By Madison Pearson, Marketing Director
Two engineering superstars have landed at Osborn Consulting! Bringing decades of experience delivering projects throughout the Pacific Northwest, Jessica Christofferson is our Senior Stormwater Planner and Matt Randall is our newest Senior Project Manager. Leveraging their unique experience and insights, these new team members are upping our game when it comes to navigating stormwater permit requirements, working with complex multi-disciplinary teams, and providing hands-on project management for our clients and internal teams.
I sat down with Jessica and Matt to get to know their unique talents, what has fueled their civil engineering journeys, and how they found their way to Osborn.
Starting Out
For Jessica and Matt, family played a key role in their career trajectories. With an early interest in environmental law, Jessica reflected on some wise (and just a bit cheeky) words of advice from her father; “My dad said to me one day, why don’t you become an engineer and actually help the world? So, I was like, ‘Huh, interesting idea.’”
Both having worked in the industry for a couple decades now, I was curious to learn what they saw in Osborn. They highlighted our culture and values being big draws.
Osborn’s values are talked about and lived out daily. We have nominations for people who’ve shown their commitment to our values, whether in the office or with clients, and I see that as an important thing for the culture in the office. The culture here really says, ‘this is who we are, this is what we do, this is why we do it.’ We live that, and to me that was very important.
– Matt
I have worked at a variety of firms of different sizes and different practices, and I wanted to find a firm focused on stormwater specifically, where I felt like I could grow in my career and do the type of work that I really wanted to do. I loved the ‘why not’ attitude here instead of the ‘convince me why I should.’
– Jessica
Local Difference
Stormwater has also played a key role in both of their careers. Both lifelong residents of the Pacific Northwest , Jessica and Matt chatted about the significance of stormwater management for our region. Matt noted that “we have to kind of design around it, build around it, create ways to manage it. And that affects how we design our roads, our infrastructure, our public spaces, everything.”
As a stormwater planner, Jessica’s mind is on the stormwater regulations she helps her clients meet. “With increasing regulations every five years through the NPDES permit,” she said, “these small agencies are having to grow their stormwater programs.” She enjoys helping clients be creative in how they address these requirements. “It’s always changing, and that’s the fun part about it. But it’s also a challenge for these agencies to navigate.”
Practical and Creative
We are delighted to have these leaders and industry experts on the Osborn team, working with our clients to plan and design practical and creative solutions. For students or those early in their careers reading this, I asked Jessica and Matt if they had any advice for those starting out.
If you have the opportunity, try and work for different types of firms in the summer or as an intern during school. Get your fingers into the public side, the private side, contractors. There’s always going to be something that needs to be fixed or made better. If you are gifted in mathematics or logic, consider engineering.
– Matt
Don’t be afraid to take something on that you know nothing about, because they train you in engineering school how to solve problems. They teach you all the math and you can pass the FE, but they’re really teaching you how to problem solve. So don’t turn down opportunities because you think you don’t have the right skill set or you don’t know the answer, because you will figure it out. We all started out knowing nothing. Keep saying yes and taking on opportunities as they come. And don’t be afraid that you don’t know the answer.
– Jessica
A very warm Osborn welcome to Matt and Jessica! It’s already been such a pleasure to collaborate with them, and I can’t wait to see what else they will accomplish here at Osborn.
