Raleigh— Michael W. Creed, PE, chairman and CEO of McKim & Creed, an award-winning engineering and surveying firm, has earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Creed’s dissertation, titled Planning, Problem Solving, and Kirton’s A-I Theory Within an Organizational Framework, was published in December 2010 and features original research in small-group problem solving. His work included extensive study in cognitive psychology based on Michael Kirton’s adaption-innovation theory and its significance in individual perception, interpretation and response to external stimuli. Creed’s course of study included a stint at the Occupational Research Centre at Bourne End, Hertfordshire, U.K., where he was admitted to the Register of Certificated Users of KAI instruments. His interests include facilitating small-group decision processes to improve decision outcomes in businesses, governments and other types of organizational settings.
In partnership with Herbert P. McKim, Jr., PE, PLS, Creed established the engineering, surveying and planning firm of McKim & Creed in 1978. Since that time, the firm has grown to a 300+ person infrastructure and sustainability consulting company with offices in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. McKim & Creed has been named one of the top architectural/engineering/contracting firms by Public Works magazine, one of the top design firms in the Southeast by Southeast Construction magazine, and one of the top 200 environmental firms in the United States by Engineering News-Record magazine.