AECC expects acquisitions before year’s end

DeWITT — A DeWitt–based environmental consulting firm has been growing rapidly since its launch in 2009.

AECC had nine employees when it was founded and is up to 25 people now. Company President Bryan Bowers originally expected to have that many employees after five years.

“Things are going well and much faster than anticipated,” he says.

AECC is on pace to generate revenue of $3.5 million to $4 million in 2012, up from $2 million in 2010 and $850,000 in 2009. AECC completed 375 projects for clients last year, up from 308 in 2010 and 159 in its first year in business.

The firm served 175 clients in 2011, up from 150 in 2010, and 90 in 2009.

AECC’s key areas of expertise include environmental-site investigation and remediation, wetland work, environmental health and safety compliance, and industrial hygiene, including work with lead paint and mold issues. Bowers says the growth has been driven by some key hires he’s made since founding the business.

Clients in the field, he notes, tend to follow individuals rather than companies. That means the employees he’s hired in recent years have often brought business relationships with them.

In the past year, he says he’s added staff members with expertise in some of the firm’s critical business areas.

The company has managed to shift with changing market forces in recent years. When AECC first launched, about two-thirds of its work came from municipalities.

Now, the balance has shifted toward the private sector as municipal funding for environmental projects has been tight, Bowers says. AECC has managed to keep growing despite the change.

“We’re kind of a unique blend of both [municipal and private-sector clients],” he says. “We’ve managed to capture more work on the private side the past two years.”

AECC opened its fourth office in November 2011. The company added Albany to its list of locations, which also includes Rochester, Auburn, and its home base in DeWitt.

The company already had some customers in the Albany area and Bowers says the market should provide fertile ground for expansion. The office there is headed by Joseph Campisi, who Bowers says has been a mentor of his.

Campisi lives in the Albany area and has a number of contacts in the market, Bowers adds. He has more than 25 years of experience in environmental consulting.

The Albany location has two other AECC staff members as well. Bowers says he’s planning more additions to the office this year.

Companywide, Bowers expects to add 10 more employees by the end of the year.

He’s also eyeing acquisitions. Bowers says he’s in talks with several firms in Central New York and other markets. The company could close on up to two acquisitions by the end of the year.

AECC may also open more offices on its own in the years ahead. The Buffalo and Hudson Valley markets are two potential targets for the company, Bowers says.

The growth has resulted in tight quarters for AECC at its 2,000-square-foot headquarters at 6296 Fly Road. The firm is looking to move into a 5,000-square-foot to 10,000-square-foot space in the next three months, Bowers says.

Bowers, AECC’s sole owner, graduated from Le Moyne College in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He worked as a field technician for Pearl River, N.Y.–based Lawler, Matusky & Skelly Engineers, LLP after graduation.

Bowers then moved back to the Syracuse area and worked for the local office of Los Angeles–based AECOM (NYSE: ACM), and Environmental Compliance Management Corporation (ECMC) in Chittenango.

He then joined Geomatrix of DeWitt as an industrial-hygiene project manager in the summer of 2006.

San Diego, Calif.–based Kleinfelder acquired the DeWitt office of Geomatrix in April 2007. Bowers remained with the company until January 2009, when he left to launch AECC.