In 1972, Hector Jacques was a young engineer who had immigrated to Canada from Goa, the island nation and Portuguese colony that was taken over by India in 1961. He received his Masters degree in soil mechanics and foundation engineering in Nova Scotia, and then worked for four years in the geotechnical department of a well- established national engineering firm. One of Hector's talented engineering colleagues in that department was Mike Whitford.

Shortly after their employer was acquired by a larger international company, Hector and Mike decided that it was time to try things their way, and, in September 1972, Jacques Whitford was launched in Halifax. Hector recounts, "In those early days it was all about survival! I remember even saying to Michael that I would buy my own desk and my own stapler and that he should do the same. That way, if things didn't work, out we could each go our own way without having to divvy up the assets."

More than thirty years have passed and the assets have never needed dividing, except as a byproduct of adding additional employee owners - there are now hundreds, all leaders among a staff of more than 1,600.  Drawing on their exceptional reputations, Hector and Mike signed up ten clients within days of starting. On day four, they turned their first profit and our firm has never looked back.

Jacques Whitford began with a philosophy to hire the absolute best and brightest people - to be thought of as the employer of choice among top graduates of engineering and science programs. Our firm has always sought the most challenging projects, those that test the boundaries of our technical creativity, innovation or performance under pressure. And our firm has consistently pursued business growth. As Hector says, "If you hire the best minds, you can't expect them to stay around unless you grow. Bright people want opportunity, and if you let them expand the company, if you support them and don't create a lot of bureaucracy, they do it and growth happens organically."

From that single Halifax office, Jacques Whitford has certainly grown. By 1980, we operated in all four Atlantic Provinces.  The development of Atlantic Canada's offshore oil and gas industry provided the firm's biggest early break. Against advice that only the big multi-national consulting firms could win the opportunities, Jacques Whitford secured its first contract with Mobil Oil. "We showed them what we could do," says Hector. "Frankly, we did a really great job for them". In an industry where word quickly gets around and firms often partner, Jacques Whitford went on to do geotech and other kinds of work for a series of major regional offshore projects.

Widespread growing concern over environmental issues in the late 1970s and early 1980s led to the next big step forward for Jacques Whitford. Our firm had to expand its capabilities to perform some of the early Environmental Impact Reviews associated with oil and gas development. This led the government of Canada to select our firm to conduct the nationwide consultation on the important environmental policy initiative that became the Canadian Green Plan. Jacques Whitford was committed to developing its expertise in the environmental disciplines that were important to Canadians, our clients and our employees.

Buoyed by the growth of our client base, the range of our staff expertise and their desire to grow career opportunities, we continued to expand, opening an Ottawa office in 1988. New disciplines and technologies were added, first in environmental engineering and sciences and, over time, in a broad range of consulting, planning and management disciplines bearing on both natural and built environments. 

Offices were opened steadily across Canada including Toronto (1991), Calgary (1992) and Vancouver (1996), fulfilling our vision of offering coast-to-coast service. Our first U.S. office was opened in 1992, and our first international office in Russia in 1993. In 2005 AXYS Environmental Consulting became part of the Jacques Whitford group. Today, our vision is to become the "premier employee-owned provider of engineering, environmental and earth science solutions in North America." 

We understand that our client's - businesses, governments, communities and organizations - exist in a world of great challenges. We appreciate their need to address these issues, to find solutions, with ever-greater effectiveness and efficiency, and with balanced concern for environmental and economic realities. We are committed to being their valued solutions partner.

Jacques Whitford is still 100% employee-owned, with a network of more than 45 offices across North America and internationally, and more than 1,600 highly trained professionals worldwide, all focused on maintaining the tradition of excellence and expanding horizons established by Hector and Mike in 1972.