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The Terry Ni Scholarship |
 Founder and Chairman of the Committee CAREER SUMMARY Ms. Ni was founder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and President of TN & Associates, Inc. (TN&A) from 1989 to 2008 when the company was acquired and merged into OTIE. Ms. Ni retired in December 2017 as Director of Special Initiatives and Strategic Planning for OTIE. Ms. Ni started her engineering consulting business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a vision of providing civil engineering and scientific consulting services to federal, state, and municipal customers. Her early customers included the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. Later the business expanded to numerous other customers nationwide and worldwide. As the president of TN&A, Ms. Ni designed and led successful marketing efforts and, in the early 1990s, successfully marketed the USEPA in pursuit of federal contracts at the US EPA Drinking Water Laboratory in Cincinnati, OH and the US EPA National Center for Environmental Assessment in Washington, DC. The company expanded to serve many other federal clients nationwide, including the US Navy, US Air Force, US Corps of Engineers, US Marine Corps, US Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy. TN&A grew from a local engineering company in Wisconsin to a nationally known, well-respected engineering, science, and construction business. The company expanded from one location in Wisconsin to 14 office coast-to-coast, including offices overseas in Japan, Korea, and Guam, serving multiple clients. ACHIEVEMENTS Throughout her career, Ms. Ni has led her company into new markets by winning new customers as she grew her business from a small start-up to over 420 employees by 2017. As the President of company, Ms. Ni was recognized for numerous achievements including: US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Excellence Performance Award in 2003 Department of Defense Nunn-Perry Awarded two times in 1997 and 2006. Nominated as Prime Contractor of the Year by U.S. Department of Defense. Entrepreneur of the Year by the Governor of the State of Wisconsin in 1996. Working Woman Magazine Awards in two categories – General Excellence and Customer Service in 2002. Ardie Halyard Business Excellence Award Business of the Year -- UW-Milwaukee School of Business Administration Wisconsin Minority Business Person of the Year Award by US SBA Metro Milwaukee Future 50 Award by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce Through her vision, leadership, and drive to excel, Ms. Ni grew and developed the company from a one person engineering firm to over 200 staff practicing in over 20 technical disciplines and serving over 50 federal, state, and commercial customers in 14 offices by 2008 when the merger and acquisition occurred and TN&A transitioned to the new company, OTIE. After guiding the transition, Ms. Ni led corporate initiatives to grow the company as the Director of Special Initiatives and Strategic Planning. The new company grew to almost 350 in 2015. She sought new business development opportunities and new services to sustain diversification and growth for the next several years. Her focused energy and drive to succeed inspired the company to achieve national recognition as a premier engineering, science, and construction management services firm. Under her guidance until her retirement in 2017, the firm grew to over 420 total staff worldwide. Ms. Ni’s commitment to accomplish the mission of enhancing and restoring the earth to improve sustainability is at the core of her drive to create and sponsor the original FREE program scholarship. And now she continues to fulfill that commitment along with broader goals with her TN Engineering Scholarship.
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 Co-Founder CAREER SUMMARY Mr. Ni retired from OTIE and OESC in December 2017 where he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President of both companies. OESC is an engineering holding company of over 400 professionals and Mr. Ni was the leader responsible for the company’s operations. With a background in civil environmental engineering, Mr. Ni joined TN&A in 1993 as Chief Operating Officer (COO), a fast-growing engineering design and consulting firm serving the federal government and state agencies with multi-discipline engineering and science services. As COO, Mr. Ni directed Program Managers, Project Managers, and multi-discipline teams on several multi-million dollar contracts for the US EPA, US Air Force, and US Army Corps of Engineers. He directed the hiring and development of key professionals to build technical discipline groups and lead programs for civil and environmental engineering and science. ACHIEVEMENTS Mr. Ni led the business expansion and technical diversification of the company from 1993 to 2008 as COO during which the firm grew from approximately 20 to over 200 professionals in 14 offices. In 2008, TN&A was acquired and merged into OTIE. From 2008 until his retirement in 2017, he led OTIE as CEO and grew the company to over 420 professionals. Under his leadership and direction, the company now delivers services on over 200 concurrent projects from offices coast-to-coast in the United States as well as in Japan and Korea. The immediate future plan is to expand the company’s business to Europe. Mr. Ni directed the pursuit of large-scale, multi-disciplined federal contracts for several customers. The company has demonstrated exceptional capabilities in competing for and winning federal engineering and environmental services contracts valued at over $3 billion in capacity. Mr. Ni directed the company’s technical work and served as principle engineer and program director on many of the largest federal contracts and provided management leadership in the staffing and growth required to maintain outstanding contract performance. Applying his financial and management expertise, Mr. Ni created the foundation and structure for a lasting and sustaining environmental and scientific services firm, which is recognized as a leader in customer service and quality. Mr. Ni’s long-term career and leadership in the industry contributes to accomplishing the mission and further development of the TN Engineering Scholarship. |
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 Committee Member (2011-2021) CAREER SUMMARY Ms. Cotey is Vice President and Corporate Administrator for OTIE (formerly TN&A), an engineering company of 420 employees. She is head of the Administration and Human Resources departments. Ms. Cotey is a human resources generalist with specialized knowledge in complex employee benefit packages, employment policies and regulations, problem resolution, and overall development of human resource functions. Ms. Cotey applies her strong problem solving abilities, effective written and verbal communication skills, and project management capabilities to promote the growth and advancement of the company. Ms. Cotey is particularly skilled in cost control of processes and systems within her areas of responsibility. Ms. Cotey has over 20 years of experience in human resource management, corporate administration, and office systems development. Her expertise includes assessment, development, and implementation of office processes and functions, including office design and layout suited to optimize office space and efficiency. ACHIEVEMENTS In addition to her outstanding service for the company, Ms. Cotey volunteers a significant amount of her time and energy in support of several local charitable organizations that benefit the disadvantaged and needy. A short summary of her volunteer work includes:
Ms. Cotey’s commitment to voluntarily serve the community matches the mission of the TN Engineering Scholarship, her energy and efforts should be an example to many. |
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 Committee Member CAREER SUMMARY Mr. Fleissner is recently retired as Vice President and Principle Engineer for OESC (formerly T N & Associates, Inc.), an engineering, science, and construction company of 420 professionals. For over 20 years he was a leader of multiple functions including the company’s QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) program and the proposal development and delivery team. Before he joined the company, Mr. Fleissner worked with CH2M HILL (one of the world’s largest engineering firms) for over 20 years where he worked on a wide range of wastewater treatment studies and design projects for municipalities and commercial customers to comply with the Clean Water Act of 1972 and other related environmental legislation and subsequent regulatory requirements. In 1979, he became involved as a process engineer and project manager in the emerging practice of environmental remediation, which was driven by enactment of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 and subsequent regulatory framework. ACHIEVEMENTS Over his 42 years of professional experience, Mr. Fleissner applied his technical understanding coupled with communication skills to create clear and effective technical reports that have served as models for similar work. His written documents have received commendations from governmental and commercial customers for clarity and usability. The US EPA used examples of his reporting format in Superfund guidance documents. Mr. Fleissner has applied his communication skills to proposal and interview preparation in competition for federal, state, and commercial contracts ranging in size from less than $1.0 million to $3.0 billion in contract capacity. Proposals prepared by Mr. Fleissner and under his direction have earned “Outstanding” evaluation scores by multiple federal customers including the US Air Force, US Navy, and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Under his leadership, the company has competed for and won federal contracts against firms over 100 times the size of the company. Mr. Fleissner has developed and led quality control initiatives within the company designed to improve company practices and procedures for technical operations and documentation. He led the development team which prepared and maintains the Corporate Quality Management Plan and has overseen the development of numerous Standard Operating Practice guides for technical practices by multiple subject matter experts. Mr. Fleissner’s technical knowledge and comprehensive experience is an important force for the TN Engineering Scholarship to continue its development. His commitment to accomplish the mission of the TN Engineering Scholarship serves as an example to many other engineers and leaders in the industry. |
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 Committee Member CAREER SUMMARY Mr. Chlebowski is a Vice President and Senior Engineering Manager for Oneida Engineering Solutions (OES), a subsidiary of OESC Group, formerly TN & Associates. OES is a firm focused on the planning, design, construction management, and overall project delivery of transportation engineering projects. For over 20 years he has served as the Business Unit Leader responsible for growth and professional development of OES professional staff, overall business operations, and quality of customer service. Dale is currently managing a 5-year Nationwide Bridge Inspection program on Indian Country lands for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Prior to joining OES, Mr. Chlebowski worked for over 15 years in the private and public sectors designing and constructing transportation facilities of all types. He applied his expertise across multiple services including environmental documentation, engineering planning and design, and construction observation of urban and rural roadway projects. ACHIEVEMENTS Over his 40 years of professional engineering and management experience, Mr. Chlebowski has managed over 50 high profile transportation projects, including several exceptionally large Wisconsin Department of Transportation projects with combined construction costs above $3B. Several of these projects have won Design and Construction Excellence Awards at both state and national levels. Examples of these projects include:
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 Committee Member CAREER SUMMARY Mr. Garvey’s professional career in science and engineering spanned more than 40 years. He retired from the Oneida ESC Group (formerly TN & Associates) in December 2023 after serving in various Operations Management roles after joining the company in 2000. For the past 15 years, Mr. Garvey was a Senior Vice President and the Chief Operating Officer. Under his tenure as COO, the OESC Group expanded from a single company of 150 employees to include 9 separate companies with a combined staff of over 600 that completed science, engineering and construction projects for federal and commercial customers. As COO of OESC, Mr. Garvey was ultimately responsible for the technical and financial performance of all projects – generally more than 300 projects per year. Projects were typically quite diverse in scope and value, ranging from $10,000 to over $20,000,000. Many projects required the integration of professionals with very diverse academic and technical backgrounds to form a cohesive team. Mr. Garvey assembled teams of qualified individuals and ensured that all team members had the appropriate tools, training and mentorship to grow and ensure successful project execution. Before joining TN&A/OESC, Mr. Garvey worked with Fluor, a worldwide engineering firm. Among his positions at Fluor, for several years he managed South American Operations of its environmental division. This included both staffing and executing a wide array of environmental projects associated with large-scale groundwater cleanups, and mitigating environmental impacts associated with large mining and energy infrastructure developments in Argentina, Peru and Brazil. SELECT ACHIEVEMENTS During his 40+ years of professional experience, Mr. Garvey blended his technical, business and communication skills to grow the companies and their professional staffs, to not just be successful financially, but to also continually advance state-of-the-art methods in the area of environmental restoration and infrastructure design. In the 1980s and 90s, Mr. Garvey conducted research and authored numerous articles that applied stratigraphic concepts to the design and operation of soil and groundwater remediation systems – these concepts and methods led to industry advances in the efficacy of cleanup projects. After joining TN&A/OESC, Mr. Garvey worked with the USEPA and several US DOD customers to develop and streamline protocols for comprehensive characterization of contaminated sites and worked with the EPA’s office of Research and Development on remediation projects combining thermal heating and in situ bioremediation technologies. Of his many accomplishments, Mr. Garvey is most proud of having provided training and mentorship to hundreds of technical professionals. When he started worked in South America, the environmental cleanup industry was in its early stages and there had not been a groundwater remediation project completed. Mr. Garvey hired and trained engineers and geologists, and within 2 years they had designed, installed and operated a variety of remediation systems at more than 30 sites. During his 24 years at TN&A/OESC, the technicalstaff grew from about 80 to over 400, and the company was continuously regarded as a technical leader in the environmental industry. During his last 2 years at OESC, the company was contracted for 15 multi-site remedial investigation projects for PFAS chemicals in soil and groundwater at large Air Force bases. This body of PFAS work rivals that of any federal contractor, large or small, and is a reflection of the emphasis that Mr, Garvey put on technological leadership and providing individuals the opportunities to grow and flourish in the dynamic environmental industry. Mr. Garvey also serves on the Board of Directors of STEMbassadors, a student-led, non-profit organization that provides applied, state-of-the-art STEM materials, curriculum and skills. The group recently opened a large “makerspace” with numerous fabrication technologies available free of charge to students and community members in Ventura, CA, and has provided STEM technologies and curriculum to more than 10 schools in the area. |
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 Executive Assistant CAREER SUMMARY Ms. Graef is the Administrative Coordinator of the Oneida ESC Group (formerly TN & Associates – OTIE), an engineering company of 420 employees, going on 25 years. She was the Executive Assistant to Nick Ni and Terry Ni, along with reporting to Heather Cotey working closely with her over the years assisting with corporate administration, and now reports to the CFO of OESC. Her previous 20 years of administrative service was for Rexnord. Ms. Graef applies her strong administrative skills and extremely good problem solving abilities, along with effective communication skills working with and assisting all staff across the company. She handles all the corporate management meetings, travel, etc. In addition to her service to the company, Ms. Graef is very involved in her church and community. |
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