Company History
CH2M HILL was founded in January 1946 in Corvallis, Oregon, as CH2M—a name derived from the initials of the company's four founders: Fred Merryfield, Holly Cornell, James Howland, and T. Burke Hayes. Some 25 years later, the company merged with Clair A. Hill and Associates to form CH2M HILL.
The idea for CH2M HILL began to grow in the mid-1930s as the three Oregon State College students—Cornell, Howland, and Hayes—came under the influence of their tremendously enthusiastic civil engineering professor, Fred Merryfield. Merryfield remained quite active with his students outside the classroom, and used that environment to plant the seed for an engineering partnership. After graduation and throughout World War II, Merryfield and his students maintained an active dialogue about a potential partnership. The post-war economy was ripe for qualified, experienced engineers, and Merryfield, Cornell, Howland, and Hayes were ready and eager to fill that need. With their complementary skills and temperaments, these four men provided the backbone and direction of the firm.
The goals of these founders were simple. Find clients who needed engineering or consulting solutions for their problems; solve those problems with technology, creativity, and ingenuity; find more clients and more projects; hire creative, bright people to deliver the work; and then share the benefits with them.
With gross revenues of $6.2 million and 310 staff, CH2M had completed more than 5,000 projects by the end of the 1960s and was ranked 102nd in Engineering News-Record's Top 500 Engineering Design Firms. In 1970, CH2M set its goal to become a "major multi-discipline international professional systems-oriented organization owned and controlled by professionals." In 1971, CH2M was catapulted into a national firm when Reader's Digest and The Wall Street Journal both ran articles about CH2M's work on the Lake Tahoe Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility—the world's first major advanced wastewater treatment plant. The project received national acclaim for preventing degradation of scenic Lake Tahoe by achieving a wastewater effluent discharge of near-drinking-water quality. This work encouraged the 1971 merger of CH2M with Clair A. Hill & Associates of Redding, California, with whom CH2M had collaborated on the Lake Tahoe project and numerous other projects throughout the 50s and 60s.
Two major projects exemplify CH2M HILL's explosive growth during the 1970s. In 1971, CH2M HILL began working for the Upper Occoquan Sewerage Authority (UOSA) outside Washington, D.C. establishing CH2M HILL's first East Coast office in Reston, Virginia. Beginning with the initial study of UOSA's sewerage needs, CH2M HILL began a 30-year relationship that has included the design and construction of UOSA's advanced wastewater treatment plants and various capacity expansions. And in 1976, CH2M HILL was selected as the program manager for the City of Milwaukee's Water Pollution Abatement Program, a 20-year, $2.2 billion renovation of Milwaukee's entire wastewater treatment system. This project laid the foundation for CH2M HILL's reputation as the manager of multi-year, billion dollar programs.
As the 1970s came to a close, and with revenues of $95 million and 1,800 employees in 31 offices throughout the United States and in Canada, CH2M HILL made its debut as a major player in the international field by undertaking its first major project in the Middle East, a City and Land Planning contract for the city of Dammam, in Saudi Arabia. This project, spread over 3 years, provided the foundation for the design and execution of future, long-term overseas projects. CH2M HILL was now ranked 9th according to Engineering News-Record.
In 1982, CH2M HILL landed its first major contract for the newly created U. S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Superfund Program. Although the company had long since cemented its reputation in the environmental arena of water and wastewater treatment, the entry into hazardous and toxic wastes was a significant turning point for the firm and its employees. Superfund meant new clients, different technologies, diverse professional capabilities, unknown risks, and challenges beyond anything imagined by the founders or first generation of leaders.
The '80s also saw the formation of OMI (Operations Management International) to meet the growing client demands for assistance in the operation of water treatment plants, and the creation of another subsidiary called Industrial Design Corporation, or IDC, with a specialization in microelectronics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, flat panel, solar, and emerging technology research. By the start of 1987, gross revenues had increased to $330 million and 3,400 personnel helped propel the firm to a #3 ranking by Engineering News-Record.
In 1991, Ralph Peterson was elected President of CH2M HILL LTD, ushering in the rapid growth and diversification of the last 15 years. The Rocky Flats Closure Project got under way in 1995 as a partnership between CH2M HILL and Kaiser Group Holdings. Completed in 2005, the performance-based contract motivated industry-leading safety performance and technical innovation that helped shave more than 60 years and $30 billion off initial estimates of the cleanup. And in 2003, CH2M HILL acquired Lockwood Greene, America's oldest professional services firm for industrial/power engineering and construction. By the mid-1990s, CH2M HILL's 6,000 employees achieved revenues close to $1 billion and celebrated the company's #1 "pure design" firm ranking by Engineering News-Record.
The history of CH2M HILL in the New Millennium is still being written. And while the company of today, with more than 23,000 employees and $5 billion in 2007 revenue, differs considerably in size and capability from its early counterpart, it remains fundamentally unchanged. Like other successful companies, CH2M HILL was built on the hard work of dedicated employees who want to "do the right thing" for clients, a bit of luck over the years, and the ability to respond to client's needs and values with innovative solutions.
