Rick De La Guardia is the President and Founder of DLG Engineering, Inc. (DLGE), a consulting firm specializing in the design, analysis, and forensic inspections of building envelope systems to help mitigate or assess storm damage in hurricane-prone regions of the country.
DLGE was founded in South Florida in 2009, during the height of an economic downturn, now known as the Great Recession, when many engineering firms were struggling, and opening an engineering firm was considered ill advised. A few years after its founding, DLGE was recognized by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce as one of the top minority-owned businesses in South Florida in 2012 and 2013. He has since gone on to found or cofound several new entrepreneurial venture companies, among them, DLG Private Ventures and Genesis Structural Engineering.
Mr. De La Guardia earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Miami in 1996. He has over 23 years of experience in designing and consulting in all aspects of the glazing field, including inspection, peer review, forensic investigation, expert witness investigations, and product testing and certification.
He is the author of a book on engineering entrepreneurship titled Engineer to Entrepreneur: Success Strategies to Manage Your Career and Start Your Own Firm published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE Press) that is consistently ranked in the top 100 on Amazon’s bestsellers ranking for civil engineering books. He has presented to numerous student and professional engineering associations on entrepreneurship, leadership, and success.
In addition to promoting entrepreneurship, Mr. De La Guardia has presented and written on other topics such as “Hazard Mitigation Design of the Building Envelope” (Florida Structural Engineers Association, April 2010), “Hazard Mitigation of the Building Envelope: Are Our Building Envelopes Ready for a Powerful Storm?” (ATC-SEI Advances in Hurricane Engineering Conference, October 2012), “Hurricane Design of Glazing Systems: Understanding the Intricacies” (90-minute live webinar: American Society of Civil Engineers: January, July, and November of 2013), “Hurricane Mitigation Design of Glazing Systems: Requirements for Wind and Windborne Debris Protection” (Architectural Engineering Institute Conference, April 2013).
Mr. De La Guardia has authored numerous magazine articles, including “Allowable Strength of Glass: How to Design Safely for Today’s Threats” (U.S. Glass Magazine, July 2010) and Growing Awareness: Changes in ASCE 7-10 to Affect Hurricane-Prone Regions” (Architects’ Guide to Glass and Metal, December 2011).
Mr. De La Guardia served as the President of the University of Miami, College of Engineering Alumni Association, from June 2010 to May 2012, chaired an advisory committee on entrepreneurship and innovation for the University of Miami College of Engineering from March 2016 to October 2017, and was a member of the University of Miami Herbert Business School Entrepreneurship Advisory Board, representing the college of engineering, in 2017. Mr. De La Guardia is or has been a member of numerous professional organizations and technical committees, including the Florida Structural Engineers Association (FSEA), Latin Builders Association (LBA), and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), serving on the Architectural Engineering Institute (AEI) curtain wall committee as Vice-Chair starting in 2013. He has also served as the Grand Chapter Advisor for his fraternity, Alpha Sigma Phi, Gamma Theta chapter at the University of Miami since 2017. He has a passion for entrepreneurship and helping others achieve that goal.