Unleashed With Big Red Dog Engineering

Welcome back to another captivating episode of the WGI Unleashed Podcast! In our 82nd episode, we sit down with Melissa McKinlay, VP of Government Relations, from our West Palm Beach corporate office. From early childhood roots in the Northeast to becoming a key player in Palm Beach County’s political landscape, it’s safe to say that Melissa’s journey is nothing short of riveting. From New York Beginnings to Florida Roots Melissa’s story began in Sarasota, Florida, where she relocated from the Northeast with her family when she was just six years old – But it didn’t take very long for the Sunshine State to win her over and become home. For the past 20 years, Melissa has called Palm Beach County her home, deeply embedding herself in the community and working to make a difference along the way. Academic and Early Political Aspirations Melissa’s passion for politics took root during her high school years when she ran for class president, with her ambition leading her to Florida State University (FSU), where she

Welcome back to another captivating episode of the WGI Unleashed Podcast! In episode 81, we had the privilege of sitting down with Todd Polk, Director of Federal/Water Management Business Development, from our West Palm Beach corporate office. From growing up in Cincinnati, OH, to serving in the US Army and ultimately bringing his expertise to WGI, it's safe to say that Todd's journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. Finding Purpose Through Service Although eventually answering the call to service, Todd's initial path to the military was far from straightforward. After attending the University of Kentucky on a swimming scholarship and majoring in communications, Todd found himself uncertain of his career path and future. However, after further immersing himself in the ROTC program, Todd found his calling as he swore into the US Army in 1999 and ultimately found his passion as a combat engineer. Rising to Challenges Throughout his military career, Todd faced numerous challenges, from injuries during tr

Welcome back to another episode of the WGI Unleashed Podcast! Today, we're diving deep into the remarkable journey of Edgar Segovia, a seasoned Civil Engineering Project Manager hailing from the vast landscapes of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Buckle up as we unravel the unique story of Edgar's life, from humble beginnings to becoming a mentor and leader at WGI. Edgar's roots trace back to the heart of nowhere – the rural landscapes of the Rio Grande Valley. Growing up in challenging circumstances, Edgar's determination and resilience shone through. Our protagonist's educational journey led him to UT Pan American, now known as UT Rio Grande Valley, where he pursued a degree in mechanical engineering. Edgar's insight into the world of engineering echoes his belief that you don't fully understand it until you immerse yourself in the field. The story takes an adventurous turn as Edgar found his first job opportunity in Civil Engineering in Laredo, Texas, where he lived with his best friend for two years. It wa

In the highly-anticipated 76th episode of the WGI Unleashed Podcast, we had the distinct pleasure of engaging in conversation with Jeff Brophy, WGI's accomplished Vice President of PLACE. With an impressive resume that includes over 20 years of experience, an esteemed license, and an education abroad, we could not have been any more excited to feature Jeff on the latest episode of WGI Unleashed. During our compelling conversation, we uncovered that Jeff is actually the second guest of WGI Unleashed, hailing from the picturesque environment of Southern Ontario, Canada. It was in this region that he proudly earned his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the esteemed University of Guelph. Following his graduation, Jeff embarked on a journey that took him from the eastern expanse of Southern Ontario to the western beauty of British Columbia, traversing the American north and taking in the scenery of the surrounding areas. Recognizing the financial challenges of this venture and spurred by some 'words of encou

On the 74th episode of the WGI Unleashed Podcast, we head down to our corporate office in West Palm Beach, FL, to chat with Keegan Larson, our VP, Transportation Operations Manager. Keegan began his professional career with WGI in our Transportation Engineering Division and is steadily approaching his 20-year anniversary with our firm. Tune in as we learn about Keegan's original roots in the Pacific Northwest, spending the first several years of his childhood in Seattle, WA. However, with his father working as a consulting engineer on large-scale transportation projects, Keegan found himself relocating around the nation as he grew up, spending time in New Jersey as well as Tallahassee and Orlando, Florida. With a passion for engineering, like his father, and a yearning for a true "college town" experience, Keegan packed his bags and headed to Purdue University in Indiana, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering. Be sure to listen

On the latest episode of the WGI Unleashed podcast, we get to know Mark Topping, a Geospatial Technology Specialist III based out of our Huntsville, AL office. Mark, a member of the WGI Geospatial division, joined our team a little over a year ago as part of WGI's acquisition of The Atlantic Group, LLC. In this unique episode, Mark gave us the privilege of being WGI Unleashed's first international guest, as we discovered that he resides in Canada for the majority of the year when not traveling for work. Getting to know Mark throughout our conversation, he expressed what it was like to grow up in the second-largest country in the world, just outside of the dynamic metropolis of Toronto, and also shared some of the geographical and cultural likenesses and differences between living in Canada versus the United States. Referring to himself as your "stereotypical Canadian," he jokingly shared that he was born with hockey skates on and grew up participating in all of the winter sports that the country had to offer

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.