Anderson Engineering through the years

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The firm was formed Aug. 16, 1954, as Tri-Lakes Concrete Company. In 1958, the name of the firm changed to Wright-Weeks Inc., named for principal engineers H. Garrett Wright and Gaylord D. Weeks. In 1966, the name changed to Wright and Associates Inc. |ret||ret||tab|

During the 1960s and 1970s, Tom Netzer, then executive vice president, was instrumental in developing the firm's materials testing and drilling departments. Steven Brady, current president and chairman of the board of directors, started with the company in 1971 as an associate engineer.|ret||ret||tab|

The firm's name was changed to Anderson Engineering in 1977, named for James F. Anderson, who served as company president from 1969 to 1992. Brady became president in 1992.|ret||ret||tab|

In 1998 the company converted to an employee-owned business through an employee stock ownership plan. The ESOP purchased the Anderson family's stock, taking majority ownership. In December 2000, the ESOP purchased the remaining shares from Brady and from Bruce and Joyce Rhodes. Bruce Rhodes is the vice president of the board of directors, and he is in charge of the firm's Joplin office; his wife, Joyce, was a joint owner of the shares. |ret||ret||tab|

Each of the members of the firm's board of directors are employees of Anderson Engineering, with Brady serving as chairman of the board. |ret||ret||tab|

The company operates with an open-book policy and all employees have a voice in company operations something to which Brady attributes the firm's ongoing success. |ret||ret||tab|

While the principles of engineering haven't changed during Brady's 32 years in the field, he said the technology has changed dramatically. |ret||ret||tab|

"The work that you used to have, preparing drawings on a drafting board, doing it manually by hand you had a draftsman (and) that's what they did. Now it's all on the computer and you design the site grading plan or whatever it is, right on the computer," he said. "That's been a major evolution, that everything is electronic."|ret||ret||tab|

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