A VERY By Samuel Greengard DEAl MiGuel S SalMeron/Getty iMaGeS BIG T Strategic mergers and acquisitions help boost market share ony Franceschini knows mergers. As president and chief executive officer of Stantec, Inc., he’s spent the better part of 15 years inking the kinds of deals that have helped turn his half-century-old firm into a multinational engineering powerhouse with more than $600 million in sales and 8,500 employees. MAY / JUNE 2008 ENGINEERING INC. 11