Stormwater Adds Brian Edmondson and Morgan White

Brian Edmondson and Morgan White have recently joined Freese and Nichols’ Stormwater Engineering practice. Each of them brings diverse flood mitigation project and agency experience to the team, adding unique perspectives and management resources to the firm’s flood planning project teams that are currently providing services for FEMA and several regions in Texas.

Brian joins Freese and Nichols as a Senior Project Manager after 14 years in various civil engineering roles, including most recently serving as the Program Manager for Harris County Flood Control District’s MAAPnext Program (Modeling, Assessment and Awareness Project), the largest flood hazard study in the district’s history. As part of that role, he led a large team of engineering firms to establish and implement new modeling and GIS standards focusing on highly advanced 1D/2D modeling and mapping products. He also helped manage large communications and public outreach efforts, including the development of a web platform and apps to get information to the public. While with the City of Houston, he managed and delivered multiple capital improvement projects from planning through construction, and he assisted with the enhancement of policies and standards for drainage impact fee development.

Brian brings deep experience in helping to deliver and provide programmatic oversight of some of the first regional flood plans developed across the state of Texas, serving multiple communities of varying size and capacity. Cory Stull, Stormwater Group Manager for the firm’s Western Gulf Coast Division, said, “Brian comes to us with an owner mentality and has a deep understanding of challenges that public entities like a FEMA Cooperating Technical Partner or Regional Floodplain Administrator may face in maintaining and updating regulatory flood mapping and flood risk products. He can help our clients leverage an enhanced understanding of local flood risk to navigate flood mitigation project identification, financing, and delivery in a more integrated way.”

Brian is a licensed Professional Engineer in Texas and a Certified Floodplain Manager. He received a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering and Bachelor of Science in Biological Systems Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Morgan joins Freese and Nichols’ Stormwater Practice as a Program Manager, a new role for the team stemming from the significant amount of flood planning work that the practice has taken on in recent years. Morgan adds substantial flood planning and project management expertise from her time spent working for a variety of state-level organizations with influence on the process, including the TCEQTexas Department of Agriculture and most recently at the Texas Water Development Board where she was part of the team that stood up the first-ever regional and state flood planning program for Texas. Additionally, early in her career, she worked for the Texas Legislature where she gained experience analyzing and monitoring legislation.

Morgan is a longtime practitioner in the industry, but like many floodplain administrators, she does not have a technical background in, for example, engineering or GIS. “Morgan’s unique understanding of flood planning enables our internal teams to better cater to what’s important or challenging for our clients,” says Krista Melnar, Stormwater Practice Leader. “Morgan will also be a great resource for our clients and internal teams by helping monitor the many factors that affect a project outside of technical issues, from legislation development and implementation, funding, project conception, procurement, management and delivery.”

Morgan is a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) and Certified Texas Contract Manager (CTCM), and currently seeking a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. She earned a Master of Arts in Public Administration from Texas State University and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies from Texas A&M University.