Bill Hall handed over the role of president to Doug Smith on September 1st in order to pursue a role with Penn State. Smith was mentored for nearly 2 years by Hall, a professional with over 30 years in the industry.
"I wish Bill all the best in his new pursuits and am grateful for his insights and guidance to help our successful development during the last years. I am personally quite proud of Doug's continuous progression from hands-on technical beginnings, to project management success, and into increasingly challenging management roles. It is sheer joy to have an old friend and long-time colleague step into this new level of responsibility for a team that knows and trusts him so well," said Wendi Goldsmith, CEO of Bioengineering Group.
Smith first joined Bioengineering in 1992 as employee number three, leaving 2 years later to broaden his experience internationally and expand his knowledge of large scale ecosystem restoration projects and construction management practices. He had the opportunity to work in Hamburg, Germany for Bestmann Ingenieurbiologie GmbH.
Eventually, Smith returned to the U.S. joining KCI in North Carolina where he became involved in the establishment and implementation of the state's earliest wetland and stream mitigation banking program.
In 2002 Smith joined Buck Engineering where he continued to move into a business operations role, managing a $3 million federal contract to repair waterways damaged by hurricanes Ivan and Frances. The project required the completion of design, permitting and construction within one year. During a period of growth, he tackled firm-wide financial metric and project performance tracking, and built his skills with software tools to support his efforts. During these years, Smith became a Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) and obtained his MBA.
After Buck Engineering was acquired in 2006, Smith returned to Bioengineering Group as COO.
Since that time the firm has won major contracts with federal agencies, including a $150 million IDIQ and a $50 million IDIQ for the US Army Corps of Engineers for work on the hurricane and flood protection infrastructure in New Orleans, and a $30 million contract for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. While overseeing these projects, Smith added yet another credential to his resume, certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP).
"I am delighted to bring planning rigor to our business while remaining rooted in our sustainability mission, and in my new role as president I can do both to a higher level," said Smith.
Founded in 1992, Bioengineering Group, a woman-owned small business, has been a pioneer in the field of ecological restoration and the application of sustainability principles to site planning, development, renewable energy, and water management. They are leaders in the most progressive and creative sustainable design work featuring water and energy conservation, ecological restoration, low impact development, and renewable energy services, including putting policy-into-practice; research-into-practice; and sustainability-into-practice. The firm is a well-known leader in ecologically sensitive development and public infrastructure work, applying a tailored interdisciplinary approach to large-scale site planning, development, and ecosystem restoration projects. The firm provides design, environmental consulting, and sustainable site planning for private corporations, institutions, and local and federal governments on small- to large-scale projects. Distinguished by their interdisciplinary staff of ecologists, scientists, engineers, and landscape design professionals, Bioengineering Group is uniquely positioned to rigorously guide projects toward sustainable outcomes. The firm has worked with many municipalities, states, and government agencies to provide innovative site engineering and landscape architectural design; parks and greenways planning and design; integrated water management assessment and design; river and coastal restoration and flood risk reduction; wind, biomass, solar, geothermal, and hydropower siting and development; as well as plan review, environmental permitting, and remediation.