For APTech, 2025 marked three decades of providing industry-leading pavement engineering solutions. As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, we are reflecting on our humble beginnings, recognizing the leaders who brought us to where we are today, and looking forward to what the future holds for APTech. We would also like to share our gratitude with you—our clients, colleagues, and friends—for being a part of our journey. This is a milestone we could not have reached without you.
This holiday season, please join us as we look back on how far we’ve come and offer a glimpse of what’s around the corner. The throughline? We are grateful to you for being a part of our journey these past 30 years. Here’s to the next 30, and many more to come.
Origins and Outgrowths
“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.
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APTech began 30 years ago as the brainchild of founder Katie Zimmerman, an industry titan even in those days. Taking Dolly’s wise words to heart, Katie sought a new road and began paving it. In a conversation that ended up shaping everything, Katie, alongside co-founders Maggie Covalt and David Peshkin, began to imagine their ideal workplace—one where professional integrity, engineering excellence, and a genuine enthusiasm for serving others would be the focus. Thus began APTech, and the ethos established by our founders continues to this day.
Our origins and guiding principles were the precursor of greater things to come. In just 30 years, we have grown to employ over 80 bright minds, expand to 5 office locations nationwide, and serve hundreds of valued clients.
A Legacy of Sound Leadership
It cannot be overstated just how much Katie, David, and Maggie have influenced our industry. Not only did they engineer a company based on their values, but they also helped shape the field of practice at large. Over the course of their illustrious careers, each served as leading voices in pavement engineering disciplines like research, evaluation and design, management, and maintenance. Our founders wrote the book on pavement engineering. Actually, they wrote many books: AASHTO’s Pavement and Asset Management Guides, FHWA’s Pavement Management Roadmap, TRB’s Implementation of an Airport Pavement Management System, and NCHRP’s Optimal Timing of Pavement Preventive Maintenance Treatment Applications, among others. Combined, they have contributed to well over 200 industry publications!
The trio’s sphere of influence goes far beyond academic. Their collective body of work also extends to the practical, where they were instrumental in making pavement management, asset management, and preservation mainstream among transportation agencies of all sizes. These contributions, and so much more, were aimed at improving pavement performance, making the best use of shared resources, and above all, keeping clients at the center of everything we do. Through this work, they have won industry awards, delivered keynote addresses, and inspired countless peers and collaborators.
Having reached the pinnacle of their fields and then some, APTech’s founders are taking on a new challenge: retirement. David hung up his APTech hat last year, Maggie will retire at the end of this year, and Katie will be winding down her role in the new year. And though they will have more time for leisure and personal pursuits, their legacy of sound leadership lives on in the hands of the next generation.
APTech President Monty Wade emphasized this spirit, stating, “While we are always looking ahead for new technologies and innovations, we will also always look to our founding principles and values to best serve our clients—now, and well into the future.”
Modern Momentum and Milestones
As we enter a new decade in our company history, our foundation of integrity, excellence, and commitment to service continues to support our growth. We are excited to announce we will be expanding our lines of service in the new year, growing from four technical departments to eight. While they might be new on our org chart, these new service areas encompass fields of practice in which we are already well-versed: asset management, training and technology transfer, pavement materials and sustainability, and pavement services for military facilities. This new organizational structure allows us to better serve our clients while promoting future growth and expanding employee opportunities.
And speaking of employees: their work also continues to drive innovations in pavement engineering. This year, we’ve been fortunate to welcome several new staff members to the APTech team. LaDonna Rowden, P.E., joined as a Senior Engineer after more than 30 years with the Illinois Department of Transportation. Engineering Associates Md Nafiur Rahman, Noah Burfield, and Matthew Crowder, along with Technician Alyssa Skaar also joined the team, further strengthening our pavement engineering capabilities. Amelia Shannon and Allasia Brei-Aspenson came on board as Training and Marketing Coordinators, respectively. Finally, we welcomed Lexy Williams, Jan Feeney, John Hansen, and Kalyn Nowlan to the Administration and Finance team.
We also celebrated several milestone anniversaries this year. Todd Hoerner, P.E., and Jim Bruinsma, P.E., have been part of the team for 25 of our 30 years—an incredible 83 percent of our history. Laura Raczkowski, P.E., and RoseMary Evans celebrated 20 years with APTech. Additionally, Trent Montgomery reached his 15-year anniversary, and Greg Duncan, P.E., celebrated a decade with the firm.
The longstanding commitment of our team is central to sustaining our strong client relationships, and we are proud to recognize their dedication.
APTech Takes the Windy City
Commemorating an occasion as momentous as 30 years of business was no easy feat. But APTech went the extra mile, whisking over 100 employees and family members away for a spirited September weekend in Chicago. Highlights from our adventure in the Windy City included catching a baseball game at Wrigley Field, sightseeing downtown, and enjoying a dinner cruise on Lake Michigan.
This celebration was the cherry on top of these past 30 years, strengthening both our employee bonds of friendship and commitment to the engineering community.
Moving the Needle
APTech’s staff members may be celebrating 30 years in the rearview mirror, but that doesn’t mean we’re content to idle. We’re shifting gears for our next 30, building on our many achievements in 2025. While we can’t list them all, here are a few standout moments:
We marked the completion of our 100th statewide airport pavement management system project. This was also a milestone year for airport Pavement Condition Index inspections, with more than 7,000 now completed across the nation and worldwide. And with 325 of those completed so far this year, that’s nearly one inspection a day.
Our roadways team also had a momentous year, collecting 3,812 miles of pavement condition data—that’s enough to drive from Presque Isle, Maine to Santa Barbara, California and still have a few miles left over! Through this work, our clients are equipped with the tools they need to make smart, data-driven choices when it comes to maintaining the roadways we all use every day.
APTech’s research arm continued to advance the pavement engineering state of practice. We published several studies and papers in 2025, including an FHWA study on the impacts of wildfire on pavements and roadway assets. We also hosted a National Tribal Grant Writing Workshop as part of our work administering the Western Tribal Technical Assistance Program. And, Katie Zimmerman delivered an impactful keynote address at the 15th National Conference on Transportation Asset Management.
By year end, we will have delivered 25 IDEAs to airport and roadway clients, putting actionable pavement data and insights at their fingertips. We also grew our equipment fleet, acquiring a new heavy weight deflectometer so we can continue to collect accurate deflection measurements to support our clients’ pavement design and evaluation projects.
Warm Wishes
this Holiday Season
Whether you’ve partnered with us recently or since our beginning, we are grateful for every moment. From all of us here at APTech, thank you for the chance to connect this year. Happy holidays to you and yours!
