Book compiles 100 years of Stanley Consultants engineering history

Muscatine, Iowa — A century of engineering history has been documented in a new book, "Engineering a Better World: A Centennial History of Stanley Consultants." In honor of the firm’s 100th anniversary, the global consulting engineering firm commissioned the book.

Written by historian Bill Beck, it chronicles the firm's modest start in 1913 as a one-man storefront in Muscatine, Iowa, to becoming a leading provider of engineering, environmental and construction services nationally and internationally. Today Stanley Consultants is the largest engineering firm in Iowa, with offices in Muscatine, Des Moines, Iowa City, and Cedar Rapids.

“100 years is a very significant mark. Few consulting engineering firms have a history as long as ours. More often than not, they fade away or are acquired by other firms,” said Richard H. Stanley, chair emeritus of Stanley Consultants.

The book chronicles Stanley Consultants’ course in the engineering industry, including its creation of a culture of belonging in which the company has members not employees. The firm launched a member stock ownership program decades before it became the norm. It standardized engineering quality and client service methods and fostered an entrepreneurial spirit, which resulted in international expansion in the 1950s and continued diversification.

“Our continuity demonstrates that we have been able to manage leadership and ownership transitions while holding firm to fundamental values of excellence in client service and recognition that our people are our most important asset,” Richard Stanley said. The firm employs 1,000 people around the world.

In addition to its four Iowa offices, the firm is also located in Austin; Baton Rouge; Bismarck; Chicago; Denver; Las Vegas; Minneapolis; Phoenix; St. Louis; Salt Lake City; and West Palm Beach, Tampa, Miami, and Sarasota, Florida. International offices are located in Guam, India, Jamaica, Kuwait, Liberia, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. The firm has successfully completed more than 24,000 engagements in all 50 states, several U.S. territories, and in 103 countries. Engineering News-Record (ENR) magazine ranks it 75 among the nation’s top 500 engineering firms.

The company has made a name for itself designing some of the world’s largest and most complex projects, including the world’s largest integrated district cooling plant in Qatar; program management services for Task Force Guardian to restore New Orleans’ flood protection system; the world’s largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in Algeria; leading transportation design projects, including accelerated bridge construction; and significant power projects in transmission, distribution and generation plants.