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Golder Associates Celebrates its 50th Anniversary


#2010 marks the 50th Anniversary of Golder Associates.  "I hope you enjoy this historic perspective of Golder as we share our model of success and sustainability with the world.  Since 1960, our understanding of our clients' needs, and the specific environments in which they operate, has made it possible for us to help our clients achieve their short- and long-term financial, social, and environmental goals.  We are grateful to our many clients for their continued patronage, and appreciate the commitment and passion that our employees have for the company.  We are committed to making a difference with our clients and communities in a changing world.  We are proud of our past, and are excited about serving our clients and communities for the next 50 years."  Mark Swallow, President of Golder Associates Inc.
    Golder Associates was founded in Toronto, Canada, in 1960 as H. Q. Golder and Associates Ltd.  The founders included Dr. Hugh Golder, Victor Milligan, and Larry Soderman. These men had a unique combination of technical, business, and operational skills. Their ambition was to build a high-quality geotechnical engineering consulting firm. The company established new offices across Canada and expanded into the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.  
    The founders had always been interested in the U.S. market because the scale of projects and their challenging nature fit perfectly with the original objectives of the company.  In addition, both Hugh Golder and Vic Milligan had close ties in the United States through university connections to Purdue and Harvard, and one of the company's initial employees, Allen Gass, was a graduate of MIT.
    The abiding belief of our founders was that clients receive the best result when small groups of owner-professionals are intensely focused on problem solving with innovative solutions.  This is still Golder Associates' approach today.
    In December 1972, Dr. William F. Brumund, then a professor at Georgia Tech, opened the Atlanta office and by 1982, it became the U.S. headquarters. The international headquarters was moved to Atlanta in1985, and Dr. Brumund served as the CEO until 1996.  
    In 1960, the services offered were in soil mechanics and foundation engineering.  This rapidly expanded to include rock mechanics in the early 1970s.  After the passage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 1976, U.S. operations became actively involved in the solid and hazardous waste disposal practice.  This evolved into offering today a broad range of environmental services worldwide, including an aggressive expansion into the mining industry. Today, the company offers a broad range of services to mining clients worldwide.
    In the United States, Golder Associates has 1,200 employees working in 45 offices.  The Atlanta office currently has a staff of 125 employees that practice in multiple sectors including land development, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, power (energy), transportation, waste, and water resources.  The geosynthetics laboratory along with its geo-technical laboratory was established in Atlanta in the late 1980s.  The geosynthetics laboratory is unique and there are only a small number of laboratories in the world that can perform the same array of testing than that in Atlanta.  
    Golder Associates has experienced steady growth for five decades and has employees in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.  Golder Associates offers consulting services around the world across six broad areas:
-    Ground Engineering
-    Natural Resources Management
-    Environmental and Social Assessment
-    Environmental Management and Compliance
-    Decommissioning and Decontamination
-    Planning and Design

From its inception, Golder Associates was owned only by its employees. Today, over 50 percent of its 6,500 plus employees worldwide are owners of the company.  We now look forward to the next 50 years.
 

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