LOCAL BUSINESS LEADERS
Brad Brechwald
Chief Executive Officer
Wallace Group
www.wallacegroup.us/
John Wallace
President & Founder
Wallace Group
www.wallacegroup.us/
The EVC business leader interview series focuses on business leaders who are directly impacting
our local economy. This month the EVC interviewed Brad Brechwald and John Wallace of
WALLACE GROUP, a San Luis Obispo-based engineering firm celebrating 30 years in business.
COMPANY BACKGROUND
John Wallace formed John L. Wallace & Associates as a one-person, home-based business in
1984. From a small house in San Luis Obispo, California John L. Wallace & Associates has steadily
grown into a multi-disciplinary engineering, design, surveying, and planning firm now known as
Wallace Group. John started Wallace Group after a career in public works in both Los Angeles
and San Luis Obispo Counties that spanned more than two decades. John’s extensive experience
in the Los Angeles Flood Control District and as the Office Engineer of San Luis Obispo County
earned his newly formed company a solid work base. He also shared his expertise as the Director
of Public Works in the cities of Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach and Atascadero. Wallace Group
continues to work with these communities as well as additional community service districts along
California’s Central Coast.
In 2002, Wallace Group acquired Swanson International, an innovative wastewater treatment
design company. Wallace Group is now an industry leader in the design and use of Advanced
Integrated Pond Systems (AIPS) and other environmentally sustainable technologies for
wastewater treatment. Over the years, the company has expanded to include services in Civil &
Transportation Engineering, Construction Management, Landscape Architecture, Mechanical
Engineering, Planning, Public Works Administration, Right-of-Way Services, Surveying/GIS
Solutions, and Water Resources and employs over 50 people. The people of Wallace Group are at
the heart of our success. As professionals and as contributing members of the communities we
serve, we will continue to approach our work with integrity, quality and a dedication to service.
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Mike Manchak: Congratulations, John, for celebrating your company’s 30th year anniversary.
What a great achievement in any field. What inspired you to become an engineer, and
become self-employed and create the company you have?
John Wallace: Thanks Mike, the 30th Anniversary is a major milestone for me personally but
more so for our employees and clients, many of which have been with us from the beginning.
As for my early inspirations, I grew up as a kid watching space flight taking off and it was a great
motivator to become an engineer. Later at the University of Florida I became fascinated with
water resources and emphasized that in my studies and during my career as a civil engineer. In
considering the overall engineering curriculum, civil has the broadest field of practice and
therefore more career flexibility; that was attractive to me.
My plan was to eventually work for myself as a private practitioner, but I first wanted to gain
experience in the public sector. So I started out working for public agencies; however, I saw
many situations on the other side of the counter where I felt I could help folks add value to their
projects. So when I was offered a position as a consulting District Engineer for one of our local
agencies, I made the move into private practice, and decided to represent both private and
public clients.
Mike: People often think of engineering firms being located more so in, and focusing on, larger
metro areas of the state and nation. Why did you choose the central coast to grow your
company?
John: I worked for 12 years in Los Angeles but tried for the last five of those years to find a job in
a more rural area. We had camped in SLO County for years and finally when the Office
Engineer’s position opened up in the County Engineering Department, I jumped on it. I was very
lucky to get the position as there were a number of applicants looking to come to SLO as well.
Also, my sons were just starting school so it was a very opportune time to move. We were very
excited to be moving to a wonderful environment that was a boost to our quality of life and
challenging career wise.
From the business perspective, SLO is a little isolated for the larger engineering companies to
staff full time. I knew that by establishing our firm here, we could provide great personalized
service to our clients that larger firms could not equal and at the same time, serve municipal
clients more competitively than larger firms. That strategy still works today!
Mike: In the ways that our society and technology have changed over time, how has your
profession changed overall in the last thirty years?
John: No matter how much our technology has changed and made us more productive in what
we do, clients still want personalized service. Our firm is dedicated to service and creating value
in what we do. When we started, plans were done by hand; today the technology is amazing
and allows us to do much more with the tools and staff that we have. Obviously, the danger is
to be so dependent on technology that the “obvious” is missed. We have continued through the
years to apply new technology when appropriate but with a large dose of common sense and
quality control.
Societal changes have affected most all of our businesses. People expect instant answers to
their problems and sometimes in that rush issues arise. I find that clear communication results
in reasonable expectations on projects and creates a smoother collaboration. Another change
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over the years is that the regulatory climate is exponentially more complex than 30 years ago, so
staying current is a necessity in order to manage projects successfully.
Mike: Particularly with such a prominent engineering university locally, what would you
recommend to young people looking to engineering as a field of work?
John: Mike, there is no substitute for working in the profession during your college studies. This
not only helps support college expenses, but gives a young person a valuable perspective on the
“real world”. I still use the experience I gained in my college years in my work today. I also
recommend looking at different practice areas within engineering. That also helps focus your
thoughts on a career and to build excitement for later work.
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Mike: In an area challenged with access to larger markets, what are the opportunities and
challenges of an engineering firm on the central coast?
Brad Brechwald: As a result of working in both the public and private sectors over the past 30
years, we have developed strong local relationships which give us the home court advantage
when competing with larger outside firms. Often, clients come to us because they know we
have the ability to understand their needs as well as what the local agencies require which
allows us to shepherd their projects through the system more efficiently. We have worked on
several projects out of State but most of our core work has been local to San Luis Obispo, Santa
Barbara and Monterey Counties and we don’t have to go to LA to find interesting work.
Mike: With your leadership as co-chair on the Building, Design & Construction cluster of the
countywide economic strategy, what do you see locally as current and future challenges facing
the region, such as infrastructure and workforce housing?
Brad: The state of our infrastructure nationally is at a poor level and locally is only moderately
better depending on agency’s ability to collect funds through bond measures, sales tax, finance
districts or State and Federal Grants. It is so much more cost effective to maintain a road rather
than to defer maintenance and have to replace it. That is the challenge local agencies face every
day.
But my real concern is workforce housing. Without it our economy suffers. Attracting and
keeping our best and brightest minds on the central coast can only happen if they have a decent
place to live. The implications and economic effects reach everyone from the pizza shop to the
UPS driver. Think about how much impact one family brings to the area. They live here, buy
their food, go to the movies, have their cars worked on, pay taxes and all the myriad of daily
activities that stimulate these micro economies.
Mike: What is your philosophy behind building the great team at Wallace?
Brad: Hire good people who share our core values, give them interesting work, mentor and let
them shine. We emphasize that we are a service oriented company and support a collaborative
environment where employees support one another and this results in quality and excellence.
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Mike: What would you like to see the central coast region do differently to help a more vital
economy?
Brad: We need to create incentives for businesses to want to be located in San Luis Obispo
County. One of the biggest hurdles is the fact that many of the employees in these companies
find it difficult to afford to live here due to housing costs. Through our efforts with the BD&C
Cluster, we have presented the results of the workforce housing survey to several organizations
and have been providing recommendations to local agencies on some of our findings that may
help businesses work with developers and builders to move projects forward. The greatest
challenge is the impact fees which are so high due to the lack of existing infrastructure. If fees
cannot be reduced through infrastructure financing districts or through local sales tax revenues
then additional ideas are needed. One recommendation includes deferring impact fees, where
possible, to the building permit stage or occupancy which allows the developer to pay the fee at
the time of actual impact. This assumes that needed infrastructure is installed to support the
phase of project being completed.
Mike: What motivates you personally to excel and help your team excel?
Brad: I like what I do. There are many challenges in our business and I have always enjoyed
providing solutions to these challenges. Besides work, my family is what matters in life and our
co-workers seem to have that same philosophy. It takes very little prodding to motivate the
people at Wallace Group to excel. They all are driven to be their best and to deliver their best to
our clients.
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