About Willdan

Senior Management

• Michael A. Bieber - Chief Executive Officer

  

  Michael A. Bieber was appointed Chief Executive Officer effective December 30, 2023. Mr. Bieber served as President of Willdan Group from November 2016 to December 2023.

  Mr. Bieber joined Willdan Group in December 2014 as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President at Tetra Tech, where he served in a number of leadership roles for over 18 years. From March 2007 to December 2014, Mr. Bieber managed Tetra Tech’s mergers and acquisitions and investor relations functions, overseeing over fifty acquisitions. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Bieber managed Tetra Tech’s corporate business development group, where he was responsible for overseeing internal business development, marketing and communications. From January 2000 to December 2014, Mr. Bieber also worked in Tetra Tech’s investor relations group. From 1996 to 2000, he was a proposal manager in Tetra Tech’s corporate marketing group. From 1994 to 1996, he served at CRC, Inc., and its successor, as a strategic business development consultant to large defense, infrastructure, and environmental firms. Prior to 1994, Mr. Bieber worked for IT Corporation (now CB&I) where he served as project manager and engineer on government nuclear and commercial environmental projects.

  Mr. Bieber holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the Tennessee Technological University.

• Creighton K. (Kim) Early - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

  

  Creighton K. (Kim) Early was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, effective December 30, 2023. Mr. Early was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Company effective April 16, 2021 and served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Willdan’s Energy Solutions group from 2015 to 2021. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Early acted as Chief Financial Officer for Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, a $700 million builder of utility-scale wind, solar, and biomass projects. Previously, he acted as the Chief Financial Officer for Earth Tech and helped the company grow over 14 years from a $37 million federal government geotechnical consulting firm into a $1.3 billion multi-national water, environmental, and transportation engineering leader. Mr. Early has participated in more than 50 M&A transactions as either a buyer, seller, or advisor.

  Mr. Early has a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Michigan and a B.S. degree in Finance from Ohio State University.

Key Corporate Personnel

• Micah Chen - Executive Vice President and General Counsel

  

  Micah Chen was appointed Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Willdan Group, Inc. effective December 30, 2023 where he manages and mitigates all legal and regulatory risks for the organization. Mr. Chen served as General Counsel for Willdan Group, Inc., from March 2018 to December 2023 and was our Legal Counsel from July 2017 to March 2018. From 2006 to 2007, Mr. Chen served as Vice President of the Construction Risk Group at Willis Towers Watson. He held various positions, from Senior Vice President to Managing Director, at Aon Corporation from 2008 to 2017. In these roles, he developed risk management programs for Engineering News-Record Top 100 clients, contractors, and manufacturers.

  He received his B.A. in International Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and earned his J.D. (Juris Doctor) from Western State University, College of Law. He is a member of the American Bar Association as well as the California Bar Association.

Chairman of the Board

• Thomas D. Brisbin - Chairman of the Board

  

  Thomas D. Brisbin has served as our Chairman of the Board since November 2016 and a member of the Board since 2007. Dr Brisbin also served as our Chief Executive Officer from April 2007 to December 2023 and as our President from 2007 to November 2016.

  Dr. Brisbin previously was vice president of and consultant for AECOM Technology Corporation, or AECOM, a company focused on infrastructure, environment and facilities engineering contracts, from spring 2004 until he joined us. Prior to joining AECOM, Dr. Brisbin was chief operating officer and executive vice president of Tetra Tech, Inc., or Tetra Tech, a leading provider of consulting, engineering and technical services, for five years. Prior to that, he was employed by Planning Research Corporation, or PRC, a systems analysis and management consulting company and wholly-owned subsidiary of The Black & Decker Corporation, from 1978 to 1995 and was co-founder and President of PRC Environmental Management, Inc. During his tenure at PRC, he was involved in all aspects of operations, marketing and finance. Before joining PRC, he was a research associate at Argonne National Laboratory. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

  Dr. Brisbin holds a B.S. degree from Northern Illinois University and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology. He also completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program in 1988. Dr. Brisbin, as our current Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer and our prior President, brings his in-depth knowledge of the day-to-day operations of the Company and its industry to the Board, providing valuable insight to the Board as it reviews our operations, growth and financial prospects. In addition, we believe that his experience as an executive officer at Tetra Tech, a publicly traded engineering and consulting company, benefits our Board by increasing his knowledge of our industry and effective public company corporate governance.