The Forrester Group adds Kansas City-area office

|tab|

The Forrester Group, a Springfield-based environmental management and planning firm, opened a Kansas City office Aug. 13 at 6501 E. Commerce, Ste. 230. |ret||ret||tab|

Established in February 1994, the firm has grown from four staff members to 26 full-time and three part-time employees in six offices. In addition to its original Springfield office, The Forrester Group has locations in St. Louis, Jefferson City, Denver, Salt Lake City and, now, Kansas City.|ret||ret||tab|

According to company President Ray Forrester, each office offers services in three areas: environmental management and planning; site management; and litigation management.|ret||ret||tab|

"We provide remediation management services, which is investigation, negotiation, remedial design and supervision of subcontractors to do remediation of hazardous waste sites. We also do litigation support and expert testimony. The third area is environmental management and planning services, which includes anything from due diligence on property transactions to permitting compliance design of environmental management systems for companies, kind of like business consulting services as it relates to environmental services," said Forrester. |ret||ret||tab|

However, the Kansas City office will center on the company's design capability.|ret||ret||tab|

"Our goals for the new practice first are to support the engineering service needs for The Forrester Group throughout its corporate office. That would include establishing a tighter network of engineers and engineer support staff throughout the company and managing those resources to better serve our clients. It may include some additional hires for strategic purposes to better establish our practice in engineering. Also, we would continue to look at business development opportunities with our clients related to other specific needs they have with respect to engineering," said Bryan Symons, a professional engineer with more than 15 years of experience in civil and environmental engineering. |ret||ret||tab|

The firm's decision to expand its presence to Kansas City was based on a combination of client demand in the area and the discovery of Symons, Forrester said.|ret||ret||tab|

"We have a pretty substantial number of clients in the Kansas City area, particularly law firms, and they have always wanted us to have a local presence. I have been wanting to open an office there for several years now, but never could find the right person, and I believe that Bryan is that person," Forrester said. "So we found the right guy to be the nucleus and we have decided to open the office based on his experience and our confidence in his ability."|ret||ret||tab|

At this time, Symons is the only staff member of The Forrester Group in Kansas City. Forrester said additional candidates are being evaluated and a support staff will be added.|ret||ret||tab|

"(Symons) is going to initiate a design practice within our firm and will have primary responsibility for mentoring our engineer-in-training people within the company," said Forrester. |ret||ret||tab|

After practicing in Colorado for 14 years, Symons also brings to the company four years of experience in the Kansas City metro area. In addition to his work with remedial action technology evaluation, cost estimating and managing strategic projects, Symons will be responsible for business development for the Kansas City office. |ret||ret||tab|

[[In-content Ad]]