Expanding Halff’s Federal Services with Key Hires

For more than 50 years, Halff has provided surveying, planning, landscape architecture, engineering design and historic preservation services as well as feasibility studies, hydraulic and hydrologic modeling, and flood/risk assessments on a wide variety of federal projects.

Halff is continuing to invest heavily in serving federal clients such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army Reserve, General Services Administration (GSA), FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security.

While we’ve done incredible work for federal clients in the past, Halff’s future is even brighter. We recently hired Federal Planning Leader Jennifer Switzer and Federal Program Manager Kendall Waldie to help open new doors for Halff’s Federal practice.

Meet Jennifer Switzer

Jennifer brings more than 20 years of planning experience to Halff, with time spent in both the public sector at the National Park Service and the USACE as well as the private sector.

Jennifer’s expertise as a both a civil works and military planner offers Halff the chance to pursue some unique federal projects. She served overseas as a civilian in the Middle East, where she supported Army engineers and led planning efforts for nine joint operations bases in Iraq.

As a civil works planner, Jennifer managed one of the largest planning studies for the USACE Kansas City district — the Missouri River Ecosystem Restoration Plan. This $85 million project spanned eight states and involved coordinating with more than 20 state and federal agencies.

During her career, Jennifer has leveraged her vast National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) knowledge to prepare environmental impact statements and biological opinions.

Jennifer was eventually promoted to chief of planning for the USACE Kansas City district, a role she held for 10 years. She served as a congressional liaison for the district, becoming adept at testifying on Capitol Hill to get funding for projects.

After making the switch to consulting a few years ago, Jennifer was on the lookout for a firm whose culture values matched her own. She found one in Halff.

“I joined Halff after the collaborative approach I experienced as a partner on a major pursuit. We met every other week for almost two years straight, and I always looked forward to meeting,” Jennifer said. “Halff really has a small firm feel, and I’m looking forward to helping build a strong Federal program with a talented team.”

Meet Kendall Waldie

Kendall spent 17 years of his career with the USACE as a mechanical engineer and program manager in the Fort Worth and Savannah districts. He designed Army and Air Force barracks, dining facilities, office buildings, data centers, medical facilities and headquarters facilities, in addition to managing Air Force accounts for the Southwestern Division Fort Worth (SWF).

After the Corps, Kendall joined GSA, where he spent 18 years as a project manager, a branch manager and the director of design and construction. Kendall oversaw many federal building projects with GSA, including the post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction of the U.S. Custom House in New Orleans, the repair and alteration of the Mickey Leland Federal Building in Houston and the construction of the U.S. Courthouse in San Antonio.

In addition to traditional building projects, Kendall is an expert at navigating design-builds. He was brought in to consult on several design-builds outside of his region, including construction of a new federal courthouse in Huntsville, Alabama, and expansion and repair of the Ashley Courthouse in Toledo, Ohio. His expertise helped get these unique projects across the finish line.

Kendall is quick to admit that he enjoys shaking things up every so often. When he began looking for a new career challenge, Halff immediately came to mind.

“What brought me to Halff was the reputation. Everybody I talked to who was ever involved with Halff had an absolutely wonderful experience,” Kendall said. “I’ve had the opportunity of a lifetime to work with some great people, and I’m excited to continue that tradition here.”

Federal Case Studies

Sheppard Air Force Base Stormwater Survey

The Halff-led project team set new standards in stormwater asset management through the U.S. Air Force’s Sheppard Air Force Base project.

Keeping the military base and airfield functional for pilot training is extremely important for Sheppard Air Force Base (AFB). This survey and evaluation helped the Base achieve these goals, where high-impact and time-constrained deliverables did not stop the team from taking an innovative approach.

San Antonio Federal Courthouse

Halff served as the engineer of record for several disciplines on a state-of-the-art federal courthouse in San Antonio, executed as a design-build GSA project.

The project won DBIA’s 2023 National Merit Award and ENR’s 2022 Texas-Louisiana Best Project Award. Constructed to achieve LEED V4 Gold and SITES Silver certifications (pending certification), it met several strict requirements and successfully navigated unique challenges during the construction process.