Veenstra & Kim acquires Allen Henderson and Associates

By Scott Faingold

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Allen Henderson and Associates, Inc. provided the complete structural designs for the new headquarters of the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency. The core of the building is designed to resist forces produced by an F-5 tornado, ensuring the agency can remain operational if such an event were to occur.

Springfield engineering and consulting firm Allen Henderson and Associates, Inc. was founded in 1976. On July 1, the firm was purchased by Veenstra & Kimm, Inc., a company based in Iowa.

“While discussing possible teaming opportunities for projects located in the state of Iowa, the principals of both firms found their business philosophies to be very similar,” explained Mark Henderson, P.E., S.E. In addition, Henderson and Associates had been looking into expanding into the Iowa market while Veenstra & Kimm felt the same way about the Illinois market. The possibility of a merger seemed optimal.

“It worked great because we have primarily been a transportation and structural engineering firm designing buildings, bridges and highways while Veenstra & Kimm focuses on municipal civil engineering projects,” Henderson said. In merging, both firms expanded their geographic markets along with the types of services they provide.

The firms are also similar in that both have very small marketing departments. Both view quality of work and repeat clients as the primary means of obtaining business, and approximately 95 percent of business is from existing clients. Both firms operate with low overhead, thus giving their clients a high quality service at a fair and reasonable cost.

In the Iowa market, the firm will perform more structural and transportation related work than it has in the past. In the Illinois market, the firm will perform more wastewater treatment, water distribution, storm water management, environmental, and other related civil engineering work.