Real Estate 2025: BOWMAN, GARY

Bowman Consulting Group, founded in 1995 as a five-person company, followed Bowman’s 15-year stint at Urban Engineering. The publicly traded engineering services firm has about 2,400 employees with 100 offices nationwide, nine of them in Virginia.

In 2024, Bowman, who remains CEO, was succeeded as president by Michael Bruen, the firm’s former chief operating officer. Bruen resigned in October 2024 and retired in January; the company hasn’t named a successor. Bowman was succeeded as board chairman in May by James Laurito, former chief technology officer of Fortis.

Bowman Consulting Group has been on a buying spree since going public in 2021, acquiring more than 30 companies. In February, it purchased UP Engineering in Texas.

Bowman Consulting Group climbed to No. 72 this year on Engineering News-Record’s Top 500 Design Firms list and debuted at No. 137 on the outlet’s Top 150 Global Design Firms list last year. Bowman also ranked No. 4 in May on Zweig Group’s Hot Firms List of the fastest-growing architecture, engineering, environmental, planning, construction and related professional services firms. The company reported $426.6 million in gross contract revenue for 2024, up 23.2% from the previous year.

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