Celebrating 125: An Alum’s Fond Memories
Freese and Nichols
When Alan Greer, Keith Franklin and Trooper Smith were greeting attendees at the Georgia Institute of Transportation Engineers Annual Meeting in August, one visitor had unique stories to share.
Art Haynes, who works in the Atlanta area, was a Freese and Nichols staff member in the Austin office in the 1980s. When he learned that the firm was a conference sponsor, he was eager to reminisce about his experiences — and share memorabilia.
He brought along his Freese and Nichols nametag, a photo with former co-workers and a copy of the 90th Anniversary/1984 Christmas program.
Some of the employees honored in the program are still with the company, including Ray Longoria, David Sloan and Rusty Gibson.
Here’s an excerpt:
Including personnel in the Fort Worth, Mid-Cities and Austin offices, Freese and Nichols now employs over 170 engineers, technicians, scientists, planners, administrative and support staff. Freese and Nichols marks its 90th anniversary in 1984, and is one of the longest enduring consulting firms in Texas. In a report published by the Engineering News Record on May 17, 1984, a national professional publication, Freese and Nichols ranked number 252 in billings when comparing all engineering firms across the United States. This ranking is pretty significant when one realizes that there are over a thousand engineering companies in the U.S.
Almost 35 years later, Freese and Nichols has grown to 850+ employees across the United States and is ranked by ENR 109th overall with $150.7 million in revenue and 85th on the “pure designers” list.