Carlos Herrera received the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2004 Entrepreneurial Success Award at a ceremony at Bell Harbor International Conference Center on April 8th. Carlos and his family fled the Castro regime in Cuba in 1962. Speaking no English, they settled in Olympia as refugees. Carlos earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in engineering from the University of Washington, and incorporated Herrera Environmental Consultants in 1986. He enrolled the firm in the SBA’s 8(a) business development program in 1993. At the time, the firm had 16 employees and annual revenue of approximately $1 million. Upon graduation from the program in 2002, the firm employed over 70 people with annual revenue of $7 million. Today, the firm brings in over $8 million in annual revenue and is responsible for designing infrastructure and environmental restoration projects throughout the Northwest. The annual SBA small business awards recognize the most outstanding business leaders and entrepreneurs in Washington, along with those who work in a professional and volunteer capacity to help promote small business growth and development. More information on the 2004 SBA small business award winners is available here.
Herrera will develop a stream restoration design with enhancement features to improve cover and shading, prevent channel incision and bank erosion, and reconnect portions of the stream to its floodplain. The design will ensure that floodplain elevations do not increase as a result of the project. Herrera engineers will provide oversight through the construction process. Project stakeholders include: the owner, Clean Water Services; Washington County; and the Oregon Division of State Lands.
Herrera is pleased to announce that Kathleen Adams will lead our Missoula, Montana office operations. Ms. Adams joined Herrera’s Seattle office in 1998 and recently relocated to Missoula, MT. She has experience in wildlife, wetland, and plant ecology; Endangered Species Act compliance; NEPA compliance; and facilitating agreements between regulatory and proponent agencies. Ms. Adams recently served as project manager and lead author for a programmatic biological assessment addressing operations and maintenance activities for a 127,000-acre irrigation project located on the Flathead Indian Reservation. She is also leading the effort to obtain all of the environmental permits for the US 93 Improvements project for the Montana Department of Transportation.