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HAYDEN, IDAHO – ALLWEST, a 100-percent employee-owned engineering, environmental and construction materials testing firm with offices in Idaho, Washington and Montana, is announcing leadership changes heading into the new year.

James Thomasson, P.E., assumes the role of chief executive officer in January. Thomasson joined ALLWEST in 2016 as a senior geotechnical engineer and engineering department manager in the firm’s Hayden, Idaho, office. He was promoted to area manager of the Hayden office in 2018 and has served as area manager of the Missoula, Montana, office since it opened in 2019.

Taryn Perry, vice president of business operations, will assume the role of chief operations officer in January. Perry joined ALLWEST in 2019, overseeing the company’s accounting, human resources, information technology and business development operations.

The leadership changes come as the employee-owned company celebrates record success. Over the past five years, ALLWEST’s company-wide revenue has nearly doubled, the firm has expanded to the Montana market and the number of employees has grown to nearly 100.

Thomasson and Perry are replacing ALLWEST’s current President Chris Beck, P.E., and Vice President of Professional Services Marv Kerbs. Beck and Kerbs will transition to advisory roles through 2024. Beck will continue as president of the company’s board of directors during the transition period.

“When I joined ALLWEST, I knew I had found something special,” Thomasson said. “We have an outstanding group of talented, hard-working professionals and I am privileged to be part of the leadership team that will help guide them to manifest their own success as employee-owners.”

Thomasson graduated from the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Engineering Geology and Geotechnics. He spent one-and-a-half years as a contract engineer in the UK before moving to San Clemente, California, where he worked for nearly 11 years at a geotechnical firm. He spent three years working at an engineering firm in Missoula prior to joining ALLWEST.

While ALLWEST’s headquarters will remain at the company’s flagship office in Hayden, Idaho, Thomasson will mainly work from Missoula and travel and serve all five offices. Perry will continue to work from the firm’s Spokane Valley, Washington, office and also travel to and serve all five offices.

Prior to joining ALLWEST in 2019, Perry worked at Trindera Engineering for nearly 13 years. She graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications.

“ALLWEST has achieved much success and growth in the past and is poised to enhance that legacy for decades to come,” Perry said. “As an employee-owned company, it is rewarding to see not only ALLWEST succeed, but all the dedicated and talented employees succeed as well. I feel blessed to help lead this team into the bright future ahead.”

ALLWEST was formed in 1999 as Northwest Testing Company and converted to its current form in 2002. ALLWEST’s Spokane Valley office opened in 2004, followed by expansion to Lewiston, Idaho, in 2006, Meridian, Idaho, in 2012, and Missoula in 2019.

The company converted to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in 2016. Since then, the value of employee-owned shares has increased by nearly 400 percent.

“Since the ESOP was started, we’ve already seen significant growth in the ALLWEST share value,” Thomasson said. “Our vision is to continue growing the ESOP over the decades to come so every ALLWEST employee can benefit from our success.”

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ALLWEST maintains a professional staff of engineers, geologists and engineers-in-training serving the Inland Northwest. In addition to the company’s corporate headquarters in Hayden, Idaho, ALLWEST has offices in Meridian, Lewiston, Spokane Valley and Missoula.