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Olsson tags Haase as Springfield general civil team leader

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Olsson, a nationally recognized, employee-owned engineering and design firm, has named Ricky Haase leader of its general civil (land development) team located in Springfield. Haase grew up in Wisconsin and took an early interest in civil engineering. As a high school student, he helped his parents develop a portion of their property into a single-family subdivision, and his duties included reading project plan sheets and assisting in the construction of the development. This sparked his interest to pursue a career in civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville.

As a college student, he spent his summers as an intern at JE Arthur and Associates, which designed the subdivision for his parents. Immediately following graduation, Haase was hired as an engineer at Olsson in the Kansas City area. He developed his skills and had many great mentors, including Trevor Tast, Seth Reece and Brad Sonner. As his knowledge and expertise grew, Jared Rasmussen, office leader of the Springfield and Joplin branches of Olsson, took notice and asked Haase to relocate to Springfield in 2018 and took him under his wing. Haase has since become the Springfield general civil team leader and Rasmussen continues to be a mentor to him. Haase designs many types of infrastructure on a variety of civil engineering projects and trains inexperienced employees to do the same. He manages projects in an effort to provide the client with a great experience and a beautiful, safe and functional finished development. It was a long wish list of attributes, but in Haase, Olsson knew they already had an individual that was Olsson raised, fully embedded in the Springfield team and who checked all the boxes.

“Fostering this kind of individual is the goal at Olsson,” Rasmussen said. “We’re constantly cultivating, training and developing our next leaders, so when it’s time, we can move them in to a new role with ease.”

“When the time came to select a new leader for the Springfield general civil team, it was important that this person have a full understanding of the land development process, could clearly articulate design intent to clients and municipalities, was a great mentor for development of staff and had first-hand experience managing multi-faceted projects across a range of project types. Olsson is a successful engineering firm because of passionate engineers like Ricky Haase, and his enthusiasm shows in everything he does.”

With Haase at the helm, Olsson’s general civil team is taking on a raft of projects throughout the community. “Solid infrastructure is the foundation of healthy cities, counties and states,” said Haase. “By providing a comprehensive suite of services, Olsson can provide local clients with all the services they may need throughout the life of the project, in-house and through one contact person.”
Olsson is currently working on several local projects.

Jordan Creek Renewal
This project will daylight a two-block stretch of Jordan Creek that has posed flooding challenges in downtown Springfield for many decades. The project will consist of the removal of concrete box culverts that cover the downtown waterway and modifying the existing floodplain area. Jordan Creek is listed on the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ 303d list, as it does not meet set forth water quality standards and adequate water pollution controls. The ultimate goal of this project will be to reduce the FEMA floodplain and spur additional economic activity in downtown Springfield by transforming this area into a civic asset.

The Ridge at Ward Farm
This project is a 100+ acre mixed-use development located south of the Springfield-Greene County Library on South Campbell Avenue. The first phase, which includes infrastructure design and construction, was recently completed. This project will provide housing, retail and entertainment of many types for the community.

Springfield Sports Complex
The Springfield Sports Complex is a 105-acre sports facility located two miles south of the Springfield-Branson International Airport. The design incorporates master planning as well as phasing of the site infrastructure to allow for future expansion. The project includes 12 outdoor soccer fields as well as a 90,000 square foot indoor athletic facility.

“The more project diversity we have, the more well-rounded and excited our professionals will be to continue forward with their careers,” said Haase. “Each different type of project has new challenges that we’re able to learn from. The general civil team has successfully completed a diverse array of projects, which gives us the ability to reflect on past experiences to provide our clients with the best recommendations for any challenges they are facing within their project.”

Olsson has offices across nine states and has been ranked in the top 100 design firms based on Engineering News-Record’s national list every year since 2018.


550 E St Louis St, Springfield, MO 65806
Phone: 417-890-8802
Olsson.com
Top Executive: Brad Strittmatter, CEO
Year Founded: 1956
Number of Employees: 1,600
Product or Service: Engineering and Design

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