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History

History

From top to bottom: Dave Sawicki, Paul Chapin, Herb Mains, Greg Durkee, Wayne Grantham, Kent Zender, Mike Chapin, Dave Buck

Nearly Fifty Years Ago

Jim Likins leveraged his house and bought Geocon for $5,000 with the vision of building it into one of the premier geotechnical consulting firms in San Diego. While serving 30 years as the founding CEO of Geocon, Likins grew the firm into a 100-employee firm with offices in San Diego, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Temecula specializing in geotechnical and environmental consulting for private and public clients with a focus on personalized service. His successor, Mike Chapin, added additional offices and grew Geocon into a leading geotechnical engineering, environmental consulting, engineering geology, and construction inspection firm with multiple offices throughout California, Oregon, and Nevada.

Entering a New Era

With Joe Vettel at our helm, we are focusing on expanding our service offerings, our client base, and our target markets while placing a continued emphasis on client satisfaction. The firm’s commitment to retaining creative, technically competent, and responsive staff has been the key to its success. The professional staff at Geocon blossom early in their careers because they are given the opportunity to engage in all aspects of the geo-environmental business starting in their first year rather than being pigeonholed into one facet of the business while management assumes the “higher” roles. This is possible because Geocon has a working owners group; engaged with staff, providing mentorship and oversight but also getting their hands dirty in the office and field.

Geocon has experienced a 250 percent steady organic growth from our low after the “Great Recession” in 2009. Geocon management made a conscious decision years ago to have a diverse work mix, client base and geographic structure to weather the types of downturn we experienced in 2007-2010; we are well-positioned to rally during times of economic strife. We are excited by the prospect of taking advantage of the new relationships we’ve made, the new market sectors we’ve entered, and the new expertise our staff has gained.

Honoring our Visionaries and Stewards

We pay tribute to the pioneering minds that have contributed to the culture and success of Geocon whose innovative insights and unwavering dedication have laid the foundation for our company’s strengths and excellence. We acknowledge their profound influence on shaping the very landscape of our profession and inspiring us to reach greater heights in the geotechnical and environmental engineering field. 

Legacy Leaders
Jim Likins
Legacy Owner
Southern California
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Mike Chapin
Legacy Owner
Southern California
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Tom Langpap
Legacy Owner
Southern California
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