Management Bios
MIKE BARKER
President
Mike Barker received his B.S. degree in Water Resources/Solid Waste Engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1990. Following graduation, Mike became Director of National Compost Testing Laboratories, Stevens Point, WI, then went on to become manager of the Underground Storage Tank and Solid Waste Departments for the Des Moines regional office of Howard R. Green, then co-founded Barker Environmental Services (later to become Lemar Engineering Consultants— Lemar) in 1995.
Mike started Barker Environmental Services to offer clients a better value for their money (and greater autonomy for himself). “I was looking for a new way of doing business that would appreciate the long-term value of a client. I also realized that attitudes were changing and that clients have the knowledge and desire to collaborate on plans, designs and outcomes. Successful firms embrace the client as an integral part of the engineering team—in fact, you become a part of their team.”
Mike is committed to ensuring that Lemar's priority is on building long-term relationships. “This requires truthfulness, freely sharing successes and resources, and remaining passionate about your work.”
“Creating an environment where our people can grow and be successful, happy and feel cared about is another key goal. We're working hard to achieve this by keeping the generation gap narrow, continually investing in new technologies, offering more services to our employees and building financial strength.”
Maintaining a superb reputation among peers and contributing to the communities where the firm does business are additional company goals. “I'd like to see us making more donations, participating in mentoring programs, improving parks and common areas—playing a real leadership role in the community. We're doing what we can afford to do now, and we aspire to do more.”
Mike's long-term vision is to have 150 employees and offices in five states. “But the real vision for me has more to do with Lemar reaching a point of maturity where success breeds more success and reaching a balance where everyone achieves their career goals. The more immediate vision operates around making certain, no matter what Lemar takes on, that it leaves something better behind.”
TRACY S. LEMAR P.E.
Vice President
Tracy Lemar earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Engineering from Iowa State University. Tracy currently holds professional engineering certifications in Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. He heads Lemar's information technology group, with responsibilities ranging from development of desktop computer applications to implementation of organization-based information management systems. Tracy also oversees Lemar's construction division and leads the Barker Lemar team on several national accounts. He has been published both locally and nationally on “Enlisting Satellites to Help Monitor Landfill Air Space,” Solid Waste Technologies, and “The City of West Des Moines and Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau's Coordinated Efforts to Enhance Emergency Response Services: Iowa Geographic Information Council.”
Tracy's plan to co-found Lemar with Mike Barker was motivated by a desire to think outside of the box, beyond traditional engineering solutions, to have the ability to acquire leading-edge technologies, experiment, and test theories in order to deliver better solutions and a wider range of alternatives to clients, faster and more cost-effectively. Like Mike, Tracy wanted a professional environment that allowed him to truly become a part of the client's team, to pursue a big-picture approach for long-range planning that goes beyond the project at hand, and to have the opportunity to mentor and teach others. With the tools to collect, manage and analyze data faster—the goal is to “work smarter, not harder.”
“ Lemar's commitment to our clients is to be there when they need us, twenty-four/seven, in order to address issues and solve problems whenever they occur. ‘Sorry, we can't deal with it now' just won't cut it!”
Lemar is also committed to providing its employees with the tools they need to continually improve their skills, and creating a work environment that fosters opportunities to develop to their fullest potential.
Finally, Tracy seeks to challenge the entire Lemar organization to embrace continuous improvement in order to ensure that “every project that goes out the door is better than the one before.”
“During the next several years, there will be incredible amounts of data available literally at our fingertips,” Tracy comments. “We will be able to analyze scenarios in the future that can't even be imagined today. With our continuing commitment to technology investments and application and systems development, Lemar will remain at the forefront of helping clients realize technology benefits. In five years I see a firm, a staff and a client base that thinks of Lemar and says they were always ahead of the curve.”
TIMOTHY C. BUELOW P.E.
Principal Engineer/CEO
Tim Buelow earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Engineering from Iowa State University. Tim currently holds professional engineering certifications in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas. He is responsible for overseeing the Lemar Engineering Consulting Division and directing project work for Lemar engineers and staff geologist, coordinating field activities, performing technical review of reports, marketing and proposal generation and management oversight of company operations. Tim joined Lemar in 1997.
“I was eager to expand my skill base and broaden my professional experience. Management and operations are my areas of interest, and it is my belief that the greater the diversity of experience, the better the manager. Lemar offered me this opportunity. It goes without saying that underlying business philosophies and principles were in alignment. Mike and Tracy are committed to long-term relationships, hiring quality people and providing value to the client. So, joining Lemar was an easy choice.”
As Principal Engineer for Lemar, Tim's top priority is to keep the client's best interests uppermost in mind. This requires a commitment to making good design decisions, spending the client's money prudently and providing ongoing skill-building opportunities to Lemar staff.
“It's critically important that we develop a solid reputation in the marketplace,” Tim comments. “I'm firmly committed to ensuring that our staff has the necessary resources to consistently produce quality work. Ultimately this will assure financial strength and a solid future.”
“As Treasurer of Lemar's board of directors, fiscal responsibility is my mission. After that, environmental stewardship and investing in my own personal development will be my contributions to the organization.”
“Information technology by far offers the greatest potential for future growth,” Tim says. “With each GIS, 3-D or programming project we complete, we gain a better understanding of the value and benefit that technology has to offer engineering, and vice versa. As clients become better educated, it becomes increasingly critical to involve them throughout the project. Visual display of engineering technology will put us in a position to achieve that.”
While Lemar's long-term plan involves major growth, “We're trying very hard to maintain an environment where employees can reach their fullest potential without unnecessary hindrances from management.” The goal is to create strong, self-sustaining teams and team leaders who will grow new divisions for Lemar, enabling the company to provide clients with an increasing array of professional services. “And it's already happening,” Tim says.