September 2010 – Inver Grove Heights, Minn. – Krech, O’Brien, Mueller & Associates, Inc., recently announced efforts to publicly acknowledge its 25-year anniversary. These efforts include the release of a special edition of their bi-monthly e-newsletter, KOMAink, development of a detailed timeline about the company’s history, and release of a first-ever video project.
The company was begun in Inver Grove Heights in 1985, originally named Krech, O’Brien and Wass after founding partners Jim Krech, Dan O’Brien and Brian Wass. Krech and O’Brien are still active with the company along with partner Brady Mueller, who joined the firm in 1987. Wass has since moved on to other professional pursuits.
“It’s amazing how quickly time goes,” said Jim Krech, PE. “It really seems like just yesterday that we were sitting down with our families to discuss the idea of putting together our own firm. And here we are, 25 years later, with 15 fantastic employees and a highly satisfying range of work across a wide variety of industries.”
Added Dan O’Brien, AIA, CID, “From the very beginning, we were intentional about building a company that valued hard work and balance. We were committed to working extraordinarily hard, but we also wanted to ensure that we – and ultimately, our employees – were able to achieve an appropriate work-life balance.”
O’Brien continued, “Our emphasis has always been on building relationships. In this and any business, we feel that people need to come first. If you treat people with respect, if you operate with integrity and care, it has always our feeling that the work will follow.”
Brady Mueller, AIA, said, “What Dan and Jim built from day one was a culture that valued – truly valued – both the work and the relationships. Again and again they’ve emphasized that, in some cases it might not be a big job, but it is always an important job. Our employees have latched on to this approach and I think it has strongly resonated with our clients, too.”
For more information about the 25-year anniversary or to see the video, click here.