TerraSond awarded third five-year NOAA contract

PALMER — Mapping and other geospatial services are proving profitable for TerraSond, Ltd., a homegrown company with far-reaching capabilities.

On July 16, TerraSond was selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “as a most highly qualified firm to provide hydrographic surveying services anywhere in the U.S. under a new five-year contract,” according to a press release which can be found on the company’s website.

TerraSond has been working with NOAA since 1998, starting with two- or three-year contracts that NOAA sets aside for small businesses and winning their first five-year contract open to large businesses in 2002. With this latest award, TerraSond is on their third consecutive five-year contract.

This longer contract, TerraSond president Tom Newman said, is one awarded based on merit rather than simply money, and requires a “big application process” as part of a nationwide competition. With 20 years under their belts and multiple locations between Alaska, Washington, Texas, Mexico and Brazil, TerraSond is clearly a success.

Like most grassroots business ventures though, TerraSond started small on a big leap of faith.

“We were just your typical three guys in a garage,” Newman said fondly. “We quit our jobs and ran our credit cards up and started the business.”

Newman co-founded the company with Larry Whiting and Robert Kohut in 1994 when their old surveying jobs failed to satisfy them. Tired of jumping through hoops and cutting red tape for every equipment purchase, the trio set off on their own.

“We wanted to be innovative and get newer technology, which is difficult when working under another firm. You can hit some home runs but you get some strikes too. Not everything works out as a fabulous idea,” Newman said.

Despite some bumps along the way, TerraSond has become much more efficient, charting both land and sea all over the world with only 40 Alaskan employees, about 30 more in the lower 48, and a handful of interns every year. Still, getting people in the offices down south is somewhat difficult.

“It takes money to do it. I’d make more offices if I was making more money, [because] having a network of offices is better than just one,” Newman said. “The hard part is finding people to do a good job who are willing to live somewhere else.”

TerraSond currently has projects going in Unalakleet, Perryville, Kodiak, False Pass and Ketchikan, and does a large part of its surveying within the state, Newman said.

“We’re like an export company from the Valley. It’s not that different from manufacturing something and shipping it out, we just send out services,” he said.

One of the reasons the company is so successful, perhaps, is that their employees are ready for anything. Cody McCrary, now the General Manager of the Palmer office, paints an inspiring picture of the nature of the company.

“To work at TerraSond starting out, you have to be comfortable leaving home for a few weeks. You have to have a sense of adventure,” he said.

McCrary started working at TerraSond when he was 17 years old as a “shop guy”, running parts and cleaning equipment. After a break in 2005 to work for his father’s air charter company, he found himself drawn back to TerraSond and was rehired as a survey technician. From there he went on to become a project manager and was then promoted to his current position.

“When they were short-staffed they would send me on little local jobs. Companies would say ‘hey I need someone to help me out’ and I would go. So I got a little exposure while working in the shop,” McCrary said.

Like McCrary, many TerraSond employees have unique backgrounds that lend themselves to the fluid atmosphere of the company.

“We employ a large percentage of veterans, which is something we’re really proud of,” said Human Resources and Organizational Development manager Tracy Hazen. Hazen also said that, “For our industry we have a larger percentage of women than the standard STEM occupations.”

STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and refers to an education coalition which emphasizes the importance of such subjects in future economic prosperity in the U.S.

TerraSond’s diversity and inclusiveness also is made clear by the various degrees held by their employees. At the Palmer office, 15 employees are current students at or graduates of the University of Alaska, and 15 have advanced degrees in subjects such as Geophysics, Geoscience, Business Administration, and Science and Engineering Management.

“[Our employees are] a really cool, interesting, eclectic group of people,” she said.

To find out more about TerraSond, Ltd., go to www.terrasond.com or visit their office at 1617 S. Industrial Way, Suite 3.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.