Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

In 2003, Gary Reed (BSCE 1992), along with Dean Roghair (BSCE 1993) and Mike Brooner (BS Forestry 1993), decided the time was right to start their own company. That year, they established Civil Design Advantage (CDA), a company offering services such as professional civil engineering, planning, landscape architecture, and construction observation and surveying.

“Business has been absolutely great so far,” says Reed, CDA’s president. “Iowa has a strong, stable economy that is well-suited for startup businesses.”

In fact, CDA has quadrupled in size in just three years. The company, located in Grimes, Iowa, currently employs 35 people—engineers, land surveyors, landscape architects, CAD and design/survey technicians, planners, and administrative staff. Roghair and Brooner are CDA’s vice presidents.

Reed credits the trio’s many mentors for the company’s early success. “I think working as a team and absorbing as much assistance as we could from others really helped us through some of the tough choices.”

Each year the company recruits Iowa State graduates for various positions. “ISU offers a very solid foundation that an employer can trust,” says Reed. “We’ve had excellent luck with the employees recruited from ISU.”

Currently, CDA is working on projects in the Midwest, including a premier, 350-acre mixed-use housing development, a 60-acre office park in West Des Moines, Iowa, and a multimillion dollar Iowa National Guard Readiness Center in Johnston, Iowa, as well as a 700-acre mixed-use development in Kansas City, Missouri. They’re also working on one biodiesel and two ethanol plants in Iowa.

For more about CDA, visit www.civildesignadvantage.com.