Staff

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Andrew has called the Santa Barbara area home since 2010. Since graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a BS in Civil Engineering he has worked in site development design, surveying, as well as providing construction inspections. Andrew brings a diverse background of experience in both the public and private sectors having worked on a variety of projects including residential subdivisions, public roadways, commercial business parks, higher education developments, and ADA rehab projects.

August is a graduate from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Architectural Engineering. He is excited to begin his structural engineering career at Ashley and Vance working out of the Oakland office. As a Summer intern for an engineering firm in Redding, he saw firsthand how miscommunication between engineer and contractor can lead to inadequate structures and expensive mistakes. Outside of work, August enjoys traveling, reading, spending time with family, and keeping up with Bay Area sports.

Bree’s attitude and energy are unparalleled, allowing her to excel at a wide variety of tasks that include public outreach, marketing, and accounting. Having knowledge of accounts receivable and accounts payable, Bree aids in Ashley & Vance’s daily activities and assists the accounting department. Bree maintains office services by organizing administrative operations and procedures, preparing payroll and invoices, controlling correspondence, assisting with social media, and providing website administration. We are all grateful for Bree’s positive attitude and enjoy the pleasure of working with her.

As a licensed civil engineer in Colorado and California, Bruce has worked on public school improvement projects, as well as public and private sector infrastructure projects. His project experience includes survey and design for multiple resource conservation districts throughout the West, planning and design for wastewater and water treatment projects, financial, and regulatory planning services from a civil engineering capital perspective, and preparation of full construction documents including specifications, plans, and bid documents.

Bruce is highly efficient with civil engineering software such as Autodesk Civil 3D, and has provided Civil 3D training seminars for other design professionals in the industry.

With a Structural Engineering license, a degree in Civil Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and construction management experience at Walt Disney Imagineering, Charles allows his construction background to drive his innovative designs. As a lead structural engineer for custom residential and commercial projects, Charles designs and oversees structural projects at Ashley & Vance Engineering.

Charles is a licensed structural engineer in not only California, but also in Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Texas, and Florida. His residential structural designs include projects spanning from Brentwood/Beverly Hills over to Malibu/Pacific Palisades up to Santa Barbara/Montecito throughout San Luis Obispo and Monterey Counties. And he has led numerous commercial projects on the Central Coast such as SLO Brew Retrofit, Chinatown/Monterey St. Retail and Hotel Serra.

Chris is a project engineer for our structural engineering team in our Santa Barbara office. His experience includes marine structural and civil work, construction coordination, residential and commercial design. Chris received his Bachelor’s degree in Structural engineering from UC San Diego and his Master’s in Civil & Environmental Engineering from San Jose State University.

A Santa Barbara native, Dale worked for his father, a masonry contractor, before pursuing degree in Civil Engineering from San Diego State University.  He worked for the private firm of SB&O, Inc. in San Diego before returning home to work for the County of Santa Barbara Public Works Department. During his 16 years at the County, he worked as a project engineer for the Solid Waste Division and the Water Agency designing & managing various projects on the local landfills & reservoirs before serving as the Development Engineer for the Flood Control District.  While working at Flood Control, Dale served 10 years on the Subdivision Development Review Committee, supervised the Development Review Division, and gained his Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) Certification. Dale returned to the private sector, and worked the next 12 years at MAC Design Associates. While here, Dale gained his QSD/QSP Certification, and served as the Principal Engineer on various land development projects.

When not in the office, Dale enjoys traveling, photography, motorcycling, sailing, camping, snowboarding, mountian biking and volunteering his time at the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission serving as a Mentor and as Marketing Photographer. 

Davis is part of the civil engineering team in the Bend office. He graduated from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering where his primary focus was hydraulics and water treatment systems. Along with his collegiate knowledge, Davis also has experience as an onsite project engineer and with hands on experience as a carpenter. He has worked on building custom homes, helping to manage a multi-million dollar concrete structure project and creating concepts and outlines for solving Bozeman’s 2050 water storage crisis.    

Drew is a structural project engineer in the Santa Barbara office. He joined the A&V team after graduating with his BS degree in Civil Engineering with a structural emphasis. He has experience with a variety of projects, ranging from multifamily and hotels to high end residential design. He enjoys challenging projects where attention to detail and coordination with the rest of the design team is paramount. Drew is a Santa Barbara County native and is excited to see and work on projects that positively impact the community where he was raised.

Originally from Monterey County, Emilio works as part of the civil engineering team in the Santa Barbara office. Since graduating from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with his bachelors and masters in Civil Engineering, he has worked on a multitude of projects within Santa Barbara County. Emilio has a diverse background that includes public and private site design, commercial and residential development, and wet utility design. He enjoyed being part of the team that put together the final design plans and provided construction support for the Hotel Californian - an upscale hotel with a large parking structure, restaurants, and food services near the ocean on lower state street. Outside of work, Emilio likes to bake bread and swing dance.

Eric is a principal engineer who splits his time between our San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara offices. He graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Architectural Engineering and he is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of California.

Eric contributes over 10 years of structural design experience covering a wide range of projects throughout California and Hawaii. His projects include Niner Winery’s 57,000 sq. ft. concrete tilt-up wine processing facility in Paso Robles, California; the Waihonua Tower, a 418-foot-tall reinforced concrete high-rise condo in Honolulu, Hawaii; and The Pad a fun passion project climbing gym in Santa Maria, CA. Eric also has construction experience with slab-on-grade foundations and rough carpentry, designed on-site septic systems, and performed special inspections for helical anchors and grouted tiebacks.

Whenever Eric is able to take a break from work, he can usually be found on a sheer granite face, rock climbing throughout the Sierra Nevada range.

Evan Rickards can be found in the Bend office as a civil project engineer, with the experience and passion of working on wind farm development and small subdivision projects. As a graduate from George Fox University, he received his bachelors of science in civil engineering and was fortunate to experience work in both the public and private sectors giving him a unique perspective and insight into public projects. Having the opportunity to work on large renewable energy projects, Evan is knowledgeable of the importance of thoughtful design and thinking through problems before they occur. Evan hopes to impact his community with elevated design and development that will positively affect all who call Central Oregon home.

Greg oversees the structural engineering operations of our Sacramento office. He is a licensed professional engineer in the state of California and received his degree in Civil Engineering from University of California, Berkeley. Apart from working in Sacramento, Greg obtained a diverse engineering background by previously working as a structural engineer in both the Bay Area and Los Angeles. These experiences have led Greg to firmly believe the keys to project success lie in clearly understanding client objectives and tailoring each project to meet the client’s personal needs, while paying careful attention to not only cost, but also to regional-specific construction practices and the uniqueness of each local agency to ensure an efficient and seamless permitting process.

Greg served as a key member of the structural engineering team for a vast spectrum of projects, including countless single-family residential projects and commercial T.I.’s all throughout the West, seismic retrofits of unreinforced masonry and large industrial buildings, and several mid-rise hotels and apartment buildings, including the Fort Sutter Hotel in Midtown Sacramento.

Jackson began his career working in the oil and gas industry designing support steel structures and performing pipe stress analysis for high pressure oil field processes. Jackson’s passion for designing complex pressure piping projects in the oil and gas industry has translated excellently with our structural group at Ashley & Vance Engineering. He is currently working as a project engineer and is involved in design and project management for multiple challenging projects within the structural group.

In addition to his design experience, Jackson has spent some time working in concrete construction and he took part in a large factory site redevelopment project in Indiana. Jackson is a graduate from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Civil Engineering. Jackson is very excited to be working with Ashley & Vance and strives to apply his previous experience and work ethic to the structural engineering projects we offer.

James grew up in North Carolina and studied chemical engineering at Oregon State University. He spent the following years as a professional plumber on the West shore of Lake Tahoe before transitioning into his career in structural engineering. James’s studies and previous experience provide him with a diverse outlook on building systems and enables him to seek multiple solutions to difficult problems. James is also an artistic person and environmentally conscientious--his favorite part of structural engineering is providing multiple design idea’s that consider economics, aesthetics, and smart building materials to achieve an architect’s vision.

Jason is a structural engineer in the Oakland office. He has experience designing a variety of  residential structures from Sonoma to Gilroy. Jason earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. When not working, Jason enjoys running and all forms of 2-wheeled transportation from push scooters to motorcycles.

Completing his Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering from Cal Poly, Pomona, Jia is focusing his strengths as a structural project engineer located in the Pasadena office. He enjoys working in a team to provide cost effective and creative solutions for the client, while developing professional relationships. Jia sees challenges as opportunities to learn valuable knowledge and lengthen his abilities to explore solutions. He believes that hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. Aside from engineering, Jia enjoys hiking and physical activities.

Jim Lord brings 14 years of civil engineering design and project management experience to his role as principal engineer of the Bend, Oregon office. He has been living and working in central Oregon for over a decade and he has a deep understanding of the local standards, regulations, and business climate.

Jim designed and managed the approval and construction of many private development projects including the Simpson Pavilion ice rink project for the Bend Parks and Recreation District. He also has extensive experience working on public improvement projects. Jim was the lead designer and construction manager for the 3rd Street Underpass Stormwater Improvement Project in Bend, Oregon. This project retrofitted an existing 80-year railroad undercrossing that was prone to flooding with a collection and pumping system, conveyance piping, and various bio-swales. He also was a design engineer for the $1.8B San Diego Gas and Electric Sunrise Powerlink Transmission Line Project and was responsible for designing over 50 miles of access roads, maintenance pads, and pull-sites.

Jim is a proponent of sustainable design, low-impact development, and green building principals. He also owned and operated an organic farm for several years and has hands-on experience with agricultural and irrigation design.

John contributes a wealth of knowledge and experience in custom residential structural design to the AVE team. He has led many multifaceted jobs from design to construction and he exhibits critical attention-to-detail and problem-solving abilities while maintaining builder-friendly plans.

He has also served as the engineering lead on a spectrum of structural projects. Some of these include concrete tilt-up buildings, residences subject to coastal flooding, buildings requiring overpressure ‘blast’ design, structures requiring deepened foundations, beach access stairs, and commercial buildings.

Jordan is one of the original engineers at Ashley & Vance Engineering, and he is now the principal engineer of the Northern Nevada office. He has designed structural projects of all sizes including remodels, custom homes, commercial buildings, and healthcare facilities. Having spent significant time in the construction industry, he brings a sense of constructability to engineering and enjoys delivering projects that are buildable and cost effective, while ensuring quality client service through completion of every project.  

Born and raised in the Eastern Sierras, Jordan has a particular affinity for the mountains and enjoys the unique challenges that heavy snow and high earthquake loads bring to structural engineering. He has been the lead engineer on many high-end custom residential and commercial projects in Mammoth Lakes, June Lake, and Lake Tahoe in California, and Bend, Oregon as well.

Juan received his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Cal Poly SLO. Prior to working at Ashley and Vance, he gained experience preparing grading, drainage, and site utility plans for residential and commercial projects in Orange County. He continues his career working in our civil engineering team in our San Luis Obispo office.

Juan can often be found hiking the local trails, relaxing at the beach, or body boarding in the ocean.

Julie is a project engineer for the Structural Engineering Team in the Tahoe office. Julie received a Bachelor's degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, with a focus in Structural Engineering. She has a knack for problem solving and noticing flaws and errors in design. She has a wide range of construction design experience with an Electrical Contractor and an MEP design firm in Las Vegas, as well as a wealth of knowledge of the Energy Code and Solar. She has been working on a variety of Residential, Commercial, and Hospital projects.

Katie is a project engineer in the Santa Barbara office with a BS in Architectural Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  After spending two years in her native San Francisco Bay Area working on high end residential and large corporate campuses, Katie is happy to be back on the Central Coast and part of the Ashley and Vance team.  Katie’s optimistic attitude helps her tackle difficult engineering problems with creative cost effective solutions. When out of the office Katie enjoys the many activities Santa Barbara has to offer including beach volleyball, surfing, free diving, and sailing.    

Keiko graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering at Cal Poly SLO. Prior to joining Ashley and Vance Engineering’s Structural team, Keiko spent her summers as a Project Engineer Intern with Swinerton Builders, designing theatrical sets, and working as a barista. Through these experiences, she developed valuable communication skills. She is dedicated to providing excellent customer service and enjoys Ashley and Vance’s teamwork environment. One of Keiko’s favorite parts about living in SLO is how bike-friendly it is.

Lisa is a civil project engineer in our Denver office. After earning her degree in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas, she moved to Colorado to pursue her career and the mountains. Lisa joins Ashley & Vance Engineering after many years of industry experience with a general contractor as well as a full-scope architecture and engineering company. Her background working alongside other disciplines has helped shape her to be a well-rounded engineer that understands the challenges faced by not only civil engineers, but every aspect of the building process. She utilizes that knowledge to make every project as effective, efficient, and economical as possible. In her spare time, Lisa can be found in the beautiful Colorado mountains or playing with her pup, Truffle.

Mailyn graduated with her bachelors and masters in Civil Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She is excited to continue learning and developing her structural engineering skills in the Oakland office. In her free time, Mailyn enjoys scrolling through Zillow and exploring the Bay Area through hiking and mountain biking.

Matthew leads the Oakland office with a diversified, broad-based background as both a civil and structural engineer. His project experience encompasses residential and commercial remodel and new construction, tenant improvements for multi-national retailers, alterations and renovations for industrial and telecom facilities, seismic upgrades and rehabilitation of aging structures, wineries and public art installations, and nearly everything in between.

Matthew believes that the success of every project is firmly rooted in establishing client objectives and goals from project inception and ensuring those are met through communication, open collaboration, and the delivery of clear, coordinated, and constructible designs. Matthew has the unique ability to distill increasingly complex situations into increasingly simple and distinctive solutions. Prior to joining Ashley & Vance, Matthew was a partner at a San Francisco-based firm where he spent the better part of a decade leading the structural design of award-winning residences and restaurants, seismic upgrades of both commercial and residential properties, and “special situation” projects requiring out-of-the-box approaches.

Mika joined the San Luis Obispo office as a structural project engineer shortly after completing both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Architectural Engineering at Cal Poly. Prior to joining Ashley & Vance Engineering, Mika managed a local coffee shop and learned about the importance of quality, consistency, and dedication. As a project engineer, she is eager to collaborate with industry professionals to bring a project from inception to completion.

In addition to structural engineering, Mika’s passions include throwing pottery, traveling, and making a mean cup of coffee!

Mirica is a project engineer for our civil engineering team at our Reno/Tahoe office.  As a recent graduate from the University of Reno at Nevada with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, she has previous work experience designing sewer and stormwater lift stations.  Her favorite project was designing a pump station that required creativity with spacing and material constraints. Admittedly bookish, Mirica prefers projects that require a challenging deep dive.

When not working, Mirica enjoys running, reading, and hanging outside with her family and doggo Maddie.

Nick is part of the structural design team in the San Luis Obispo office. He received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Cal Poly. 

During his time in school, Nick took interest in both structural and geotechnical engineering courses. He was also the Welding Lead for Cal Poly’s Steel Bridge Team where he gained valuable design, fabrication, and team-building skills. Outside of school, Nick has had internships with a general contracting firm and a structural engineering firm where he communicated with subcontractors, reviewed drawing sets, and drafted structural plans for various small scale projects. Nick enjoys being challenged and prides himself on his ability to see a problem through to the end no matter how big or small. 

Nick is originally from Santa Cruz and enjoys spending his free time in the mountains either trail running, rock climbing, backpacking, or snowboarding.

As an alumnus of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the California Central Coast has been his region of focus throughout his career. Paul opened our Santa Barbara office in 2012, and remains one of the Principal Engineers overseeing the structural team in that location. He holds great rapport with clients with his positive attitude and energetic approach to all projects. He welcomes challenges and utilizes his extensive background in building construction, dabbling in a wide range of trades including welding, concrete, framing, and carpentry, in his work today. After using those skills and completing a father-son development project of two hillside residences in 2010, that comprehensive building experience now elicits his unique approach to structural solutions. Within the industry, Paul engages with the larger community by serving on the AIA Board of Directors for the Santa Barbara chapter since 2018. His role includes a seat as the Annual ArchitecTours Logistics Chair (since 2016) for the showcase of local accomplishments and contributions in design and engineering to the community at large.

Rian is a structural project engineer in the Santa Barbara office who brings a diverse range of talent to the AV team. He has six years of structural engineering experience in light frame wood construction for residential and multi-family projects, and is an expert on engineered wood products. Rian is an innovator and a collaborator and enjoys putting his skills to work for his clients. He earned his BS in Structural Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and is overjoyed to be back on the central coast.

Robert is a project engineer on our structural team in the San Luis Obispo office. He graduated from Cal Poly with a General Engineering degree but learned to love buildings while employed by a Livermore based contractor. Robert has worked on high end residential, remodels and commercial buildings before and during his time at AV. 

Rosa is a structural project engineer in our Oakland office. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Cal Poly Pomona, where she focused her studies on structural design. After college, she worked in construction management for public works projects throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. She then joined a structural engineering firm that specializes in forensic analysis and preparing repair protocol for damaged structures. With a passion for structural designs for new construction, Rosa welcomes the opportunity to resolve problems as they may arise. Outside of work, Rosa loves chasing her personal records in running/jogging, spending time with family and friends, and traveling. 

Located in the San Luis Obispo office, Ryan graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and has stayed in the area to take advantage of the good weather and scenery.  He is a hands on person with a knack for fitting things together and helping to solve practical problems. Over the years he has worked on projects from custom residential to mixed use to OSHPD. This variety of projects has given him a well-rounded skillset and the ability to come up with a solution for any problem.  When Ryan is not solving puzzling situations on paper, he is often seen on his bike on the roads of the San Luis Obispo are or on his mountain bike & dirt bike, shredding it in the hills.

Located in our Santa Barbara office, Sally represents Ashley & Vance when greeting clients on the phone and in person. With a background in the office administration and bookkeeping, she is apart of the admin team with the daily tasks of invoicing, collecting, document filing/organizing, business development, and staff support.

Sarah is a project engineer and aspiring land surveyor in our San Luis Obispo office. With over two year’s experience, she provides support for a wide variety of projects including property mapping, grading design, drafting and document preparation.  In 2016, she graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Dance and a minor in Business. Sarah is an active member of ASCE as the San Luis Obispo Branch Event Coordinator.

Outside of work, Sarah likes to backpack as much as she can, wherever she can. She also enjoys traveling, snowboarding, rocking out at concerts, and being the best plant mom she can be.

Scott is a structural project engineer located in our Reno office.  He graduated from the University of Nevada Reno with his BS in Mathematics and continued his education receiving his MS in Civil Engineering, with a focus in Structural Engineering, from Colorado State University. Scott enjoys problem solving and has worked construction on several small residential projects which has allowed him solve some of the physical hurdles that arise in implementing their design. He brings an open mind to the team and looks forward to creating unique solutions for any project he works on.

After graduating with a B.S. in Architectural Engineering at CalPoly, Serena is ecstatic to begin her structural engineering career at Ashley and Vance. Through her education and internship experiences Serena has had structural design experience with steel, timber, and concrete including PT. Her favorite part of being a structural engineer is that there’s always more to learn and new creative structural solutions to discover. Serena also enjoys skiing and scuba diving whenever she has a chance.

Shellie is a structural project engineer in the Bend office with design experience in a wide variety of structures including residences, commercial buildings, fire stations, educational facilities, and remodels. She enjoys looking at designs from a contractor's point of view and strives to produce the most constructible, efficient and economical designs possible.

Steven is part of the structural engineering team in our San Luis Obispo office, having received his M.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.  His design experience covers a variety of projects ranging from small-scale home remodels to multi-family residential developments. Steven brings thoroughness and close attention to detail to every project he works on, regardless of scale.

When not engineering, Steven enjoys hiking the San Luis Obispo area or reading a good mystery.

Thomas is one of our project engineers on our structural engineering team in the Pasadena office. He joined Ashley and Vance shortly after completing his degree in Civil Engineering at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Thomas strives to find cost-effective and creative structural solutions for a variety of projects. In his free time, you could find Thomas playing basketball, rocking out on the violin, and working on music production.

Truitt, a principal engineer and original founder of the company, approaches each client and project with his vast skill set, BS in Civil Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and broad spectrum of experience as a fourth-generation builder, journeyman carpenter, licensed general contractor, construction manager, and multi-family developer.

Truitt specializes in providing practical, buildable designs for all projects. He currently oversees land development projects in the San Luis Obispo office including challenging custom residences like cliffside homes in Shell Beach; luxury cabins tucked into mountainsides in June Lake and Mammoth Lakes; large multi-family housing developments such as Cypress Village in Buellton, Heritage Square in Santa Maria, and SLO Terrace in San Luis Obispo; large-scale mixed-use commercial projects throughout California; and wineries including Shale Oak Winery, Le Cuvier, and Adeleida Cellars.

Given his expertise in all stages of developing, designing, and building, Truitt provides a sought-after, knowledgeable perspective internally to our team of talented professionals at Ashley & Vance and also externally to our widely-varied clientele.

With background in both architecture and construction, Tyler knows some of the needs and desires of architectural design and how structural engineering can supplement and enhance those goals. Initially calling Bishop and the Eastern Sierras home, Tyler attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and majored in Architecture and Architectural Engineering. He first started working for Ashley & Vance while attending college and continues to help our clientele with his valuable and unique skill set. He returned to the mountains and to the Tahoe area after college and also spends part of his time in Fairbanks, Alaska.