Roy Glapion has never strayed far from home — by design. A lifelong New Orleanian, the civil engineer and entrepreneur recently stepped away from a decades-long professional career and is now turning his attention more fully toward civic work that he believes will help shape the city’s next chapter.
Glapion co-founded Citywide Testing & Inspections in 1995 with his business partner, Dennis Engen, building the firm into a significant regional construction materials testing operation. In 2007, the company was sold to Professional Service Industries for an undisclosed sum. Engen chose to retire, but Glapion stayed on, continuing to work for PSI and successor firms for another 17 years, until his retirement in December.
“I stayed because I still wanted to,” Glapion said. “I liked competing. I liked winning work. At some point, you just know it’s time to do something different.”…