Megan Franklin is the Principal and Lead Civil Engineer at SCE Engineering, a full-service design consulting firm specializing in geotechnical, roadway, civil, and structural engineering for community infrastructure projects. As majority owner, Megan oversees a team spanning three offices, and under her leadership, SCE Engineering has maintained a strong culture with remarkable employee retention and has implemented advanced technologies like AI-powered drone surveying to accelerate project delivery and ensure safety.

Stepping into ownership is rarely a straight line. It's a mix of timing, confidence, risk, and a quiet question many professionals wrestle with: how do you know when you're ready to take the leap and lead something that already has a history?

For Megan Franklin, the answer starts with patience and perspective. As an experienced engineer who spent years building technical depth and leadership confidence, she believes ownership comes after you've seen the industry from multiple angles and learned what kind of leader you want to be. By progressing through hands-on roles and observing what made teams thrive or struggle, she gained clarity that ownership wasn't about perfect timing, but about trusting her growth and values. That mindset reframes leadership as something earned through experience, not rushed by ambition.

In this episode of Own Your Next, Jennifer McPherson is joined by Megan Franklin, Principal and Lead Civil Engineer at SCE Engineering, to discuss stepping into ownership and leading the next chapter of a legacy firm. They explore why timing is rarely perfect, how company culture outweighs company size, and what it means to lead with trust and ethics. Megan also shares advice on embracing risk and staying flexible as a new owner.