August 24, 2000

KJM rides transit boom

Think of any recent transit project in the United States -- Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland and, of course, Sound Transit -- and odds are Bellevue-based KJM Associates is, or was, involved.

Two months ago Karen Mask's KJM Associates graduated from the state WMBE program because it has gotten so large. Photo by David Jackson

The privately held project management firm specializes in what is known as project control: scheduling, estimating and cost and document control. KJM literally helps the trains run on time by getting them to opening day. KJM President Karen Mask says her firm makes sure these multi-billion dollar projects are built "on schedule, within budget and according to specifications."

The company's document control services are of paramount importance in any project involving federal dollars. The service also helps reduce contractor claims by creating a paper trail of reports, schedules and estimates.

To date, the firm has worked on 25 different transit projects with a total value of around $12.5 billion. The firm has brought its expertise to airport projects, water projects, schools and even a new pharmaceutical manufacturing facility for Merck in New Jersey, but transit makes up 60 percent of its business and remains Mask's first professional love.

KJM's role in Denver and San Diego was as Project Management Oversight consultants for the Federal Transit Administration, a tough job on such large, multi-jurisdictional projects. In 1997, KJM won the FTA Administrator's Outstanding Women-Owned Business Award for its project oversight work.

Mask first hung out her shingle as KJM in 1986 after stints with General Electric and the project management software firm Xebek. Her first contract was for the Downtown Seattle Transit Project, the bus tunnel that will become the conduit for Sound Transit's Link light rail. Back then she was basically an army of one, with a long-term goal of 20 employees.

Today, she has eight offices around the country and over 100 employees, with plans for more: "The expectation is that we're going to grow." The next milestone for the firm will be the opening of a new office on the East Coast or in Florida.

Two months ago KJM graduated from the state Office of Women and Minority Business Enterprises certification program because it has grown so big. Mask considers the firm's ineligibility a success. "The program is all about helping women and minorities get a kick start."

Her success in growing the business has led to her being nominated as a finalist for the 2000 Nellie Cashman Woman Business Owner of the Year Award. The annual honor goes to a woman business owner who has enhanced the status of women entrepreneurs.

As a woman in the construction industry, Mask said she's never felt gender to be a handicap, rather, she says, "I had to find a way to operate in a male-dominated industry."

And that she has. KJM is part of a team that was awarded a $7.6 million Sound Transit contract for management systems and project support in 1998, one of the first significant contracts after the 1996 vote that brought the regional transit authority into being.

Sound Transit Executive Director Bob White said KJM "provided the core of our project control and schedule functions... helping us develop the strongest of business practices."

White also notes that the firm's integrated project team approach, in which some KJM staff members are literally side-by-side with Sound Transit employees, has resulted in a "substantial knowledge transfer" that has allowed the agency's personnel to take on more functions internally, saving precious public dollars.

White believes that a lot of KJM's success in the transit field comes from Mask's own personal support of transit.

"She's in business," said White, "and she wants to do business with Sound Transit, but her primary focus is the success of Sound Transit for the region."

Mask, indeed, is outspoken in her support: "Sound Transit is a great project for this region."

She tries to give back to the Puget Sound region by hosting the Annual Puget Sound Transit Golf Tournament. This year, the tournament's second, raised over $27,000 for children's hospitals in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties.

But beyond the region, Mask hopes to keep building KJM's national transit resume. Current systems in development for which KJM is planning to bid its services include Spokane and Austin, Texas.

Though KJM has expanded, Mask still maintains a hands-on role, traveling to projects around the country every week.

"I'm out there selling," she says, "gaining trust, and making sure we do what we said we were going to do."

Which, in many cases, is to help the trains run on time.

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• How to keep 'kool' when it's hot, 07-13-2000
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• Heating a home on two bits a day, 06-29-2000