone the same way,” he says. “You have to understand each person’s strengths and then set them free.”
Golon is active with the NH Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, supporting the organization’s scholarship and internship programs to help develop the next generation of engineers. “Internships are how you keep young professionals in New Hampshire,” he says.
Away from work, Golon enjoys gardening, landscaping, cheering on the Boston Celtics and New England Patriots, and spending time around the campfire with his family at their 1785 Bedford homestead.
For Golon, the greatest reward remains seeing the communities he helped shape. “I love the impact we have,” he says. “My kids sometimes roll their eyes because every time we drive by a project, I say, ‘Dad worked on that one.’”
