A Higher Purpose Womer And Associates Focuses On Bringing Minorities Into Engineering And Architecture

Engineer Brian Clark recently stood at the intersection of Flightline and Geiger boulevards snapping pictures at what is the now the entrance to the Spokane Airport Business Park.

At 28, Clark is the youngest partner with Womer and Associates, the architectural and engineering planning firm that airport officials selected to complete the design of Flightline Boulevard.

The firm has been taking a lot of pictures of its work recently; more and more of it is being chosen to do work around the Inland Northwest and beyond.

Clark better stock up on film.

“They’re young, aggressive and very professional,” said Spokane Airports CEO John Morrison on why airport officials chose the company to complete the project.

And beyond competing with the big guys, they have a higher purpose.

“Our No. 1 goal is to bring minorities into engineering and architectural sciences,” said Niima Michael, Womer’s public relations coordinator.

Clark, a member of the Colville Tribe, is a good example. He was hired when he was still a student in college.

“I’ve had only one place of employment since then,” Clark said. “Here, we constantly encourage our own (employees) to stay.”

Recently the company donated scholarship money to two Native Americans who just graduated from Rogers High School. The firm plans to keep an eye on them for future employment.

Today the company reflects the dream of its founder, William Womer. Womer is a 44-year-old member of the Colville Tribe who feels more comfortable being called “Willie.”

A graduate of Lake Roosevelt High School and later Eastern Washington University, Womer started the company in 1992 with former partner Bill Butts.

In 1994 the two applied for engineering certification in the state, and that’s when the company began to grow, Womer said.

It now has just under 30 workers and is one of the fastest-growing engineering firms in Spokane, based on employee growth.

That growth has brought about more diversity to the company, and as a result, Womer’s clientele base has become more diverse.

“I’m trying to achieve balance there,” Womer said. “Almost 50 percent of the work we do is non-Native projects. When we first started it was all Native projects.”

Womer’s growing reputation helped it land the airport project.

Said Morrison about Womer’s work: “This was a $4.5 million road project. It was on time and on budget. Coming from the public till you can’t ask for much more than that.”

Womer has completed projects on the Colville, Coeur d’Alene and Nez Perce reservations for the tribes.

The company just completed a master plan update for Vera Water and Power in the Spokane Valley.

It also has private and tribal clients in California, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.

The company is a civil, electrical, mechanical and structural engineering firm, with architectual and environmental services as well. It specializes in planning, design and construction management for municipal, public and tribal facilities and private clients.

For its efforts the past year, Womer won second place in the Agora Awards for local mid-sized businesses, Michael said.

The annual award is presented by the Spokane Chamber of Commerce in recognition of outstanding businesses.

The climate at Womer is relaxed. At the office, many employees are dressed in casual attire and look as though they could head to the golf course on a moment’s notice.

“It’s a very friendly staff,” said company Vice President Bob Smith, who spent a part of one day last week assembling his own file cabinet. “But we’re also a beehive of activity.”

What appears to make Womer so successful is that most of its engineers have their hands in a variety of engineering disciplines.

“We’re kind of a Kmart in that respect,” Michael said. “All your one-stop shopping engineering needs can be found under one roof.”

Womer has three civil engineers, two architects, two architectural designers, an electrical engineer, two mechanical engineers, an environmental engineer and planner, an accounting manager, two administrators and five CADD designers and draftpersons.

Michael said the company’s recipe has been simple.

“We try to hire the best talent - I steal the best - and then we’ll try to keep them for life,” he said.

“We try as much as possible not to have turnover,” he said. “In the long run that really helps projects.”