Dunlap & Partners Engineers joins Salas O’Brien

Richmond, Virginia-based Dunlap & Partners has joined Salas O’Brien, further adding to the company’s technical expertise and creating a combined firm of 39 offices with more than 1,000 team members and 260 registered professionals. Zweig Group, a full-service AEC management advisory firm, represented selling firm Dunlap in this transaction. Jamie Claire Kiser, Zweig Group’s managing principal, served as the firm’s lead advisor on the engagement. "This transaction supports the thesis that there remains ample growth opportunity and confidence in the future demand for the expertise and client touch that our client, Dunlap and Partners, has built a legacy providing in the Richmond, Virginia region," Kiser said. The Dunlap team adds significant expertise in markets including institutional, healthcare, and corporate, and when combined with Salas O’Brien’s similar experience, will create a team that can offer even more coordinated in-house service to clients across the country. Dunlap will continue to be managed by its current leaders and will adopt the Salas O’Brien name after a transition period. The merger closed on December 1, 2020. "Becoming part of the Salas O’Brien family brings so much opportunity to our team and clients," said John Dunlap, founder and president of Dunlap & Partners. "We have poured ourselves into this firm over the years, and I am pleased that we have secured its future with a firm whose approach so clearly matches our own." "We are excited about the next chapter for Dunlap & Partners," added Charles Ayers, chief operating officer of Dunlap & Partners. "We’ve spent more than 20 years establishing ourselves as one of the top regional engineering firms. This move strengthens our already hard-working team and gives us access to additional resources to further support our current and future clients." Dunlap joins Salas O’Brien just two weeks after the announcement that Toronto-based Stephenson Engineering has also joined the team. "I couldn’t be more pleased to be furthering our growth in the Mid-Atlantic by partnering with the outstanding team at Dunlap & Partners," said Darin Anderson, Salas O’Brien chairman and CEO. "With our complementary values and similar project experience, the Dunlap team brings leadership and a project approach that we highly value and know our clients will continue to benefit from."

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Zweig Group, three times on the Inc. 500/5000 list, is the leading research, publishing, and consulting resource for the built environment. The firm provides strategy, mergers and acquisitions, business valuation, ownership transition, marketing, business development, market research, financial management, project management, recruiting and executive search services nationwide. Zweig Group also provides a comprehensive suite of products including industry reports and surveys, executive training, and business conferences covering virtually every aspect of AEC firm management. The firm has offices in Dallas and Fayetteville, Arkansas.

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