Company History

James M. Waller and Charles Gardner founded J. M. Waller Associates, Inc. (JMWA®) in 1991. Mr. Waller, a former Naval Officer and a retired FBI agent, and Mr. Gardner a Naval Academy graduate, a retired Army officer and a professional engineer, started the company in the basement in Mr. Waller's home with one U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Norfolk District contract and emphasis on environmental and engineering consulting services. Their single goal of creating a company that puts their people first has proved a successful model.

Over the next few years the company won contracts with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy Ships Parts Control Center. In April of 1993, JMWA was incorporated and won its first indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with the USACE Norfolk District and hired Howard Warren as their first employee.

In June 1994, the Small Business Administration certified JMWA as an 8(a) minority-owned business. The next year the company won its first 8(a) contract with the Norfolk District for engineering and environmental services.

In 1995, JMWA moved from Mr. Waller's home basement to a new headquarters office in Burke, VA.

In 1997, JMWA won two more 8(a) contracts with the Louisville and Mobile Districts. These contracts led the company to open a regional office in Peachtree City, GA.

In 1998, JMWA won contracts with Brooks Air Force Base and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, leading the company to open a third program office in San Antonio, TX.

Beginning in 1999, JMWA expanded its contracts to include work for the USACE Norfolk, Louisville, Tulsa and Sacramento Districts; General Services Administration; the U.S. Army Atlanta Area Contracting Center; and Hickam Air Force Base Hawaii. This led to JMWA establishing an office in Kailua, HI.

The year 2000 also brought changes to the ownership of JMWA. Vice Presidents Chuck Scott and Howard Warren purchased shares from Charles Gardner. By the end of 2000, the company had expanded its full-time employees to 140 people.

In 2001 Charles Gardner retired and JMWA welcomed James Emery to the ownership. He immediately began implementing revolutionary changes in the accounting side of JMWA and set the stage for JMWA’s finance area.

In 2002, JMWA successfully graduated from the Small Business Administration 8(a) program. Additionally, the company reorganized the corporate structure to provide services in the areas of operational program management and execution, business development, administrative and financial management, engineering services, facility management, and environmental services. JWMA also landed their first Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) work, expanding beyond Department of Defense (DoD) clients for the first time.

JMWA expanded the client list with a contract with the Air Combat Command of the U.S. Air Force. Also in 2004, JMWA won a SBA Small Business Firm of the Year award and a SBA 8(a) Graduate of the Year Award. In December of 2004, James Waller retired after 14 years with JMWA. The ownership and leadership of JMWA after his retirement included Howard Warren, Chuck Scott, and James Emery.

In 2005, JMWA became a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, with a majority of the ownership classified as service disabled veterans. This allowed us to win a major contract with the U.S. Navy for program management and engineering services.

In April of 2006, JMWA received a major contract win for Professional and Administrative Support Services for the National Guard Bureau. In May 2006, JMWA topped 300 full-time employees for the first time. We also entered the Small Business Administration Mentor-Protégé Program with SAIC. Additionally, JWMA was selected as the Society of American Military Engineers Atlanta Post Small Business Sustaining Member of the Year Award.

In 2007, Wendell Newton joined Howard Warren, Chuck Scott and James Emery as an owner. Soon after, JMWA received the 2007 Department of Defense Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Achievement Award for recognition of outstanding business acumen and success in federal procurement, the company’s dedication to hiring veterans and service-disabled veterans and the demonstrated support of the veteran and disabled-veteran community. In December 2007, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) presented JMWA with the SAIC 2007 Small Business of the Year Award.

A major contract win with the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment allowed us to start 2008 strong. We continued to expand our reach, as we moved into our larger Atlanta, GA office. JMWA was one of only two firms to receive 2008 Department of Veterans Affairs Enterprising Veteran of the Year Award for exemplary entrepreneurial leadership as evidenced by concrete and specific actions, which highlight the theme "Veterans in Business - Still Serving America." We also introduced our third line of business: Logistics and Sustaining Engineering services.

In April 2009, JMWA went over the 400 full-time employee mark for the first time in company history. JMWA expanded our USACE, FAA, U.S. Air Force and National Guard work. 2009 also brought major awards including the 2009 Air Force Design Merit Award, for Lackland AFB, TX, Recruit Housing and Training Master Plan, 2009 SAME Industry Award to a Small Business in Support of DoD Programs and was the recipient of three 2009 AEGIS Award Recipient. At the end of 2009, Howard Warren retired from JMWA, leaving Chuck Scott, James Emery and Wendell Newton as the ownership body.

JMWA continued tremendous growth in 2010, ranking #51 on Engineering News-Record’s 2010 Top 100 CM-For-Fee Firms List and #57 on ZweigWhite’s 2010 Hot Firm List, which features the architecture, engineering, environmental, and multi-disciplinary firms that have outperformed the economy and competitors to become leaders in their chosen field. Each of JMWA’s owners were recognized as the nation's top entrepreneurs by the U.S. Small Business Administration, winning the 2010 District of Columbia Small Business Person of the Year Award. We also won major contracts supporting the General Services Administration-Public Buildings Service and Naval Facilities Engineering Command on Guam.

Although JMWA is no longer a two-person business being run out of a home, the company still maintains small business ideals of putting their employees first, quality customer service and exceeding client expectations.