Apr 26, 2023

Environmental Science Associates

Thomas

Kopitov

Killgore

ESA has expanded its Biological Resources and Land Management Team in the Northwest with three new hires; Aaron Killgore, Anna Kopitov, and Jennifer Thomas. Killgore, Kopitov, and Thomas bring deep expertise in environmental planning, wildlife surveys, and mitigation policy.

As senior principal biologist, Killgore will use his more than 15 years of experience as a wildlife biologist specializing in environmental planning and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) project management. With an emphasis on aviation, military, and public lands projects, Killgore is well-versed in biological and cultural compliance, public outreach, and federal business development. He also has experience in conducting wildlife surveys and preparing natural resource management plans. Killgore most recently served as senior environmental planner at Mead & Hunt.

Kopitov steps into the role of senior ecologist possessing more than 20 years of professional experience as a wildlife biologist, wetlands specialist, conservation biologist, and regulatory compliance specialist. Her expertise includes technical research and studies, terrestrial and fresh water and marine aquatic field studies, habitat and plant community mapping, and wetlands assessments. She has vast experience preparing regulatory compliance and permit applications in support of NEPA and other federal and statewide laws. Kopitov joins ESA most recently from PND Engineers, where she was senior ecologist and regulatory specialist.

As a principal restoration biologist at ESA, Thomas is a mitigation policy expert with more than 30 years of experience. A pioneer of the discipline, she has worked on more wetland mitigation bank proposals than any other individual in Washington state. Her experience includes leading an inter-agency team of ecologists to work with state and federal agencies and Tribal representatives to write King County's Wetland Mitigation Banking rules, the first in the state. Thomas has also developed monitoring and management protocols for bank sites on behalf of King County and for private sector clients. Thomas comes to ESA from Jacobs Engineering, where she served as senior scientist and project manager.

Barghausen Consulting Engineers Inc.

Schartman

Lesmeister

Heath

Miller

Kopczynski

Daley

Matheny

Eldridge

Barghausen Consulting Engineers has welcomed eight new employees to the company as of March 2023. The Kent office welcomes four project planners, two design engineers, and one project engineer.

David Kopczynski started at Barghausen in February as a project planner. He recently moved to Washington from Wisconsin, where he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2017. Kopczynski is a certified UDC building inspector. He previously worked as a deputy clerk for Lake County, Illinois, and then served as the planning and zoning administrator for the Village of Salem Lakes, Wisconsin, for the last three years.

Jacob Miller joined Barghausen as a project planner on Feb. 27. Miller earned a B.S. in GIS/Planning from Montana State University in 2014 and has worked within the development industry. He began his career as a field surveyor in Portland, where he moved into an office position as a CAD tech/planner/surveyor. He then spent a few years working for a telecom engineering firm as a permit coordinator/design engineer before moving into municipal planning where he spent the last few years before moving to Barghausen.

Chase Heath joined Barghausen as a design engineer on Feb. 28. Heath graduated from Boise State University with a B.S. in civil engineering in 2022. He has previously interned at Kimley-Horn in their commercial/industrial/multifamily land development department. Heath earned his EIT Certificate in November 2021.

Michael Lesmeister, P.E., joined Barghausen as a project engineer in March. He graduated from Washington State University with his B.S. in civil engineering in 2017. Shortly after graduating, he worked at a small engineering firm in Chehalis, then transitioned to AHBL, where he spent five years. He has experience working in various markets but has focused on residential and commercial site development.

Nicholas Schartman started on Mar. 6. as a design engineer. He graduated from Arizona State University in 2022, and he just recently took the FE and got his EIT certificate. He previously interned at Wood Patel & Associates in Arizona where he specialized in transportation engineering and site development.

Shelby Eldridge joined Barghausen as a project planner also on Mar. 6. She moved to Washington from Florida, where she got her B.S. from the University of Central Florida. She has her AICP certification and a variety of planning background. Eldridge has five years of planning experience working in government settings, and she was also a land development planning consultant for England-Thims & Miller, Inc.

Austin Matheny started at Barghausen on Mar. 13. as a design engineer. He graduated from Washington State University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 2021. Matheny worked as a design engineer after graduating, focusing on stormwater design. From there, he worked as a PE/PMA for a general contractor where he managed 15+ subcontractors, before coming back to engineering and starting a new journey with Barghausen.

Brooke Daley started at Barghausen on Mar. 28. as a project planner. She graduated from California Poly Pomona in 2015. Daley comes to Barghausen from Whittier, California where she previously worked for the City of Whittier for over 10 years with roles as an assistant planner and as a planning technician.

Swenson Say Fagét Structural Engineers

DeBoer

Renouard

SSF announced the promotion of Francesca Renouard, PE/SE, and Lori DeBoer, PE/SE, to associate principals and members of the SSF shareholder team.

Renouard received her bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington, and a master's in civil engineering from the University of California Berkeley. Architecture runs deep in her family (her mom, dad, and sister are architects), but her love of math prevailed. She has a lifelong passion for historic renovation and rose through the ranks from being a summer intern in 2012 to one of the retrofit team's lead engineers. Historic renovation projects include six Carnegie libraries in Seattle, the Metropole Building in Pioneer Square, the Roslyn Old City Hall and Library, the Alaska State Capitol Building, and countless others. Renouard was recently appointed to the King County Landmarks Commission, sits on the Technical Standard Task Group for the City of Seattle URM Task Force, is a Real Estate Committee Member for Historic Seattle, is a Board Member for the Friends of Ravenna Cowen Historic District, and is a member of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation and The Civita Institute. She is also mentoring two new retrofit engineers.

DeBoer moved to Seattle after graduating with a bachelor's degree in architectural studies and a master's in architecture with a structures option from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After working at two other firms for ten years, she joined SSF in 2016 and enjoys working on a variety of projects with a focus on public, civic, and institutional work. Notable projects include UW's Haring Center Design-Build Renovation, Bellevue Christian School, Field Arts and Events Center in Port Angeles, the renovation of the historic 419 Occidental (former FX McRory's) building, and numerous public park improvement projects. DeBoer's strong work ethic and extensive structural prowess are unparalleled. Internally, she's a technical leader in steel structures, mentors young engineers, and assists with staff scheduling.

Apr 19, 2023

Best Practice Architecture

Katich

Best Practice Architecture has promoted Kip Katich to partner, marking the second employee in the firm's 12-year tenure to join founding partner Ian Butcher in an ownership position.

Katich has been an instrumental part of the Best Practice team since joining in 2017. Working on both residential and commercial projects, Katich has brought a depth of experience and expertise to the office and has helped to streamline internal processes. He has taught design and representation courses at Parsons The New School for its Design Associate Interior Design program, collaborated on urban planning charrettes in Ecuador and Romania, and has been a guest speaker at UNLV's Klai Juba lecture series.

DCI Engineers

Yang

Rice

DCI Engineers announced the promotion of the following staff to new roles. Patrick Rice, PE, has been promoted to associate in the Seattle office. With more than a decade of experience at DCI, Rice brings expertise in quality control and city codes. He has managed almost every type of project and material there is.

Robyn Yang, PE, has been promoted to associate in the Spokane office. Yang has been with DCI since she graduated college and has worked her way up from learning about construction administration and honing her design skills on components of projects to now managing entire projects. She specializes in projects involving core and shell elements and tenant improvements. She is co-chair of DCI's Tenant Improvement committee and aids her colleagues with her expertise in brand-specific built environments.

Parametrix

Clark

Rotramel

Charissa Rotramel has joined Parametrix as strategic growth and development director based in Portland. She has over 20 years of experience in the architectural, engineering, and construction industry specializing in business development, marketing, and growth strategies.

Rotramel comes to Parametrix from WSP where she served as vice president and Northwest Pacific District marketing director, overseeing strategic growth for multiple business lines across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, Guam, and Alaska.

She joins the firm's Functional Integration Team, leading the development and execution of the firm's strategic initiatives, growth objectives, and new business and expansion opportunities.

Parametrix also announced the selection of Cindy Clark, PE to lead the firm's Greater Washington Transportation Division. Clark has been with Parametrix for over 25 years, serving as a project manager, group lead, and as a trustee for the firm's Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

Clark is experienced in project management, public involvement, traffic engineering, and transportation design. She has been responsible for dozens of public agency projects, including on-call support work for local cities such as Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, SeaTac, Renton, and others.

The Greater Washington Transportation Division includes over 130 transportation professionals providing transportation planning, engineering, and design services from locations in Seattle, Puyallup, Bremerton, and Spokane, WA.

HNTB

Agers

Kristine Agers has been named HNTB Corporation's office leader for the firm's Seattle/Bellevue office. A vice president, Agers brings three decades of technical expertise and leadership experience in transportation infrastructure. Since joining the firm in 2018, she has served HNTB's clients as group director, office sales manager, office operations manager, client service leader and deputy office leader during a time of tremendous growth for the office.

During Agers' tenure, the office has doubled in size to a staff exceeding 300 people, delivering bridge, aviation, toll, highway, transit, rail, planning, program/construction management and other services to clients throughout the region.

Agers serves on the Boards of Directors for the American Council of Engineering Companies – Washington and the Council of Minority Transportation Officials – Washington. She also serves on the national COMTO City Intern committee. She was named Corporate Leader of the Year by COMTO – Washington in 2022.

Agers earned a bachelor's degree in political science at Utah State University before earning her Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.

Agers is responsible for leading and growing HNTB's presence in the region.

Salas O'Brien

Rafferty

Morrison

Watson

Mackenzie

Story

Salas O'Brien's Seattle office announced the promotion of the following individuals.

David Story, PE, LEED AP, has been named principal for the mechanical division of the firm's Seattle-based operations. Story has 17 years of mechanical engineering and project and construction management experience, specializing in telecommunications, higher education, and research facilities.

Guy Mackenzie, PE, has also recently been promoted to principal of mechanical engineering. Specializing in HVAC design for telecommunications and data centers, he has more than 20 years of experience as a mechanical engineer and construction administrator. His work in Alaska and Montana has given him specialized expertise in mechanical and plumbing systems in extreme weather conditions.

Briana Watson, EIT, PMP, has been advanced to vice president. Since joining the company in 2007, Watson has gained experience in all aspects of design and construction administration for telecommunication and critical environments projects, working up from project coordinator to assistant project manager to project manager.

Arnold Morrison, AIA, NCARB, PMP, has been promoted to vice president. Morrison is a registered architect with more than 17 years of experience in the industry. He is a certified project manager and has delivered projects in a variety of different sectors over his career including in retail, financial, workplace, civic/public works, federal, and critical environments. Morrison is a graduate of Washington State University.

Shawn Rafferty, NCARB, joined Salas O'Brien in November 2022 as an associate vice president. Rafferty, a project manager with extensive experience in design and construction management of data center facilities nationwide, began his architecture career in 2006.