- Title: Project Manager/Principal
- Degree/ Education: B.S. Architectural Engineering / University of Wyoming, 2006
- Where you are from: Greybull, WY
- Favorite Buffalo hobbies/ where to find me outside the office: These days it’s whatever seasonal kid activity is currently happening: Travel fast-pitch softball, Legion Baseball, Alpine ski racing, Middle School/High School activities of all kinds. On the rare day the kids don’t have obligations I’ll be somewhere outdoors where I won’t be found by many people.
- Favorite Buffalo spot: Ten Sleep Brewing Co
- First job: Flood irrigating hay fields around Shell, WY
- Favorite Project: Greybull Municipal Swimming Pool
What does your role involve, and what do you enjoy most about it?
Over the course of nearly 20 years at NE my role has evolved from being a new grad staff engineer and field technician to that of project manager and partner in the firm. Fortunately for me, I work out of the Buffalo office as one of only eight or ten employees, so my role can vary from hustling new work and managing personnel to occasionally still testing construction materials and being part of a survey crew. Although I was educated as a structural engineer, I found myself mostly working on municipal civil engineering projects to fill the needs of the local market, but I’m also given the opportunity from time to time to take on some light structural design for local residential and commercial building projects. I enjoy being able to take on a variety of projects to stave off burn-out and I’ve always liked being able to see projects grow from an idea to a construction project, then finally to a community asset.
What is your favorite part of working with this team?
The one disadvantage to managing the team in the small office is that I sometimes find myself lacking resources or expertise in a specialized field. I’ve always been able to count on the support of the larger offices in the NE organization to collaborate in those instances. Whether my project requires structural design, a geologist, or a GIS specialist, there’s someone on the NE team that can provide the help we need. I think we’re fortunate to have attracted and retained a bunch of like-minded people that are committed to doing high quality work while at the same time taking advantage of the opportunities offered by living in the mountain communities that we chose to call home.
What do you like to do when you are not at the office?
I’ve currently got kids enrolled in nearly every school in Buffalo, so if I’m not at work, I’ll most likely be watching a cross-country race, or a softball game, coaching baseball, standing around on a ski hill or a wrestling mat, or taking in a Tuesday night choir concert at the high school. When we catch a break from all of that you’ll find me somewhere in Wyoming teaching those same kids how to call an elk, row a drift boat, or pilot an off-road vehicle of some kind.
What has kept you at Nelson Engineering all these years?
I took a job with NE right after graduating from UW almost 20 years ago and have stayed here all this time because it allowed me to grow a career and a family in a pretty ideal community. That, coupled with the work hard, play hard culture of this company will keep me here into the foreseeable future.