This year marks an incredible milestone for EHRA Engineering as we honor our legacy—90 years from where it all began. As we celebrate the firm’s 90th anniversary, I am filled with gratitude, pride and a deep appreciation for everything EHRA Engineering is today.
What defines EHRA today goes far beyond the services we provide. We are, at our core, a team-member-focused organization, often described as a “family business.” And while the phrase may be overused and the definition of family changing, I don’t know a better way to describe the way we whole-heartedly care for one another, lead one another and serve alongside one another every day.
When Truman and I began discussing taking over the firm in the late 1990s, we were coming from two very different professional experiences, but we made a commitment to take the best and the worst of what we had seen elsewhere and intentionally build a culture that reflected everything we knew we wanted EHRA to be.
That didn’t happen by chance. It happened through many deliberate choices made over time.
EHRA’s name carries 90 years of trust, integrity and service. And that brand is upheld by every single person who represents it each day. How we speak, how we treat one another, how we serve our clients and how we carry ourselves professionally all contribute to the legacy that has been built over time.
At the end of the day, what has gotten us here is simple: a dedication to service.
We are a service business—to our clients and each other. The mindset of humility, care and accountability is what defines our legacy in action today. Because our legacy is not found in a moment in history. It is found in how we lead, how we treat people and how we choose to do our work every single day.
That legacy has also been shaped by the clients and communities who have trusted us along the way. Many have grown alongside us over the decades, and their continued confidence in EHRA is one of the greatest honors of our journey. We are deeply grateful to every client, past and present, who has allowed us to be a part of their projects, their communities and their progress for the last 90 years.
Which is why this 90-year anniversary is not only a milestone but a commitment to protect what has been built. The culture, the reputation, the integrity and the philosophy that have brought us here. And a commitment to ensuring that EHRA remains a place where people want to be, where they feel valued and where they can do meaningful work alongside people they trust.
Looking back on a 90-year legacy, I am most proud of the team we have built today. I always believe in surrounding myself with people far more capable than I will ever be, and the team at EHRA today is just that. What began as a small, mom-and-pop shop of about 30 team members, mostly made up of survey crew, has grown into a highly respected, competitive civil engineering firm of nearly 300 professionals, still rooted in the same values that started it all. As we have grown, the structure of our leadership has grown with us to ensure that the culture we worked so hard to create is carried forward through every level of the organization.
Because of this team, EHRA continues to do things we have never done before.
90 years in business yet still filled with so many “firsts.” The first time approaching 300 team members. Opening of our first branch offices in Dallas and Katy. The first time working on projects of such scale and impact. And the first time celebrating 90 consecutive years as a locally and privately owned civil engineering consulting firm.
At the same time, we closed the year honoring the retirements and milestone anniversaries of team members who have dedicated decades of their lives to this place. A reminder that while we continue to grow, what matters most has not changed.
EHRA’s mission, Trusted Partner | Team Focused, was born from the belief that our people and our clients are inseparable from our success. 90 years later, that belief is stronger than ever, and I am deeply grateful to be a part of it. The relationships we have built over 90 years, some spanning decades, are a testament to the trust placed in us and the responsibility we carry to honor that trust every day.
It is my duty, privilege and responsibility, as with each and every one of us, to carry it forward into the next 90 years and beyond.
