2021 Annual report
Board of Directors Walter D. Jones, Lead Director* Todd J. Kenner Joe D. Adams, Jr.* Matt R. Emerson Brian G. Iverson* Jason T. Love John S. L. Morgan Stephen T. O’Rourke* Jay R. VanOrden* *External Director
Corporate officers Todd J. Kenner, Chief Executive Officer & President Philip A. Welling, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer Jason D. Miller, Chief Information Officer Regina D. Crowell, Chief People Officer Karla R. Lipp, Corporate Secretary
co-presidents Debra A. Shewfelt** Tabetha A. Stirrett** **of RESPEC Canadian Subsidiary
senior vice presidents Matt R. Emerson, Infrastructure Jason T. Love, Water & Natural Resources John S. L. Morgan, Mining & Energy Steve L. Steinheimer, Data & Technology Solutions
Vice presidents Denise J. Brickley Meagan L. Chaddick Stephen Kan Rick R. Moser Jay R. Nopola Russell A. Persyn Daniel T. Rauchenstein
e v o lv i n g . performing. a d va n c i n g . These words sum up 2021 for RESPEC. From day one, we adapted to the world’s new corporate dynamic—remote work, enhanced technologies, and travel modifications—and used it to get our jobs done. Now, having gotten farther, we also stand stronger. RESPEC’s hard work paid off. More people, more projects, and more possibilities created financial success. RESPEC had a 112% increase in revenue while doubling our unadjusted EBITDA earnings. These accomplishments alone prove excellence. Combined with our employee-owners’ performances, we flew off the charts. Things get better with time—when done well. As a 53-year-old company, RESPEC focuses on our company’s sustainability by elevating employee-owners and offering them opportunities to shape our future. We demonstrated our commitment in three ways: » » »
Promoting employee-owners to President and a Senior Vice President. Hosting a stock offering to maximize employee-owners’ participation. Hiring our first-ever Chief People Officer.
These actions show RESPEC believes in our employee-owners and they believe in us. Together, we change, act, and learn. New insights brought us back to where RESPEC can evolve again. That mindset drove our strategic investments in 2021. RESPEC furthered our differentiating capabilities and expanded our geographic and market footprints. We brought many new people into RESPEC’s fold: » » »
Progressive Water Resources in Sarasota, Florida. JDS-Hydro in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Haight & Associates in Juneau, Alaska.
Each advancement solidifies RESPEC’s presence in geographies and relationships with clients. Already, we’re reaping the benefits. We generated and strengthened our present and lasting value for our partners, our employee-owners, and our company. Everything that RESPEC accomplished in 2021 illustrates how we continue to evolve, perform, and advance as an employee-owned company.
Todd Kenner CEO
1
s o lv i n g . investing. Earning.
$147.55
Share Value
2020’s Share Value of $123.65 + $23.90 = 19% Increase
$85M gross revenue
12% Stemmed $16M
i ncrease from 2020
from ACROSS* Projects & Products
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2021 | respec Annual report
$10M Cash Position Adjusted EBITDA** $5M $6M Investments Increase in
Proving Competitive & Sustainable Profitability Levels
in Market Expansions
$50m
assets
on Balance Sheet
5x
977 Clien ts Worldwide
2,463
PROJEC T S in18 Countries & 35 States
Higher
Revenue Than a Decade Ago
$2M
investments
in Business, Environment & Technology
17%
485,013
HBilledours
Collabor ating
Revenue
Growth
Annually for 10 Years
18% Compound
return
over 10 Years
* RESPEC CEO Todd Kenner developed this acronym to emphasize our commitment to Accept the Challenge to Reach Out for Shared Success. ** Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & Amortization
24% of Work Delivered
across* 3
PROMOTING. SHARING. ENHANCING. 2022 2016 2013
President Announced
2005
Jason Love How does a growing company seek new opportunities while keeping operations smooth? Bifurcate the roles of CEO and President. Our Board of Directors realized we’d reached that point in 2021.
1997
Appointed President
Became Senior Vice President of Water & Natural Resources
Started Serving on Board of Directors
Began at RESPEC
Started Professional Engineering Consulting
In December, our Board voted to separate the roles, appointing Todd Kenner as CEO and Jason Love as President, effective January 2022. Working together—with clearly defined and separate goals—Todd and Jason are taking RESPEC further and making us stronger. RESPEC’s leaders knew that Jason was right for the job of President. “Jason’s the kind of person others want to work with,” Todd says. “He listens. He smiles. Jason can sit back, pitch in, or lead.” RESPEC operates with a “hire-to-retire” model. We bring people to RESPEC who we can support, promote, and develop—from their first to their last day of work. Jason meets that ideal. Except for a first few years early in his career, he’s spent the rest of his time here. Jason’s tenure with RESPEC informs his decisions, our strategy, and our operations, starting with RESPEC’s Vision 2030. “Where does RESPEC want to be in 5 years?” Jason asks. “We only get there by asking that question now.” During 2022, Jason is analyzing what RESPEC included in our Vision 2025, whether we’re meeting our goals, and if we’ll succeed by its conclusion. That insight will guide Jason as he works with Todd and the Leadership Team to create RESPEC’s Vision 2030. “RESPEC will go on as long as we keep nurturing a committed generation of leaders,” says Jason. “If I help deliver that—if I give RESPEC employee-owners who could take my place—I’ll think that I’ve done my job as President well.”
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2021 | respec Annual report
Leadership Developed Russell Persyn Perspective, which Russell Persyn has in abundance, makes people stand out. Community Organizer. University Professor. Professional Engineer. Lone Ranger. Now, as of January 2022, Russell’s added Senior Vice President of Water & Natural Resources to his titles. Like we do for all of our employee-owners, RESPEC fostered Russell in his development and succession. He built RESPEC from the ground up in south Texas, first starting an office as a “Lone Ranger,” according to his predecessor, Jason Love. His resolve took our Texas presence from a one-person shop to three offices in the area in under 5 years. RESPEC already sees Russell offering that same know-how as a Senior Vice President and looks forward to all he’ll accomplish. Russell has a big heart, lots of patience, PhD-earning ideas, and realistic expectations. Just watch: Russell’s taking RESPEC’s Water & Natural Resources team to new places.
Stock offerED
Systems MAINTAINED
RESPEC held a stock offering within the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Employee-owners could increase their shareholdings, strengthening both personal and corporate investments.
RESPEC’s Corporate Information Technology Services (CITS) maintains our critical internal infrastructure. From networks and servers to hardware and software, CITS keeps RESPEC running.
Employee-owners’ voluntary investments demonstrate their commitment to and belief in RESPEC. Altogether they helped raise $6 million for RESPEC. Their participation in the stock offering provided capital that allows us to invest in ongoing successes.
Ten RESPEC employee-owners make up CITS and create two teams: the Service Desk and the Systems Group. Both teams have regular workflows and strive to solve IT problems before they happen, juggling tasks alongside requests and technical elements.
RESPEC employee-owners with less than 5 years of tenure represented 37% of the offering participants. It shows that even our most recent hires believe in our future. A third of our employee-owners participated.
The Service Desk is our front line of support, receiving and resolving tickets. The Systems Group works behind the scenes, syncing, installing, and upgrading. CITS’ hard work keeps projects moving along safely and fluidly.
33% participateD
6,543 Tickets
$6M invested
75 systems
in Stock Offering
into ESOP
Resolved in 31-Minute Average
Replaced
5
Recruiting. c u lt i vat i n g . R e ta i n i n g .
Operated
We strive to grow organically. How does RESPEC do that? Seek and keep the right people. Every decision we make—who we hire and acquire, what contracts we sign, which partnerships we extend, when we invest—stems from RESPEC’s shared belief: How a team forms determines its success and longevity. That’s why RESPEC created our Vision 2025: To build with purpose. Each step along the way, RESPEC asks, How will we nurture our team? How will we advance our employee-owners? How will everyone fit—now, tomorrow, and 20 years from today? As RESPEC nears the midpoint of our Vision 2025, we’re evaluating how we’ve done—and what’s left to do. We’ve taken steps to ensure that RESPEC has a flexible work environment. We’ve enhanced our partnerships. We’ve engaged up-to-date, cutting-edge security processes. What’s left for RESPEC to do to surpass our Vision 2025? Develop processes to secure more projects working ACROSS, which is an acronym that reinforces our commitment to accept the challenge to reach out for shared success. Enhance profits so RESPEC exceeds an annual revenue of $125 million. Build a program to develop leadership internally and promote succession. Establish a RESPEC Foundation to advance our philanthropic endeavors.
RESPEC has Vision 2025 covered.
26 Offices Increased
workforce
15%
15%
over 2020
137 New
Employee-Owners
6%
24%
Recruitment Internships
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2021 | respec Annual report
70%
Acquisitions
ACQUISITIONS MATTER RESPEC grows strategically and smartly. Acquisitions generate momentum so that we can expand our capabilities and diversify our markets.
Matt Emerson, Senior Vice President of Infrastructure, welcomes Ben Haight to RESPEC after acquisition.
Sarasota, FL
Est. 2007
Acq. June 30
PWR valued colleagues and quality work in tandem with, not dependent on, the bottom dollar. Their desire to work in an environment that fosters collaboration and innovation made our decision to acquire them easy. Our cultures aligned. Having joined together, RESPEC secured our southernmost office in a place where water is everything—to the area and to our employee-owners who work there. Their water-resource development and management expertise help RESPEC serve more communities.
RESPEC proposed acquisition to JDS in 2017 and again in 2021. By then, JDS had other suitors. Other companies concentrate their pitches around finances. So why did JDS go with RESPEC? Our cultures matched.
Colorado Springs, CO
Est. 2001
Acq. October 1
Water and wastewater services are recession-proof. Every living thing anywhere on earth needs water. Joining the Colorado Springs, Colorado, office gives RESPEC another unique niche. Now, together, we are providing more communities with the clean water they need.
Haight started in a closet. Those humble beginnings say nothing about what they achieved—the capstone being the first company ever to design shore power for marine vessels. RESPEC noticed something important. Our cultures fit.
Juneau, AK
Est. 1980
Acq. November 1
RESPEC had a decades-long connection with Haight, and this acquisition enabled us to expand our services across every sector. Both companies had considered the value of joining together for several years, and 2021 proved to be the year that uniting made sense.
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empowering. trusting. Caring.
P a s s i o n . A c c o u n ta b i l i t y. Caring. Teamwork. These values make the RESPEC PACT, define who we are, create our culture, and influence what we do. We extend these traits to fellow employee-owners and to our families, clients, partners, and communities.
68% interns
chief people officer HIRED Regina Crowell “The culture drew me here,” Regina Crowell, our Chief People Officer (CPO) says. For 25 years, she has worked as a leader in Human Resources and knows businesses succeed when they buttress people. With roots in the Rapid City area, joining us felt like “coming home.” According to Regina, RESPEC is like a family. We’re matrixed without being hierarchical. We operate like a startup but ensure that all employees are vested owners. RESPEC’s Vision 2025 demonstrates that we believe we all have a stake in our successes. Our CPO will lead efforts to align processes and business strategies to support what matters most to RESPEC: our people. Regina will provide workforce planning, offer executive talent strategies, and guide talent management. She will take our company to the next level. RESPEC has built diversity, equity, and inclusion into our culture—and with Regina paving the way, we can do even more.
Retained
11 people
in 2021 Leadership Program
2021 | respec Annual report
Female or Nonwhite
multigenerational
Employee-Owners Gen Z
37% 11% 21%
Gen X
8
leadership
34%
31%
Baby Boomer
Millennial
w h at p a c t m e a n s t o o u r 2 0 2 1
Employee-Owner DEFINED
Crystal PACT Award Winners
Employee-owners direct and have a financial interest in RESPEC’s performance today and tomorrow. We are 100% employeeowned. Over time, our employee-owners earn more shares in our ESOP, which our ESOP Trust manages. RESPEC’s continued success builds a stronger company. Because of our employee-owners’ efforts, RESPEC can last longer, pay more, and provide higher returns than non-ESOP companies. We foster sustainability, value recruitment and retention, and share equity value with our employee-owners. Every year, an independent valuation consultant determines RESPEC’s share price. Then our ESOP Trust reports on RESPEC’s value and allocates shares to employee-owners. In under a decade, RESPEC’s share price has nearly quadrupled, thanks to our brilliant, committed team of employee-owners.
379 Share Holders
231 vested Fully
opportunities created RESPEC hires to retire. We seek promising people before they are on the market and recruit experts with values that align with the RESPEC PACT. Then we nurture our employee-owners. How do we support our “hire-to-retire” mentality? With our Leadership and Internship programs, we cultivate talent, build perspective, and support employee-owners.
PASSION RESPEC employee-owners lift one another up. When I have an idea, they say, “Go for it!”
Justin Muskopf
A C C O U N TA B I L I T Y Leading rebranding efforts after acquisitions taught me change benefits everyone—even when it takes some work and time.
Max Frey
CARING My team is small, so knowing and shifting our responsibilities when people have something come up means a lot.
Natalie Lyon
TEAMWORK I like filling in with little notice, looking at what we need, and helping the team get it done.
Morgan Lane
Providing opportunities to develop professionally yields commitment, and commitment supports succession. Come to RESPEC. Stay with RESPEC.
people recognized RESPEC evolved our Employee Recognition program to align with the RESPEC PACT. We solidified a culture that recognizes our employee-owners’ accomplishments, involvement, and innovation. Our Employee Recognition program has six tiers to celebrate our hard work, cutting-edge solutions, and PACT manifestation. How many awards did we give to employee-owners in 2021? 271.
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people prioritized Retained
515 EmployeeOwners
8.4 years
Average Tenure
209% growth over 5 Years
Succeeded
498 96 15 42 Certifications Graduate Doctorates Awards Degrees
Externally
Involved
$8M Benefits
Toward Retirements, Bonuses, Health Insurace & Paid Time Off
<5% Shares Held by Any One Person
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CHOOSE WELL. WORK HARD. ACHIEVE MORE.
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2021 | respec Annual report
developed.
RESPEC knows caverns, wells, and mines. We worked on 347 projects to get clients from exploration to reclamation. Our top ten clients averaged $774K in revenue.
improving strategies for Responsible Extraction For RESPEC, mining ventures start with the same question: Can the resource be extracted responsibly while helping the client secure a return on investment? To get an answer, our mining engineers offer cost estimations, which guide financial decisions. For mines with short life cycles, advancing the ventures’ sustainablly while decreasing capital costs is a good strategy. While RESPEC’s mining engineers know everything required to make a mine work—from infrastructure and extraction to processing and reclamation—they need support from engineers who design infrastructure and oversee construction. Linking mining experts with our facilities and transportation experts makes sense. Imagine a mining company with many projects in one area. Now, imagine they stumble upon a small deposit nearby containing a resource they could extract and process at a local facility. How do they decide whether to begin production? Perhaps they consider costs related to roads and maintenance and impacts on land and water. If construction materials are easily accessible, equipment can be rented rather than purchased, and camps can be semipermanent, taking the next steps toward development might make sense. With RESPEC’s mining, facilities, and transportation experts united through ACROSS, mines everywhere get valuable insights about proceeding cost-effectively while being environmentally conscious. Production that might seem prohibitive, if approached with the right team’s knowledge, could turn from a no-go into a must-do. That team is RESPEC.
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2021 | respec Annual report
5,231 Creep Tests in Potash & Salt
3
of Mining & Energy’s
Top Ten Client s Are Major Mining Companies Worked on
half Geothermal of All
projects in Canada
CO 2 injected Underground
Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. RESPEC’s geologists, engineers, and drilling experts can handle every subsurface aspect—from wellhead to reservoir. We recently submitted our first permit application to the EPA for underground injection. RESPEC created a model that numerically simulated where the CO2 plume would migrate and build up pressure. With the permit submitted, drilling can begin.
CO
8 . 5 M To n s pe r Year of CO 2 Ca ptu re d
Estimated
Working on
Te n CCU S Projec t s in No r th A me r ica
During 2021, RESPEC began six more CCUS projects in the United States as well as two prefeasibility studies and a CO2 storage project in Canada. We simplified the process by offering practical solutions for execution, regulatory approval, and risk mitigation. Economic incentives related to carbon capture credits or penalties often drive CCUS efforts. From energy and industrial companies to mines and landfills, RESPEC can support any CCUS project.
Maintenance & Operations tracked th e Ope ra tio n s of 327 Cave r n s
Impacted
307 Spreads h e e ts Tra ck in g 10k Para me te rs
Transformed
A midstream oil-and-gas company has partnered with RESPEC since 2000 and relied on our underground storage solutions, such as cavern engineering and geology services, and made us a trusted advisor. As regulations and the industry evolved, tracking maintenance and operations (M&O) became increasingly complicated—although important as ever. If M&O was poorly tracked, problems could occur, and unnecessary expenses and labor could happen. ONEOK, Inc. and RESPEC’s experts in energy put their heads together to solve the issue. ONEOK realized that they could turn to RESPEC’s experts in data and technology who could create a centralized dashboard and transfer data from complicated spreadsheets to a user-friendly app. ONEOK jumped at the chance. Now, because of RESPEC’s ACROSS capabilities, ONEOK has better quality control in a single system that’s easier to use with fewer problems, which means safer wells for ONEOK staff and community members.
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RESTORED. RESPEC understands that water sustains life. We guaranteed that 405 projects have clean, sustainable, and accessible environments. Almost $9M came from public agencies.
Using Maps & Models for Habitat & Community Restoration The San Antonio River is a valuable resource—and subject to flash flooding. Since the 1930s, attempts to protect life and property have occurred. Federal agencies, alongside engineers, widened and deepened the river and its tributaries, minimizing flooding but altering the ecosystem and disconnecting the community. RESPEC is working to rectify those consequences. We design trail systems and green spaces that restore natural habitats, which improve life—humans, creatures, and vegetation. We enrich public areas, return them to their historical and cultural significance, and ensure these restorations are preserved. How does RESPEC accomplish quality-of-life improvements? Through our ACROSS capabilities. RESPEC turns to our technology experts to transform drawings and concepts into models and maps. The interactive images we create help others visualize improvements from aerial and ground-level perspectives. Our tailored, automated processes and corresponding dashboards show where alignments are, streets connect, runoff flows, and more. These models and maps helped us demonstrate how we would rectify the San Antonio River’s issues and unite a community. Projects often generate public feedback. When a community wants improvements, locals recognize how changes enhance public safety, encourage outdoor recreation, ease foot traffic, and bring more visitors. RESPEC knows how to prioritize what matters most.
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2021 | respec Annual report
Produced
3,007 Models & Maps
Supported
$2.8M
USDA Farm Bill Program
mitigation analyzed When land is developed in the United States, the effect on its waters must be assessed. If impacted, mitigation must occur. In Kentucky, a developer can oversee the process or enter a fee-in-lieu-of (FILO) agreement, allowing the state to oversee it. Kentucky wanted certainty that its FILO mitigations were effective and brought RESPEC on board to conduct an after-action review for its eastern region.
Reviewed 4 3
M i t i g a te d Si te s
Restored 6 4 6 K o f S t re a m s
L i n e a r Fe e t
Since mining companies have paid most FILOs, RESPEC’s local mining presence opened the door. Then, our water experts proved that we could offer unbiased analyses. RESPEC’s after-action review evaluates what is and isn’t working so that Kentucky can revamp criteria and ensure clean water. When it comes to keeping our environment healthy, RESPEC’s ACROSS capabilities let us help anyone, anywhere.
water services started Years ago, a Veterans Affairs (VA) cemetery needed to beautify its grounds. Widefield Water & Sanitation District in the Colorado Springs, Colorado, area hired JDS, acquired by RESPEC in early September 2021, to design a booster station to deliver water to the cemetery. Now, its grass is green. However, recent housing construction in the same water pressure zone required upgrades to the booster station. Just weeks after the acquisition, RESPEC’s newest water experts joined forces with our facilities engineers to ensure that 9,000 homes would have water They upgraded the booster station by completing the electrical, mechanical, HVAC, drainage, grading, and erosion-control designs. When RESPEC brings on new employee-owners, we connect with our ACROSS teams, offering everyone more.
a C h l o r i n e Boost i n g S ys te m & Fo u r 1 0 0-HP Pump s
Included
Designed S t a t i o n
to Sup p or t 9 K S i n g l e - Fa m i l y Eq ui va l e n t s
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STRENGTHENED. RESPEC ensures safe, reliable buildings, travel, and utilities by always focusing on resiliency. We completed 335 projects. A/E firms that called on our solutions contributed $7.3M in revenue.
Designing Infrastructure for RESILIENCY Since the 1970s, Alaskans have turned to our engineers, planners, and surveyors for infrastructure solutions. Most of these employeeowners joined RESPEC in a 2020 acquisition, and we’ve spread the word that we offer clients more. Now Alaskans are relying on us for other services and products. How does RESPEC help clients move from the usual to the additional? Create strong relationships and successful outcomes. Good communications with employee-owners and partners pay off for everyone. A long-standing infrastructure client put out an RFP that sought assistance developing IT dashboards. An employee-owner in an Alaskan office saw the announcement and alerted our data team. RESPEC was selected to receive task orders, thanks to our infrastructure team’s relationship paving the way. The client called on us to create custom API-connectors for their cybersecurity key performance indicator dashboard. Pleased with our work, then they requested RESPEC advise on their automated, scheduled processes. Staff needed to be freed from manually entering data, so we created a custom application to pull information and populate a database. Our employee-owners build and maintain committed partnerships— internally and externally. Our infrastructure team’s excellent reputation has opened many doors for us. Now clients in Alaska access RESPEC’s other expertise areas, and our infrastructure team takes their expertise to new places. RESPEC calls that a win-win-win.
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2021 | respec Annual report
loading Facilities Stabilized The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is one of RESPEC’s longestserved sites. We have provided Sandia National Laboratories with on-call support, field testing, predictive modeling, and groundwater monitoring. RESPEC’s involvement in WIPP opened the doors for our infrastructure engineers when salt damaged a steel beam in the loading facility’s salt shaft pocket, 2,000 feet underground. RESPEC’s experts in mines turned to colleagues with structural, civil, and geotechnical expertise. They joined forces to design a new pocket for WIPP’s loading facility. Most companies would simply recommend replacing the beam, but RESPEC knew the salt’s pressure surrounding the structure would cause damage again. With our ACROSS capabilities, we design mine structures that withstand creep deformation by incorporating adjustable bulkheads and yieldable supports. in Fo u r Fe e t o f Salt Enc ro a ch me n t by 2 0 6 0
Factored
S tr u ctu ra l S te e l to H old 96 To n s o f Sa lt
Designed
ecosystems protected In a U.S. national park near a bridge that RESPEC was designing, invasive fish were using a tributary to encroach on another species’ habitat. Using our ACROSS capabilities, the engineers on that project turned to colleagues who specialize in facilities and transportation engineering to create a barrier. Like a small dam, the structure prevents fish from going where they shouldn’t. Now, the ecosystem is protected. Although RESPEC has designed culverts by roadways, which allow fish to pass through, barriers are rare. We enlisted biologists to recommend specifications. We ran hydraulic models and evaluated the soil pressure, guaranteeing the barrier’s stability. This collaboration shaped our design. Working ACROSS, RESPEC unites teams of water and environmental experts with infrastructure engineers to solve even the fishiest of challenges. fo r 3 2 0 Po u n d s pe r Fo o t o f L ateral S o il Pre s s u re
Accounted
Designed
Fis h Ba r r ie r with 5 0 -Ye a r Life
19
DELIVERED.
RESPEC knows knowledge is power. We sort, interpret, and process data. We developed and supported 62 projects, and our top four clients generated $8.1M in revenue.
Creating Online Dashboards for Green Transparency Consider two truths: The modern world relies on technology, and people are learning how to adapt to climate and geological disruptions. If clients want to use the first truth to address the second, they can turn to RESPEC. Our data and technology experts team with our other employee-owners to track, mitigate, and respond to nature. Whether corporate or governmental agencies, large- or smallscale efforts, every improvement helps. RESPEC creates dashboards that empower others to analyze and announce important changes. Sometimes, these people need internal access. Other times, they want to provide public information. In all cases, transparency matters. In Alaska, the Fairbanks area is taking climate adaptation plans to the next level, and RESPEC is leading the charge. Our data and technology experts are creating a dashboard—incorporating insights from our experts specializing in community design, energy, facilities, transportation, water, and environment experts— that showcases why sustainability improvements help. With the dashboard, residents will see how Fairbanks is reducing energy usage, updating its vehicles, and upgrading its buildings. The technology that RESPEC uses helps clients. Questions like Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there? are answered. Our insights generate plans and identify responsible parties so adaptations occur. RESPEC makes tomorrow better.
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2021 | respec Annual report
1,594 files
from Sites with Data to Process
7active
Billing Platform Projects
11 Awards
Given to Employee-Owners by the Director of Indian Health Service, the Highest Honor for Fulfillment of IHS’s Mission
water usage balanced Collecting data is easy. Making something of it is challenging. RESPEC makes data understandable, and recently we did so for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. It provides water to 19 million people and supports nearby irrigation. Balancing the water supply requires assessing countless variables and relying on trustworthy solutions. Synthesizing information is RESPEC’s forte, and we developed an app to analyze the Palo Verde Irrigation District. Now, Metropolitan easily evaluates how much water it has delivered to crops grown in the district. Plants use water differently depending on maturity, surface area, and leaf size. Via maps, charts, and tables, our app tracks what the crops need versus what they surrender, which allows Metropolitan to identify ways to conserve water. RESPEC empowers clients to use water wisely so that access remains available for all.
Accounted reviewed
fo r 1 0 Le a se s
1 3 0 K Acre s
drones saved money Using drones with design software improves clients’ solutions. The vantage point and access that they offer allows RESPEC and our clients to better understand, prepare for, and wrap up projects. Our engineers used this technology to optimize blasting operations at a mine in Oregon, owned by our client CRH. RESPEC’s experts helped them to achieve ideal fragmentation. In mining, size matters. After blasts, materials travel from trucks to crushers to conveyors. When fragments are too big or too small, efficiency decreases and costs increase. The images we capture with drones can be used to run analyses for 3D-profiling and borehole alignment and to review muckpiles. RESPEC empowers our clients to use technology to get the best bang for the buck—in many cases, literally.
Increased
Fra g me n ta tio n by 5 6 %
11 Clie n t Employe e s o n Blasting B e s t Pra ctice s
Trained
21
rethink respec. When life-long learners empower others to seek knowledge and discover solutions, talking about the company that they founded could get tricky...but not for us. When you look at RESPEC’s story from the right angle, you’ll find it’s pretty straightforward. We sought to establish ourselves as expert researchers and create opportunities to specialize in engineering, applied science, and technology—hence, our name. REsearch SPECialties. From day one, we committed to surrounding ourselves with knowledge-seekers. Bring in up-and-comers with different passions and experiences to RESPEC. Support them from hire to retire. RESPEC’s quest for knowledge drove us forward. It also explains why, after our early successes, we wanted to go further. Chasing knowledge never ends. You must rethink what you think you know. So we asked ourselves What next? Our answer wasn’t a destination. It was a call to action.
Evolve. For over half a century, RESPEC has worked with tens of thousands of people, employing hundreds of them. Each one has offered us different skill sets, different educations, different histories, and different worldviews—representing communities worldwide. Each person has made RESPEC better. Our good choices and hard work along the way have helped RESPEC achieve what some may think impossible: RESPEC is a close-knit company with worldwide influence and highly sought, cutting-edge solutions, offering unparalleled perspective. In 1991, we initiated the ESOP. By 2012, RESPEC became a 100% employee-owned ESOP, ensuring every employee-owner is vested in our success. Our Impossible R, inspired by M.C. Escher’s constructions, conveys our approach. Beloved by mathematicians and misunderstood by artists, like Escher, RESPEC views the status quo and confusing ideas as opportunities to rethink expectations. We challenge norms. We convey complicated concepts and designs with visuals. Changing vantage points, flipping things around, or starting somewhere new can make what seems unsolvable solvable.
rethink im POSSIBLE. 22
2021 | respec Annual report
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