Ed Saenz earned a degree in civil engineering in 1971, in Manila, in his native Philippines. He passed his board exams there in 1973.
He spent five years gaining experience building bridges, roads, and buildings before leaving the Philippines in 1976.
Ed Saenz, president and manager of operations of Designfab, Inc., founded the company in 1989. Saenz has over 23 years of experience in structural construction with the last 24 of those years devoted to steel building fabrication. With a Bachelor of Science degree in civil and sanitary engineering from National University in Manila, The Philippines, Saenz followed several years of road and building construction projects in Iran, Venezuela and Canada. He found his way to Texas in 1984 and continued to work in the construction field.
Because of his extensive travels, Ed is fluent in five languages. Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines; Pampango, a Filipino dialect; Spanish, English, and Farsi.
In 1984, Ed interviewed with Harry Kerr. Harry owned a steel fabricating company in Lufkin, Texas. From this point, he worked for a building supply company as an estimator, and then went on to work for a few sheet metal companies.
He was discouraged because he had the qualifications, but could not find a good job. It was then that Ed approached Chuck Stemple at the Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Development Center. Together, they wrote a business plan for a structural steel fabricating company.
With Chuck’s help, Ed was able to open his own business, Designfab, Inc. It took two years for his business to turn the corner, and then he was able to stand on his own.
Today, Design Fab, Inc. is going strong.
(as told to the Lufkin Daily News on March 20, 1994 & paraphrased)
