Founded in August 1978, by Dick Van Sickle and Chuck Allen, VAA began by offering civil and structural engineering services primarily to architects. We were co-located with a then small architectural firm, RSP, which is now a 200+ person architectural firm in the twin cities. One of our primary clients was a large design/build firm that built nationwide. After 33 years, RSP is still a client.
Our growth has been thanks to the long-term relationships we have with our clients. We continue to offer the same services to our Architectural clients and have grown to offer a full range of engineering consulting services to our Agribusiness and Industrial clients.
Many great principals have joined the VAA team including Reginald Silverthorne early on and the current principals, Keith Jacobson, Scott Stangeland, Gene Haldorson, Bernie Jansen, Shawn Shahriar, Kelsey Brown, Dave Galey, Mark Mielke, Jeff Schrock and David Olheiser. They are continuing to pass along to future leaders and staff the values and technical strength which make VAA so strong.
VAA's founders established a strong culture of respect and quality. As a plan began 15 years ago to transition the firm to the next leaders, the goal was to ensure the continuation of this culture. In the last few years, a focus has been added on strategic hiring and building a real sense of strength and pride in our workplace in order to provide even better service to our clients. This next generation of leaders is continuing the long-term relationships VAA has with our existing clients as well as establishing new client relationships we look forward to maintaining.
Over the years our focus has always been on people, respect and integrity, these continue to be the basic core threads guiding our decisions.
