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Woolpert
Scott Cattran leads Woolpert, the Dayton-based AEG firm that has delivered infrastructure projects and geospatial mapping for the U.S.
Woolpert
Woolpert was founded in 1911 in Dayton, Ohio, as a surveying and mapping firm. Over more than a century, it evolved into a multidisciplinary architecture, engineering, and geospatial (AEG) firm serving public and private infrastructure clients. The firm operates through long-term government and commercial contracts rather than a typical fund structure, making it an atypical entry in any institutional allocator directory. Woolpert's strategy centers on the design, management, and resilience of physical assets. Core disciplines include civil engineering, environmental consulting, geospatial data collection, and water resource management. The firm deploys capital and expertise into transportation infrastructure, coastal restoration, military master planning, and utility-scale renewable energy siting. Known project involvements include Department of Defense geospatial contracts and municipal stormwater infrastructure programs across the Midwest and Southeast. The firm often serves as the prime consultant on federally funded resilience and modernization initiatives. Woolpert operates as a privately held corporation with an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Headcount exceeds 2,000 professionals spread across more than 60 offices in the United States, with expansion occurring through a steady cadence of acquisitions. In April 2024, Woolpert acquired GreenChip, a geospatial analytics firm, extending its capabilities in lidar-derived vegetation management and utility corridor mapping. The firm also maintains a dedicated strategic consulting arm, Woolpert Strategic Consulting, which advises on digital infrastructure integration. What structurally differentiates Woolpert from a conventional asset manager is its origin as a professional services firm rather than a capital allocator. It does not manage third-party discretionary funds. Instead, its investment execution is embedded in project delivery — earning fees from engineering and architecture contracts while occasionally holding equity in project-related SPVs or public-private partnership consortia. The ESOP ownership model aligns employee tenure with long-duration infrastructure outcomes, creating a governance cadence unlike that of a standard LP-GP structure.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
1911
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Dayton
Corporate office
Dayton, OH, United States
Principals
Scott Cattran
Chief Executive Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Is Woolpert a family office or does it operate as a traditional asset manager?
Woolpert is neither. It operates as a privately held architecture, engineering, and geospatial (AEG) firm structured as an S-corporation with an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). It does not manage third-party LP capital in a discretionary fund format, making its inclusion in an allocator directory unusual. Its investment function is embedded in project delivery fees and occasional SPV-level equity in public-private partnerships.
How does Woolpert generate returns on infrastructure if it is not a fund manager?
Returns come from professional services fees earned as the prime consultant or subconsultant on large-scale infrastructure contracts. Woolpert sometimes participates as an equity co-developer in public-private partnership consortia, sharing in project-level upside. The firm's geospatial data contracts with the Department of Defense and utility operators provide a recurring revenue base that funds internal innovation and tuck-in acquisitions like GreenChip.
Who owns Woolpert and how does the ESOP structure affect decision-making?
Woolpert is 100% employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). This structure means there is no single family or founder with controlling wealth origin. Governance flows through a board elected by the ESOP trustee, with Chief Executive Officer Scott Cattran directing day-to-day operations. The ESOP creates a retention mechanism in an industry where technical talent is the primary asset — retirement-eligible engineers roll out of shares slowly, aligning project oversight with multi-decade infrastructure lifecycles.
What kinds of infrastructure projects does Woolpert typically pursue?
Woolpert pursues federally funded civil works, including U.S. Army Corps of Engineers coastal resilience programs, FEMA floodplain mapping, and municipal water treatment upgrades. It also maps utility corridors using lidar-equipped aircraft and deploys geospatial analytics for electric transmission siting. Recent project profiles include DoD master planning at domestic installations and state-level transportation asset management systems.
Does Woolpert participate in energy transition or renewable infrastructure development?
Yes, increasingly. Woolpert provides environmental siting, survey, and compliance services for utility-scale solar and wind projects. The April 2024 acquisition of GreenChip specifically added vegetation threat analytics for transmission corridors, a specialized niche that supports grid modernization. The firm is also active in coastal resilience projects that intersect with climate adaptation and nature-based infrastructure credit generation.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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