Francis Hoey III
Age 39. Senior Vice President, Tighe & Bond
You don’t think sitting down for dinner as a family makes an impression on kids? Well, turn off the TV and consider the Hoey clan.
“I’m the youngest of 10, and my father was a civil engineer who went to Worcester Polytechnic Institute,” said Francis Hoey III, senior vice president of Tighe & Bond in Westfield. “Seven of us are in engineering or public work to some degree, and three of us went to my Dad’s alma mater. It’s what we talked about at the dinner table. I got pointed in that direction and found I really enjoyed it, and I did internships all through college.”
Since joining Tighe & Bond 15 years ago, Hoey has worked on a number of high-profile projects throughout the region, including serving as project manager for both the Churchill housing redevelopment project in Holyoke and the Village at Hospital Hill, the redevelopment of the 124-acre site of the former Northampton State Hospital.
“I do a lot of land development work,” he said. “My typical client these days is more likely to be a developer than anything else. There’s a lot of mixed-use development, a lot of brownfields work, and redevelopment of derelict properties.”
Speaking of revitalizing properties, Hoey takes a special interest in recent improvements in his hometown of Holyoke, where he serves as vice chair of the Holyoke Gas & Electric Department board, among other forms of community involvement, including a past stint as vice chair of the Planning Commission.
“I think Holyoke is a great city and a great place to live, but it gets a terrible rap,” he said. “Those of us who are able to polish its star a little bit need to do that. I’m proud to be from Holyoke.”
Hoey brings a similar sense of pride to his work with Tighe & Bond. “I like seeing a finished project,” Hoey said. “I like being able to point to something, whether it’s a building, a dam, or something else, and say, ‘hey, kids, I was involved in taking that from a concept on a drawing board to an actual, physical structure.’”
As for those kids — Hoey and his wife have three of them — they had better keep their guard up at the dinner table. Dad’s career could start to look mighty tempting.
