Press Releases 2009: August - December

Olsson Announces New Professional Engineers
12-30-09

Olsson Associates is pleased to announce that two staff members recently passed the professional engineering (PE) exam. The requirements to become a professional engineer include four years of professional experience under a licensed professional engineer and passing the PE exam.

Buss

Nate Buss is a member of the Lincoln Land Development team. He has been with the firm since 2004 and has a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Stark

Justin Stark is a member of the South Sioux City Municipal team. He has been with the firm since 2005 and has a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a B.S. in physics from Doane College.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kevin Lowe, Adam Bauer, Kelly Turner, Reid Catt

Springfield Office Receives Transportation Achievement Award
12-10-09

Olsson's Springfield office received the Ozarks Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers' (OCITE) Transportation Achievement Award on December 10.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zablocki

Shawn Zablocki Joins Olsson Associates
12-2-09

Olsson Associates announces the addition of Shawn Zablocki, PE, to lead its Omaha Environmental team.

Zablocki brings 17 years of experience working in all aspects of environmental engineering and health and safety management. Before joining Olsson, he worked in the food industry for ConAgra and Kraft Foods North America, and he also worked in consumer goods manufacturing and for a regulatory agency. Zablocki has a B.S. in chemical engineering from Toledo University and is a registered professional engineer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Strittmatter

Olsson Associates Adds New Leadership Team; Strittmatter Named President
10-02-09

Olsson Associates' Board of Directors met this week and approved a new leadership team for the firm. Brad Strittmatter was promoted from executive vice president to president. He will lead the firm's overall strategic initiatives and operations.

Olsson's leadership team also includes:
� Three newly named senior vice presidents: John S. Olsson, Randy Kaster, and Ryan Beckman
� Melissa Newton, newly appointed as senior vice president of business operations

Roger Severin, the firm's chief executive officer, will begin to transition out of the firm's day-to-day operations, focusing on long-term strategic efforts and pursuing non-traditional projects for the firm.

"The recession has made us think differently about how we approach projects and serve clients, but we still need to keep reinventing ourselves as a firm," Severin said. His role will involve looking for new, creative ways to put projects together, helping clients find funding for major projects, and creating partnerships between the private and public sectors.

Severin started his career with Olsson Associates in 1969 as a student on a surveying crew, later serving as a project manager and design engineer for many of the firm's projects before moving to leadership roles.

"I'm confident we've got the right team in place now to lead the firm into the future," Severin said. "I've had the pleasure of watching Brad, John, Ryan and Melissa grow their careers here at Olsson. Randy joined us more recently, but he understands our operations and certainly knows how to bring in work."

In his 13 years at Olsson Associates, Brad has been a key player in building Olsson's land development practice and the firm's Omaha office. Early in his career, Brad successfully managed the firm's largest client and served as a project manager for commercial and residential development projects. In 2007, he was promoted to executive vice president and managed the firm's technical practice groups from Olsson's Phoenix office.

The senior vice presidents are a new position at Olsson.

Olsson

John S. Olsson joined the firm in 1989 as a member of the civil municipal team. He led the firm's water/wastewater team for several years before moving into the role of office leader for the firm's Lincoln and Greater Nebraska offices. Olsson's primary role is to lead office operations and local business development. He also will work with the firm's municipal and water/wastewater practices.

Kaster

After more than 20 years working for other consulting firms, Randy Kaster joined Olsson Associates in 2007 as the leader of the Omaha transportation team and was tapped to lead the firm's entire transportation practice. In his two years at Olsson, he has grown the firm's rail and track design and industrial development services. Kaster will continue to lead the transportation practice and will help grow the firm's land development, environmental, freight railroad and aging infrastructure services.

Beckman

Ryan Beckman joined Olsson in 1995 and brought along a passion for geotechnical engineering. He grew his interest into a geotechnical team and was responsible for starting the firm's special inspections and drilling teams. Since 2007, Beckman has led the firm's field services practice, which includes survey, construction, geotechnical and testing services. In addition to leading this group, he will also help the water resources and energy practices with strategic planning and expand the firm's energy and alternative energy services.

Newton

Melissa Newton will oversee the firm's business operations functions, which includes the human resources, marketing, communications and IT departments. She joined Olsson in 1992 as a student assistant and, since 2003, has led the human resources team with overall responsibility for recruitment strategy, staff retention, performance management, professional development, compensation and benefits. Since 2007, Newton has served as the vice president of human resources.

"This team has a great mix of leadership skills--some are risk takers, others are more structured. Some have experience mostly on the private side, others on the public side," Severin said. "They all know how to bring in work and manage clients, projects, and people. They understand what makes a firm profitable. I think we're setting the firm up well to succeed for many years to come."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Razavian

Daryoush Razavian Receives Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer Credential
9-30-09

Olsson Associates congratulates Daryoush Razavian, who has been recognized by the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers' Board of Trustees as having met the requirements for the Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer (D.WRE) credential.

Razavian is a senior project manager and engineer for multidisciplinary projects involving planning, analyzing, and designing water resources systems. He has directed, managed, and conducted more than 2,000 projects involving water resources engineering and management throughout the Central/Western U.S.

His project experience includes conducting hydrologic and hydraulic evaluations and permitting for railroad and highway bridges/culverts, restoring lakes and streams, performing comprehensive stormwater management and flood mitigation planning, handling floodplain management and flood control, developing watershed management plans for improving water quality, conducting stream and lake sedimentations studies and providing technical support of water rights and drainage litigation cases.

The Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer credential program is the first voluntary, post-licensure, advanced-level specialty certification program created under Civil Engineering Certification, Inc. (CEC). Since the start of the program in 2004, nearly 500 professional engineers have achieved this credential.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alphabet Soup: Catch Olsson at the Fall APWA / AWWA / NWEA Conference
9-18-09

Several Olsson staff members will present at sessions during the 2009 joint fall conference November 4-6 in Kearney, Nebraska. There's still time to register if you'd like to attend the conference. (This link will take you to the Nebraska AWWA site.)

Olsson presentations include the following:

November 4, 9:30 - 10 a.m.
Lincoln Water System: Natural Disaster Preparedness
John Miriovsky, PE, Lincoln Water System
Ken Fairchild, PE, Olsson Associates

November 4, 10:30 - 11 a.m.
Greenwood Transmission Main for Lincoln Water System
Nick McElvain, PE, Lincoln Water System
Andrew Hansen, PE, Black & Veatch
Ben Day, PE, Olsson Associates

November 5, 10:30 - 11 a.m.
Ultrafiltration Membranes for Surface Water Treatment
Rod Kirkland, PE, Olsson Associates

November 6, 9 - 9:30 a.m.
Upgrading a Trickling Filter Plant to Meet New Biosolids, Ammonia, and Disinfection Standards
James Burroughs, PE, and Jim Condon, PE, Olsson Associates

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

O'Connor

O'Connor Presenting at Groundwater Foundation Webinar Series
8-10-09

Karen O'Connor, a senior scientist at Olsson, will present "Sustainable Groundwater Development Using GIS and Groundwater Modeling" as part of the 2009 Groundwater Foundation Webinar Series on August 25 at 2 p.m. CDT.

The webinar will present project case studies of GIS work with two Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) in Nebraska, and the results from a groundwater model developed specifically to evaluate the potential impacts of new high capacity wells near the community of Hastings, Nebraska.

Follow this link to learn more or register.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------