Mar 1980
Dudek Founded
Dudek opens its doors in downtown Encinitas, California as a small civil engineering consulting practice working for municipal wastewater agencies and private land developers in San Diego County.
Our History
Since 1980, Dudek has grown from a two-person, Southern California-focused engineering firm to a 900-person, nationwide, multidisciplinary environmental, planning, and engineering firm. Our history includes projects in all 50 states and Dudek is ranked as one of the Top 135 U.S. Environmental Firms (Engineering News-Record, 2024).
Frank Dudek, Founder
“From my 41 years as founder and leader at Dudek, I have three basic takeaways. First, experiencing tremendous satisfaction in helping build a successful, sustainable, and growing consulting firm throughout California—and now well beyond. Second, achieving an early goal I set for myself: to assemble such a diverse and competent management and professional staff that it renders its founder non-essential to the continued success of the firm. And third, accomplishing this with a simple management philosophy: to provide unwavering trust and support, along with meaningful rewards and opportunity for ownership, with minimal bureaucracy.”
Joe Monaco, President and CEO
“I joined Dudek in 2000. What I remember most clearly from those early days is a feeling of opportunity—but also, that we had a lot of work ahead of us to reach our aspirational goals! I never would have imagined back then that we would have achieved so much today: a nationwide presence, successful ownership and leadership transitions, a robust corporate culture that reflects our strong core values, and record financial growth. My feeling of opportunity has only grown as we have achieved great success by identifying and leveraging opportunities throughout the years. By doing so, we continue to create more and better opportunities to work on interesting projects, to develop our careers, to be an industry leader, and to have fun doing it!”
Dudek through the Decades
1980
1985
Jun 1985
Construction Management Practice Started
The firm launches its construction management practice focused on Southern California developments and infrastructure.
1986
Oct 1986
District Management Practice Launched
The District Management practice is launched, widening the scope of services offered to our water district clients.
1990
Sep 1990
Environmental Practice Started
The Environmental practice is launched to help clients navigate projects through California’s complex environmental regulatory permitting and documentation processes.
1992
May 1992
Hydrogeology/Hazardous Waste Practice Launched
Dudek’s hydrogeology practice is launched to tackle projects requiring the extraction and treatment of contaminated groundwater/soils and recharge of water/treated wastewater.
1995
May 1995
Central Coast Expansion
Dudek opens its first regional office in Santa Barbara, expanding into California’s Central Coast, with a focus on local development and permitting.
1996
1997
Jun 1997
Inland Empire Expansion
Dudek moves into Palm Desert, California to focus on civil engineering and habitat conservation planning throughout the vast and diverse Coachella Valley.
2000
2003
2006
Nov 2006
Northern California Expansion
Dudek moves into Northern California with an office in Auburn focused on preserving and planning for the Sierra foothills and surrounding regions.
2010
2013
Jan 2013
Bay Area Expansion
The firm opens two Bay Area offices in Larkspur and San Francisco to service a diverse set of clients spread geographically around the Bay.
Oct 2013
LA Metro Area Expansion
Dudek establishes Pasadena office, positioning the firm to service Los Angeles County clients on large infrastructure and planning projects.
2016
Feb 2016
Hawai’i Office Opening
The firm goes west, expanding into Hawai’i to establish our mapping and surveying practice.
Aug 2016
Northwest Expansion
Dudek adds a Portland office to serve as a base for the multifaceted needs of our Pacific Northwest clients.
2017
Dec 2017
Joe Monaco Named President
The firm transitions leadership for the first time with the appointment of Joe Monaco, AICP, who serves as President and CEO.
2018
2019
Oct 2019
Southeastern Expansion
Dudek crosses the nation, opening our first eastern office in Lake Worth Beach, Florida to service our renewable energy clients.
2020
2021
Sep 2021
Mountain West Expansion
The firm opens an office in Denver, Colorado to further service clients in the Mountain West and beyond.
2023
2024
Jun 2024
Southwest Expansion
The firm opens an office in Chandler, Arizona to further service clients in the Southwest and beyond.
2025
Jan 2025
Eric Wilson Named Chief Operating Officer
Environmental Division Leader Eric Wilson is named Chief Operating Officer as part of a long-planned leadership succession process put in place to ensure the continuing viability and sustainability of the firm’s culture and growth strategy.
Jan 2025
David Hochart Named Vice President of Strategic Growth
Compliance Practice Director and Energy sector leader David Hochart is named Vice President of Strategic Growth to oversee Dudek’s continued expansion into regions nationwide.