FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 18, 2013
Contact: Darrel Berry, Marketing Communications Manager
Hanson Professional Services Inc.
(217) 747-9291
dberry@hanson-inc.com
Coombe celebrates 35 years of service at Hanson
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — John Coombe, P.E., S.E., ExecEng, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Hanson Professional Services Inc., recently celebrated 35 years of service with the company.
Coombe joined Hanson in 1978 as a design engineer at the Springfield, Ill., headquarters and transferred in 1980 to the Peoria, Ill., office. In 1983, he served as the firm’s resident project manager on the U.S. 51/Interstate 39 construction project in Lee County, Ill., and then transferred to the Springfield office, where he became a project manager. During his career, he has been involved in the 1983 renovation of Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the relocation of a railroad segment in Springfield that was completed in 1995 and the South Suburban Airport project in Will County, Ill. He became a partner in the firm in 1987 and a vice president in 1989. He was named chief operating officer in 1998, and in that role he oversees administrative operations.
Coombe received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1975 from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in civil engineering in 1978 from UIUC. He is a licensed professional engineer in eight states, including Illinois, and a licensed structural engineer in Illinois.
He is a member of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), and received the ACEC College of Fellows’ Community Service Award in 2008 and ACEC’s Executive Engineer (ExecEng) designation in 2012. He is a past secretary/treasurer and served on the board of directors for ACEC Illinois and received the President’s Award in 2001 and Community Leader Award in 2008 from the association. He is a member of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers and was a recipient of the organization’s Young Engineer of the Year Award in 1987. He also is a member of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association, American Society of Civil Engineers, Illinois Association of Highway Engineers and National Society of Professional Engineers.
He served on the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors and chaired its infrastructure committee. He was on Springfield’s Capital Improvement Advisory Committee and helped develop a five-year plan; the chamber presented the President’s Award to him for his efforts. He was a board member, vice president and president of the Notre Dame Club of Central Illinois and received the club’s Award of the Year in 1991. He was on the board of directors for the American Red Cross Capital Area Chapter and is on the board of the United Way of Central Illinois, for which his wife, Ann, and he co-chaired the 2007 annual campaign. He also served on the board of directors for the Design Professionals Risk Control Group from 2006 to 2012, and was board president from 2009 to 2011 and chair of the Loss Prevention Convocation Committee in 2008.
In 2008, he was named a Patriotic Employer by the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.
Hanson is a national, employee-owned consulting firm providing engineering, architecture, planning and allied services. The firm’s corporate headquarters is located at 1525 S. Sixth St., Springfield, IL 62703. The office may be reached by phone: (217) 788-2450 or fax: (217) 788-2503.
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