Photo by: Sam Melquist
Charlie Vein, ‘76, president of AE2S, was a three-year letterwinner in Track and Cross Country at UND.
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Ἅ lu m n i R e v ie w | Fall 2012
“We are both early risers,” says Burian. “I started coming in at 6 in the morning and working with Charlie on some of his water projects from 6 to 8, and then from 8 to 6 I’d work out on the road projects.” Burian tagged along to a presentation Vein was making, and during the trip asked whether Vein had ever thought about starting his own firm. “It so happened that I was at the point where I was looking to do something,” Vein says. “I had four or five options. One of them was to start my own firm, which was probably my last choice of options. But through that process of working together and having this common interest (in water projects), Steve was at the point of finishing up his graduate work, and we decided to go for it.”
The two also shared another common interest that helped form their friendship early on: they both were UND Track & Field athletes. Burian is a Hall of Fame shot put and discus thrower who earned four All-America honors. Vein was a three-year letterwinner in Track and Cross Country. “The discipline, the training, the lure of competition,” says Burian. “Even though we seem like pretty easy-going guys, we are both pretty competitive, when it comes down to it. Athletics in general teaches you to set goals, to work toward those goals and to have that competitive drive to be successful.” That competitive drive and the work ethic of a student-athlete were especially helpful in the early days of the newly formed company. “We put in crazy hours to start. It wasn’t unusual to work 80-hour weeks, a