EV has always been about engineering creative solutions to fit our client’s needs. We understand that every project we take on is created to satisfy the needs of people whose priorities vary. Affordable housing organizations often look for economical and sustainable development builds. Health care entities emphasize accessibility. Each project deserves a unique approach. Over the years we’ve come to understand that creative solutions often come from a wide diversity of thought.

Earlier in the year we welcomed Julie Reilly and James Hoepker to our ownership group!  Julie is EV’s first woman owner, a fact we are excited to highlight for Women’s History Month.  We know that the new unique experience she brings will have a positive effect on projects and EV ethos.

Julie attributes some of her success to the woman she grew up with, her mother. She says, she was raised in a home free of constraining gender roles. She watched her mom do it all. Yes, she cooked, cleaned, and took care of the kids. But in addition, she did the carpentry for their home, taught Julie how to check the fluids in her car and change a tire, completed her masters in fire protection engineering, and even designed their home in the early 90’s using AutoCad. Julie also grew up watching her mom work full-time running an engineering firm started by her parents.

Julie says many people have commented over the years on how impressed they are that she is a woman in a male-dominated engineering field. She always found that funny, saying “to me it was never a feat, it was completely normal.”  She says because she grew up watching her mom’s success, her own never felt out of reach.

“She taught me that everything was achievable and anything that I wanted to do, I just had to put my mind to it and I would accomplish it.  This is something I would love to pass on to the next generations of women and nonbinary people.”

Julie’s story may be unique for her time, but we hope it becomes much more common as the generations pass. We understand that just hoping isn’t quite enough.

Women earn approximately half of Science & Engineering bachelor degrees, and yet they make up only a third of the workforce.

Although we’re a small company, we are actively working to better balance these statistics. Our committees analyze points that exacerbate the lack of women in our field. We prioritize initiatives that engage with students and make engineering more exciting, such as sponsoring events that uplift the women currently in our field and enabling individuals at EV to attend and participate on panels to discuss what it’s like to be a woman or non-binary person in this field.

Which leads us to our next exciting introduction, our newest hire, Nicole Morton! Nikki attended the Women & Nonbinary in STEM Conference at UVM this winter. There she sat on a round table panel and answered questions regarding how to search and prepare for internships.

They discussed how to find internships, what the internship experience should be, how to communicate with a prospective employer, and a multitude of ways to stand out during an interview. She had a great time meeting and connecting with the students who attended.

We hope that engaging in activities like this, building connections with the young women and nonbinary engineering students, and supporting their entrance into the field, will help balance the above statistic. We are excited to continually engage with this issue not just in March, but as an integrated and committed effort.

Happy Women’s History Month!!

Authored By Tyler Barnard, EV Civil Staff

The staff at EV not only get to actively design projects for climate resilience, but some of us also get to assume the role of advocates.

In service of my position as New England Council Delegate on the Board of Directors for the Vermont Section of ASCE, I had the opportunity to do just that. I volunteered to attend the 2024 Legislative Fly-In conference in Washington, D.C.

Every year the ASCE Legislative Fly-In brings together 225+ ASCE members from across the country to share their everyday engineering experiences with Congress and advocate for current and future bills that directly impact the engineering community. Attendees have an opportunity to meet with their Members of Congress and advance the Society’s collective policy priorities while learning beneficial leadership skills they can bring back to their Sections, Branches, and workplace.

Vermont is not immune to the effects of climate change, and that was very evident with the recent flooding impacts in 2023. While meeting with staff of Senators Sanders and Welch and Congresswoman Balint, we discussed the fact that Vermont has seen three 100-year rainfall events in the last 13 years, which has caused serious flooding issues and financial damage. We discussed how critical the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Actv (IIJA) and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding have been to create more resilient infrastructure as we look toward the future. We encouraged our representatives to continue to support funding to ensure infrastructure takes a high priority as we face unprecedented weather events.

This year, there is specific legislation before Congress that could have continued progress toward a more resilient future as we face increasingly expensive weather disasters. ASCE urges the House of Representatives and the Senate to work in a bipartisan manner to ensure the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) is not only a priority in the 118^th Congress, but that the legislation remains on a biennial schedule and passes before the end of 2024. ASCE urged Congress that any WRDA bill includes the following priorities:

• Incorporate the National Dam Safety Program Reauthorization Act and the National Dam Safety Program Amendment Act, which includes a 5-year reauthorization of the NDSP, along with needed reforms to critical dam safety programs like the High Hazard Potential Dam Rehabilitation Grant Program.
• Support implementation of a National Low-Head Dam Inventory, as authorized in WRDA 2022.
• Support the establishment of infrastructure financing programs, similar to State Revolving Fund programs, dedicated to providing low-interest loans to communities for stormwater infrastructure projects.
• Ensure full use of the Inland Waterways Trust Fund continues to be appropriated.

I am proud to represent the engineering community in the State of Vermont while meeting with our Congressional Representatives. I am also grateful for the opportunity to discuss and advocate for the continued funding and support of these paramount initiatives. Our Representatives have been particularly supportive of infrastructure investment in the past and I hope that with our encouragement they will continue to be in the future.

We are so pleased to announce the addition of Julie Reilly, P.E., and James Hoepker, P.E., to the EV Leadership Team!

Julie has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics with a Minor in Construction Engineering and Management from McGill University, and a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Structural Engineering from McGill University. Her Master’s Thesis was on the Effects of Delamination on the Punching and Post-Punching Response of Slab-Column Connections in Parking Structures.

Prior to working at EV, Julie worked at a private engineering consulting firm in Vermont.  She also completed an internship as part of the structural team on the Al Raha Beach Development in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  While at EV, Julie has worked on steel, concrete, and wood design of low to mid-rise structures, mass timber design, and zoo climbing structures.  She also specializes in high-end residential design and renovation.

As EV’s first female owner, Julie hopes to empower more women to enter the STEM field.  She plans to help manage the structural department and join the HR committee to support the EV family.

In her free time, Julie enjoys traveling the world, skiing, photography, and baking.  In fact, she won the Great EV Bake-Off, featuring star bread!  Julie also enjoys spending time with her miniature schnauzer, Adhara – one of the many EV mascots!

James has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Manhattan College.   His focus has been on steel and concrete building design with low to mid-rise structures, one and multiple-story residential design and renovation, shallow and deep foundations, and renovations of buildings of wood, masonry, steel and concrete. 

He has managed contracts with state and federal agencies and has project management experience including managing client relationships and supervising junior staff. 

As a new owner, he hopes to take on a role in advancing the technical department of the structural side of EV, to help streamline design of new projects.

In his spare time he is an avid CrossFitter, and coaches and trains at Waterbury Functional Fitness.  He also enjoys mountain biking and hiking.

This brings us to a total of 10 owners including Kevin Worden, P.E., Mike Dussault, P.E., Nik Fiore, P.E., Bill Nourse, P.E., Bob Neeld, P.E., Matt Ernst, P.E., Clark Agnew, P.E., and Paul Boisvert, P.E.

We are happy to announce the promotion of Nicholas Fiore and Michael Dussault to the role of Vice President! In addition, Julia Ginorio, Jessie Ostrum, and Thomas Weber have been promoted to Project Managers.

As the leaders of our New Hampshire and New York offices, Nik and Mike will be invaluable assets in their new positions. They are both eager to further utilize their extensive leadership experience and help spread the word about EV across New England, New York and beyond.

Project Managers

We are also excited to announce Julia, Jessie and Tom as our newest project managers! In their new leadership positions they are supervising, reviewing, and conducting planning, design and calculations amongst our staff. In addition, they are coordinating with partners and clients to creatively solve varied challenges on the day to day.

We hope you share in our excitement of starting 2024 with such talented leadership!  

January 01, 2024 Burlington, VT

It is with great excitement that we announce Kevin Worden, P.E. will be Engineering Ventures’ new President beginning January 1^st, 2024.  Kevin has been with Engineering Ventures since 1998 and has served as Vice President since 2007.  As president, Kevin looks forward to strengthening long term relationships in the communities that EV serves and focusing on career development and recruitment of the most talented engineers in the region at Engineering Ventures.

Bob Neeld, P.E. is passing the baton after an amazing 16-year tenure! He will continue working at EV to further his legacy of preserving historic structures, advocating for climate resilient design, and guiding young engineers. In his 40 years of consulting engineering in Vermont, Bob has had a significant impact. He has been integral in making EV one of the most respected civil and structural engineering firms in Vermont. Bob has managed projects including multi-story buildings, commercial facilities and offices, hospitals, public buildings, unique residences, and many historic restoration projects.

Bob was a key advocate for making historic preservation one of EV’s core values. He is now widely acknowledged as the one to call when facing evaluation, preservation, and renovation projects for structures with historic significance. Bob’s work with historic structures includes spending time in Mississippi helping with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and in Cuba to aid in the historic preservation of churches.  He has recently been working with the Preservation Trust of Vermont to provide building assessments related to improving flood resilience of historic buildings.

Kevin, a Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate, contributes almost 30 years of experience in sustainable civil engineering design, site planning, and permitting on a wide range of projects. Kevin was the 2001 Vermont Young Engineer of the Year and is a leader in sustainable design. 

He has consistently been an organized, thoughtful, and essential part of our leadership team. Our staff is excited to see where his creativity will take our company next!

In his tenure at EV, Kevin has worked on and facilitated a multitude of projects with major impacts on the communities they’re located in. They include the ACEC Award Winning Wentworth & Wilder housing project, one of many affordable housing projects Kevin has assisted with. He has also been instrumental in guiding our civil team to help local schools get up to date on permit and stormwater requirements.

Kevin is also widely known for his master planning capabilities. His knack for thinking big picture makes him an invaluable asset on large campus project teams. This is illustrated in the completion of Dartmouth College’s West Campus Improvements, the King Arthur Flour Campus, the Wind NRG Facility, and the Seventh Generation Lake & College building project, among many others.

Re-evaluating Vermont’s Stormwater Infrastructure in Light of the 2011 and 2023 Floods

Co-Authored by Tyler Barnard, EV Civil Staff Engineer

Every four years the Vermont Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) publishes the Infrastructure Report Card. It serves to educate the public and elected officials on the status of Vermont’s infrastructure using a graded scale from A, to F. The reporting on condition and critical need is an indispensable asset, and in light of the recent flooding events affecting Vermont communities, we feel it is important to champion this work.

The 2023 Report was released in February of this year. Across the board, it praises government spending on the American Rescue Plan as an effort to make our state more resilient to future storm events.

Tyler Barnard from our civil engineering department co-authored the Stormwater Section of the 2019 and 2023 Report Cards. He, along with other authors are volunteer members of the ASCE Board of Directors and members of the community.

They dedicate time and resources to this report, which is used by community leaders to better prioritize limited funding. Overall, this helps to improve the condition, capacity, operations, maintenance, safety, innovation, and resilience of critical infrastructure.

The 9 Infrastructure Categories

• Aviation
• Bridges
• Dams
• Drinking Water
• Energy
• Roads
• Solid Waste
• Stormwater
• Wastewater

Stormwater and Climate Resilience

Stormwater scored a D+ in 2019, and C- in 2023. While things are improving, anything in the C range is considered “Mediocre: Requires Attention.”

“The infrastructure in the system or network is in fair to good condition; it shows general signs of
deterioration and requires attention. Some elements exhibit significant deficiencies in conditions and
functionality, with increasing vulnerability to risk,” – Vermont’s Infrastructure Report Card

Historically, stormwater control and treatment has been lower on the public’s priority list than the roads we commute on and the quality of the water we drink. However, it has quickly jumped to the front of everyone’s minds as climate change affects weather patterns and rainfall events, and we brace for future floods. So what can we do to help ease climate concerns, and boost resilience?

Solutions to Raise the Grade

The following is pulled directly from the 2023 report.

VT-ASCE makes the following recommendations to raise the grade of Vermont’s stormwater:

• Establish a state budget committee to effectively define and fund short-term and long-term needs.
• Establish scale-appropriate clean water utilities at the municipal level that provide a consistent and dedicated labor force for stormwater management improvements and maintenance.
• Establish an easily accessible statewide system that inventories the size, condition, capacity, procedures for operations and maintenance, and capital needs of all public and privately-owned stormwater assets.
• Improve stormwater infrastructure through retrofit of older systems that provide minimal water quality benefit and continue to embrace innovative water quality treatment practices for future new development and redevelopment.
• Fund research in stormwater management and treatment technology to improve water quality and reduce capital expenditures. This includes exploring options to address maintenance and monitoring of stormwater infrastructure, whether public or private.
• Develop additional funding sources for stormwater, GSI, and LID projects.

The full report goes in depth on the condition and capacity of existing stormwater infrastructure, how the state and municipalities are operating and maintaining their networks, and future funding and needs (pages 67-73). The full report can be found at: https://infrastructurereportcard.org/state-item/vermont/