Worldwide engineers: from rocky flats cleanup to bridge-building in Iraq, no job is too big for Englewood-based CH2M Hill--although some are too small.

• Author: Cada, Chryss
• Position: Company overview

When you discuss CH2M Hill, Colorado's second-largest private company, the easiest question to ask might be, "What don't they do?"

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And the answer is just as simple: They don't do small.

CH2M Hill, which until this year was ranked for three years at the top of the ColoradoBiz Top 250 Private Companies list, is a global engineering and construction firm with 18,000 employees who provide services in nearly every corner of the world, from building super cleanrooms in Japan, to building bridges in Iraq, to strengthening the levees in Louisiana, to cleaning up a retired nuclear plant here in Colorado.

"We have a diverse portfolio, no question," said John Corsi, CH2M Hill director of corporate communications. "But the common thread is that we like to take on projects that involve large, complex infrastructure--wherever in the world they may be." Size is no hindrance to the company, unless the project is too small. "You won't see us going into the residential-home market," Corsi said. "That doesn't fit our mission."

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The company, founded in 1946 to build wastewater treatment plants in the Northwest, isn't afraid to say it's on a mission. "It may sound trite, but our goal really is to make the world a better place," Corsi said. "Sustainability is behind everything we do; from environmental cleanup to wastewater treatment, we want to leave a lasting legacy."

But to begin to understand that legacy, you have to break down the range of services the company delivers in three primary business categories: federal, civil and industrial. "Traditionally civil projects involving transportation, water and operations were our bread and butter," Corsi said. "But our work is pretty evenly split between the three areas now." The recession of 2001 forced the company to diversify its portfolio. The firm has doubled its revenues every five years for the last 15 years. In 2005, revenues were at $3.8 billion. The company, now one of the largest employee-owned firms in the world, only began filing its revenues to be included on the ColoradoBiz list in 2003. This year it was pushed off the top of the list by Swift & Co., the former ConAgra and Monfort meat companies that was added to the Colorado-owned private companies list after the completion of a buyout in late 2004.

Although CH2M Hill is always expanding into new markets, the company's civil-engineering projects remain a staple of its business. In the area of...