Unleashed With Big Red Dog Engineering

On the latest episode of the WGI Unleashed Podcast, we had the opportunity to sit down with Jacob Gonzalez, WGI's VP of Client Solutions, based out of our Houston, TX, office. Jacob joined the WGI team over five years ago and has passionately dedicated his time to helping leverage WGI's multi-discipline platform in order to provide our partners and clients with integrated solutions and maximum value. In our sit down, we had the opportunity to discuss many details surrounding Jacob's personal & professional life, such as what it was like growing up as a fourth-generation Texan and 1st generation "Houstonian," where he was born, raised and still resides with his family to this day. Jacob also explained how he was introduced to the AEC industry at a young age, spending his summers surveying in the sweltering Texas sun with his father and grandfather, who are both professional surveyors. In this episode, we discovered how Jacob remained in Houston to attend college, initially starting his post-secondary educa

In the latest episode of the Unleashed Podcast, we got to know Ayse Heckel, an Innovation Engineer from our Dallas, TX, office. Ayse has only been with WGI for just over a year and has already made an impact by helping streamline processes and implement new technologies to help improve efficiency. Ayse talked to us about growing up as one of three sisters in a family who moved around a lot, jumping from Connecticut to Indiana and ultimately Texas, where she decided to put down roots. We discussed the cultural differences between the regions she has lived in and even tested out some of the local sayings and accents on each other. We learned that Ayse is a "triple threat," having attended Texas Tech University for her undergrad, where she double majored, receiving bachelor's degrees in Civil Engineering AND Architecture. And if that wasn't enough, she then went on to MIT and obtained her Master of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering. We discussed the invaluable instruction and mentorship she received during

On this episode of the WGI Unleashed podcast, we had the pleasure of talking with Russell Yeager, the Director of Civil Engineering here at WGI. Russell is based out of our San Antonio, TX office but made the short drive up I-35 to Austin for a face-to-face chat with us. We learned Russell grew up in Austin, back when it was considered a "small town," and attended the University of Texas, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. We also discovered he was quite the athlete growing up, uncovering his love for baseball in grade school and swimming competitively throughout high school and college, where he also dabbled in a bit of ultimate frisbee. He walked us through some of his first jobs following graduation and told us the story of what led him to assist in establishing our San Antonio office, which he has been instrumental in leading and growing for over a decade now. Russell was eager to disclose what a typical day looks like for him as the Director of Civil Engineering, which co

On our latest episode of the WGI Unleashed podcast, we head back to Florida to chat with Jennifer Priem, Transportation Business Development Manager, located in our Tampa, FL office. Jennifer joined WGI over 3 years ago and has quickly established herself as a changemaker, helping to create more streamlined processes and often taking on additional projects outside her role’s general scope. We learned Jennifer was born in "The Thumb" region of Michigan, where she grew up along Saginaw Bay with her twin brother. She spent her early years outdoors exploring and rescuing any and all animals she encountered. Jennifer discussed her nomadic adolescence and how her father got a job working for a prominent construction company in Philadelphia, which finally allowed her family to settle down in New Jersey. Her first job involved working in public relations for a large environmental company, but when commissioned by her sister to write a listing ad for her condo, Jennifer promptly fled the cold northeast weather for the

For our first WGI Unleashed episode of the new year, we chatted with Christian Stewart, a Geospatial Technologies Specialist, out of our West Palm Beach, FL office. Christian is an extremely talented and knowledgeable member of our robust Geospatial division with over 18 years of dedicated service at WGI! Christian gave us a glimpse into his early life in the Berkshires, NY, and revealed that the traditional college education path wasn't right for him, so after high school, he booked it down to sunny Florida. We talked about how one of his friends, who already worked at WGI, scored him a job as a rodman on a field crew focusing on land surveying. He explained that he was attracted to this work because it provided him the opportunity to be outside in nature while also allowing him to travel to different parts of the state and country. Soon after beginning his career here, he and a few others on his team decided to take advantage of WGI's tuition reimbursement program and joined a Geospatial apprenticeship prog

In this episode, we got to sit down in the Tampa, Florida office to chat with Floyd Jackson, Chief Designer with our Civil Engineering team. Floyd talked about growing up in Florida and attending the Santa Fe College in Gainsville, FL on a scholarship for being a school ambassador for two years. He then graduated from the University of Central Florida where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He also discussed getting married, traveling the world, and his newfound hobby - gardening! Floyd and his wife started gardening during the pandemic and have not stopped since.

In this episode, we got to sit down in the Tampa, Florida office to chat with Marcia Alvarado, Market Leader for our Structures and Parking division. Marcia discussed growing up in a military family and her travels around the world. She also discussed her path to the engineering profession, going to college with a full-ride to play basketball, and her life as a model working during New York Fashion Week. She received the USF College of Engineering Young Alumnus Award in 2018. Marcia is a graduate of Leadership Tampa Bay and serves as the Diversity and Inclusion Chair for the Board of Directors. Marcia provides a unique combination of experience with structural engineering and Building Information Modeling (BIM) coordination as a project manager. She has 16 years of structural engineering experience and project management of new construction and renovation in healthcare, commercial, higher education, multi-story residential, federal, aviation, and parking garages. She also has engineering experience in structu

In this episode, we got to sit down in the Austin, TX office to chat with Colter Sonneville, Project Manager and Certified Arborist in our Landscape Architecture department.

Our hosts got a kick out of our new guest this month, Joelle McCormick, Team Leader based in our Austin, Texas office on our MEP Engineering team. She talked about growing up in New Jersey and going off to college at The Pennsylvania State University to become a doctor. She changed her career path to becoming an engineer because she is good at solving problems and making systems work efficiently. She went on to talk about how she found herself moving to Austin, Texas after a site visit with a previous employer while eating Thai food. She ended up here at WGI and has been with us for 5 years!

In this episode of WGI Unleashed, we got to chat with Mario Garcia, Graduate Civil Engineer located in our Houston, Texas office. We were thrilled to get to have Mario as a guest in this podcast episode. Mario has expressed great interest and fandom towards Unleashed since the beginning and was excited to finally be on the show! He discussed many projects he has worked on throughout his career with WGI, growing up raising cattle, his love for movies, and how his two-year-old daughter and the family dog both fight for his attention daily! Mario works in our Civil Engineering division on land development projects across Texas and the Southwest. He also has extensive experience in parking planning, parking design, parking analysis, and operations studies. If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to subscribe in your favorite podcast app – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts!

In this episode of WGI Unleashed, we chat with Jose Mendoza, Geospatial Field Supervisor located in our West Palm Beach, Florida office. We were excited to get to know Jose since he was recommended so many times to be on the podcast. He talked about how he was a military kid growing up in many different countries and how he eventually ended up in Florida. He also talked about his favorite place he has ever been to which is Barbados. He is an avid surfer and he loves visiting Barbados to surf. He told our hosts that he had visited Barbados at least 6 times. Today, he's a father and a new hobby he shares with his son is knife throwing! At WGI, Jose is responsible for a wide variety of surveying assignments. He is proficient in the use of conventional surveying methodology, and hydrographic surveying technology, as well as both static and RTK global positioning. Jose's project experience over the past 13+ years includes work on major highway projects as well as urban and local roads. Jose is also proficient with

In this episode of WGI Unleashed, we got to chat with Jeff Cassell, Proposal Coordinator who is located in our Orlando, FL office, and Katherine Heighway, Senior Proposal Coordinator located in our Austin, TX office. Both Katherine and Jeff work in our Business Development Team. They both work with our technical professionals to develop captivating responses to RFPs/RFQs that spark the interest of our clients. Jeff's experience is very broad and versatile from various forms of media which include magazine production, special print and digital projects in the newspaper industry, working at an advertising agency, and in radio broadcasting. Katherine's strategic writing and proposal development skills stem from my Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.  Check out Jeff's podcasts Jeff Allen Sportstalk and AAC Report With Jeff Allen.

In this episode of WGI Unleashed, we chat with Lilli O'Steen, Roadway (Transportation) Engineer Intern located in our Orlando, Florida office. When we sat down with Lilli, we discussed how she grew up in Georgia and how she came to find herself in Florida working as an intern for WGI. She displayed her knowledge of Disney facts and claims to be the "queen of Disney karaoke". Lilli also talks about her home life, her 4 dogs, and how excited she is to get married this year! Lili is also the first podcast guest to ever win our "Two Truths and a Lie" segment!

Monte discusses his professional and personal life. He talks about his upbringing on a cattle ranch in Montana, attending the University of Montana to study Music and Education, planting trees across the country, developing a "roadshow" for a large chain of membership-only warehouse clubs, and how he finally made his way to West Palm Beach, Florida. He also discusses his role at WGI in helping solve clients' problems and helping connect people to bring projects to life. Monte has more than 20 years of experience in business leadership and sales, he has a wide reach statewide with the many leaders of business and government that run the state of Florida. Monte has developed a network of people that enable him to connect the team with new sectors and opportunities. He is able to bring this diversity of skills together to advance established strategic business development plans across all of WGI’s business sectors within Florida and beyond.

In this episode, we talk with Matt Blankenberger, Senior Engineer Intern from our Parking Design team in our Indianapolis, Indiana office. Matt is an experienced structural engineer specializing in the design of parking facilities. He is involved in multiple phases of new parking structure design, from preliminary concepts in schematic design to construction review and inspection throughout construction administration. He has experience with a variety of structural systems including reinforced concrete, post-tensioned concrete, precast concrete, and structural steel, and is also knowledgeable in the review and rehabilitation of existing concrete structures, including structural modifications and retrofitting. During the podcast, Matt talked about growing up on a farm in a small town in southern Illinois, and how he is happy he is still close to home while living in Indiana. He also talked about recently buying a new home, his desire to travel to Australia, and the favorite projects he has contributed to acros

In this episode, we talk with Casey Sveiven, an Electrical Project Engineer from our MEP team in our Austin, TX office. Casey has a wide range of experience from transportation and infrastructure development to high-rise senior living and laboratory design. Having spent most of his early career working on retail roll-out programs, Casey excels on projects that are thoroughly designed at a fast pace and delivered within a succinct schedule. Casey talks about his training for RECA KnockOut Night that he participated in, his passion for jiu-jitsu, and what it was like growing up with eight siblings in southern California. Casey also discusses how he grew up around electrical contractors in his family, so becoming an Electrical Engineer was almost unavoidable.  

In this episode, we talk with Megan Amitrano who was more than excited to be a guest on the Unleashed podcast. Megan is a Graduate Engineer for our Civil Engineering team in our San Antonio office. She has been with WGI for over three years and counting!  

In this episode, we introduce our revamped podcast and get to know our new co-host Ashley Weldon, Financial Accounting Specialist from our Austin, Texas office. We've added some exciting new segments to the show to get to know our guests a little better, including Spin the Wheel, The Hot Seat, and Two Truths and a Lie. To kick off the new format, we took a peek "behind the curtain" of the show and talked to Raili Flint, Digital Marketing Coordinator. Raili is the producer and editor of the podcast, in addition to her other responsibilities on the Marketing and Creative Services team. Raili discusses how she found herself living in Austin, TX, and finding a career in digital marketing after college. She also discusses her passions and hobbies such as pottery, video games, and swimming at the local swimming spot Barton Springs Pool. Listen to the full episode and get to know more about Raili! If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to subscribe in your favorite podcast app – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast

In this episode, Eliza discusses her passion surrounding alternative delivery projects and how they can benefit our clients. We also get to know Eliza on a personal level - she loves to stay local to Jacksonville, FL, and hang around her neighborhood. She also enjoys many outdoor activities - including scalloping, paddle boarding on the St. Johns River, and being on the water during the weekends.

In this episode, Ray discusses his passion for transportation engineering and how he discovered that passion in college. He also speaks about his loving new family, becoming a dad, and his travel adventures. Raymond enjoys running, weekends with his son, traveling to as many places as possible, and DIY projects (even though he admits he is not the best at them!).