A Gulf Coast native, Rimmer Covington founded his original company, Covington & Associates, which ultimately transformed into its nexus: Covington Civil & Environmental, LLC. He is a senior operational plan manager for the company. Internally, Covington provides executive oversight and monitors compliance with contractual obligations, ethics, IT policies and procedures, and document management and controls.

Rimmer has 23 years of experience conducting environmental due diligence and coordinating engineering and environmental business activities at CCE. Rimmer served on the ASTM Main and subcommittees that developed ASTM Practice E1527-05, which has become known as ‘All Appropriate Inquiry’ and the most recent “Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries” 40 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 312 which drew heavily from ASTM E1527-05.

Land Acquisition and Right of Entry is sometimes a considerable component of our clients’ programs and projects. He is an expert in acquiring land rights that are necessary as the means to establish right of entry and control of land for various industrial and energy objectives. He possesses more than 34 years of experience in matters of title research and abstracts of title, all forms of land conveyances, servitudes and right-of-ways, negotiations for settlements, title curative documents, and compiling and merging data for GIS mapping. Rimmer is a Certified Professional Landman and served as president of the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL) in 2009 and 2010.

Camille Covington Smith is the Chief Executive Officer. She manages the day-to-day operation of the firm and provides direct oversight of the firm’s human resources and financial functions. Camille oversees program and project management with an emphasis in client relations and program coordination.

Todd Hairston is the Business Development Officer. He has 10 years of experience working with clients to achieve creative, sound solutions to environmental, real estate development, and program management projects. Todd holds a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental science from Delta State University. He and his wife Lacey, along with their two daughters, live in Gulfport and are active in community and economic development initiatives.

Dr. Robert “Robbie” Kröger, Ph.D. PWS, is the Chief Scientific Officer for Covington Civil & Environmental, LLC. He is currently one of the lead scientists for the Mississippi Coastal Restoration team in charge of science strategy for coastal restoration in lieu of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

Prior to Covington, Dr. Kröger spent nine months as the Science Coordinator for the RESTORE Council serving as the science liaison and standing up the science component of the Gulf-wide restoration strategy. Dr. Kröger also served as a professor at Mississippi State University for six years, where he established himself as one of the nation’s lead researchers and extension specialists in water quality management. He has engaged multiple state and federal agencies, and NGO organizations up and down the Mississippi River Basin, at multiple administrative levels. Dr. Kröger understands implications of permitting for water quality, the forces driving management implementation in industry settings, and the understanding of how the two systems integrate to the benefit of both. With extensive grant administration experience, Dr. Kröger is recognized for ensuring that program results and outcomes meet program missions, and integrating science with meaningful partnership engagement.

Ben Benvenutti is the Principal Engineer for Covington firm. He is a lifelong resident of South Mississippi. At Covington, he conducts modeling, data evaluation, field verifications, detailed design, permitting, detailed plans and specifications development, project management, construction management and management of subcontractors.

He has spent his professional engineering career permitting, designing, and managing projects along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Ben is licensed Professional Engineer in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida with civil and environmental engineering experience providing permitting, design, planning, bidding, and construction engineering for industrial, municipal, federal and private clients.

John F. Szabo, P.E., has more than 40 years of experience in both civil engineering and environmental consulting and is licensed as a Professional Engineer in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.

He has extensive experience in designing and managing civil engineering and real estate development projects. Mr. Szabo has performed numerous environmental site assessments, investigations, and remediation designs for industrial sites throughout the United States. He possesses expertise in RCRA/CERCLA regulations; risk assessments; site remediation planning, permitting and implementation; landfill permitting, design, construction and operation; regulatory negotiations; expert witness services; and feasibility studies.

Andrew Levens is a Senior Civil and Environmental Engineer at Covington. Andrew is a graduate of University of South Alabama. He is licensed in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas with over ten years of civil and structural engineering experience. His work experience in civil engineering includes water, sewer, roads and drainage design and construction. Involvement in designing and preparation of contract documents, master plans by analyzing existing systems, identifying deficiencies, prioritizing repair of deficiencies for water, sewer, drainage and road projects. Additionally, involvement in monitoring the construction of various projects, including construction of a pre-cast bridge, utility installation, lift station installation, water well installation and sewage treatment lagoon upgrades. His work experience in structural engineering includes design and construction using steel, concrete and timber materials. Responsible for preliminary design of pre-cast/pre-stressed members.

Sarah McLellan is a Junior Civil Engineer at Covington. Sarah is a graduate of Mississippi State’s Civil Engineering program. Sarah has experience in water, sewer, drainage, roadway, dredging, and marine design along with project management. Sarah has coordinated with state and federal agencies to obtain the proper permits and worked to receive grants for clients. In addition, Sarah is assigned with assisting the senior engineer in daily operations at Covington, including field verification and analysis.

Kenny have over 30 years of experience in the private sector and consulting fields of civil engineering. Throughout his career, he has served in roles of Project Management/RPR and CADD design of both civil and structural engineering projects as well as have provided services in client relations to ensure effective communications with all project stakeholders. His Project Management/RPR experience includes but is not limited to: oversight of contractor’s and subcontractor’s work including field testing; negotiate scope of work for potential change orders; maintain a history of quantities and work performed in preparation of payment applications; tracking and responding to Requests For Information (RFI); and, serving as liaison between client and contractor during daily performance of the work. His civil design experience includes all aspects of municipal CADD design (i.e., cost estimating, water supply design; sanitary sewer collection/transmission system; sewage pump station; road reconstruction; bridge inspection and other features associated with marina construction). In addition to design, Kenny also provided estimates of project cost for budget preparation and managed both project costs and schedule to ensure the projects were completed within the allotted time frame and at the lowest sustainable cost. Throughout his career, he has actively worked with municipal and private clients to plan and execute both capital and maintenance projects. He also has experience including construction/project management associated with FEMA and MEMA hurricane damage; and preparation of project work sheets for municipal reimbursement.

Bob currently serves as our Senior Construction Manager and assumes all Project Management duties within Covington Civil & Environmental, LLC. He recently joined the firm after nine years of serving as the Chief Operations Officer with P&L responsibilities for a full service general contractor located on the Gulf Coast performing estimated revenues of $300M – $500M annually. He directs corporate strategic planning and has more than 30 years’ experience in the commercial construction industry. Bob provides oversight on all initial budgeting, bid packages, procurement, constructability issues, safety concerns and quality control measures as they relate to construction start-up and close out. As well, he maintains a substantial base of contractors and sub-contractors and has performed projects through construction management, design-build, design-assist and bid/build procurement strategies. Bob and his wife Sharon, have been residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast for the past ten years.

Stephen Parker is a program manager with over 20 years of experience in project management for environmental planning, permitting and ecosystem restoration projects. He has been working directly with MDEQ on all aspects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill since its inception and has played an integral role on the assessment with technical working groups as well as the early restoration planning / project development of $185 million dollars in projects for MDEQ and its partnering federal trustees. Stephen was at the negotiating table with MDEQ and BP for all early Mississippi restoration projects.

Ms. Young is Senior Geologist and serves as environmental science project manager at Covington. She has held the position of project manager/senior geologist throughout her 27-year career, with key responsibilities of conducting Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments (ESAs), site characterizations, soil and groundwater assessment and remediation projects, Brownfields assessments, NEPA environmental assessments, and regulatory permitting.

Her experience includes site assessment, characterization and remediation at sites ranging from underground storage tank (UST) sites to RCRA facilities. She has extensive experience in managing NEPA compliance programs to satisfy federal funding requirements, including FEMA disaster recovery projects, HUD CDBG and entitlement funding projects, transportation projects for MDOT and FHWA, and projects related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Her Brownfields experience includes managing three-year U.S. EPA Brownfields assessment grants for two cities in Mississippi. Alane is a Registered Professional Geologist in Mississippi and Tennessee, and is also certified to close USTs in the state of Mississippi. She is also Lousiana Professional Geoscientist #448.  She is a graduate of Leadership Gulf Coast and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Business Council Masters Program.

Mr. Thomas Strange serves as Senior Scientist and Program Manager for Covington Civil & Environmental, LLC. Thomas has spent most of his professional career assessing and managing natural resources in the northern Gulf region. He provides science support, including restoration planning, data analysis and management, and science strategy for the Mississippi Restoration Team led by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) related to the 2010 DWH oil spill.

Mr. Strange currently leads technical tasks for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Mississippi Comprehensive Restoration Plan that encompasses watershed-level conservation and restoration planning, criteria and metric development, data collection, geospatial modeling, and stakeholder engagement. Additionally, Tom has worked closely with MDEQ and strategic partners to develop Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), RESTORE and NFWF restoration projects and provide data analysis for project planning, design, and NEPA compliance. He has been integrally involved in numerous programs to assess and monitor biological and physical coastal resources with NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) system and the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) including oyster resource and SAV inventories, ecological assessments, coastal habitat mapping, and sea level rise/coastal erosion monitoring.

Rachel Kistler is an Environmental Scientist with Covington Civil & Environmental, LLC. She has nearly 10 years of combined regulatory experience, field sampling, laboratory research, analytical testing, and environmental health and safety experience. At Covington, Rachel assists with RESTORE and NFWF restoration projects, regulatory permitting, ecological assessments and wetland delineations, Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, Brownfields project management, soil and groundwater assessment and remediation projects, geospatial analysis and design, and regulatory compliance investigations. Throughout her career, Rachel has interacted and coordinated with members of local, state, and federal regulatory entities, land use developers, economic developers, port and harbor officials, environmental consultants, business and community leaders, special interest groups, and the general public.

Shane Monroe is a program manager with over 7 years of governmental financial monitoring and compliance experience. He currently oversees all financial, project management, planning, and compliance related duties for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funded projects related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion. Previously Shane served in a project management position working with state and local governments to identify and resolve issues associated with governmental grant compliance specifically related to the Stafford Act. Shane served as the project manager of a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funded Community Development Block Grant housing project where he worked with local officials to write policies and procedures that ensured compliance with federal, state and local regulations. He worked with multiple teams, including construction and environmental professionals to ensure that all applications met environmental and financial standards set forth in the adopted policies and procedures. Due to the nature of this project he had to work closely with state and local officials to meet pre-determined benchmarks to ensure that over 600 homes were either repaired or reconstructed within the allowable time frame.

Mr. Monroe’s direct experience includes:

• Compliance specialist for Hancock County (Mississippi) Hurricane Katrina FEMA claims
• Team lead for Harris County (Texas) Hurricane Ike FEMA projects
• Project manager for Galveston County (Texas) Housing and Urban Development funded housing project
• Project manager for over 30 Texas municipalities (including Galveston County) Hurricane Ike and Rita FEMA projects

Mr. Monroe’s Professional Affiliations:

• Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

Felicity is a Program Manager at Covington. She is a Certified Public Accountant, holds a B.S.B.A. with an emphasis in Financial Information Systems from The University of Southern Mississippi, and a Graduate Certificate in Economic Development from The University of Southern Mississippi.

Felicity has extensive experience in financial administration and compliance oversight for state and federally-funded projects, including CDBG, FEMA, HMGP, CIAP, FAA AIP, MDOT State Aid, and RESTORE funding streams. Her prior experience includes serving as Chief Administrative Officer for a county economic development agency, and later as County Administrator. She is a graduate of Leadership Hancock County and is participating in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Business Council Masters Program.

Daniel Allen is a project manager with over 10 years of construction and project management experience. He currently provides financial, project management, procurement, and compliance oversight for RESTORE and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) funded projects related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Previously, Daniel served as a project manager for U.S. Navy construction projects in support of combat and humanitarian missions around the world. His responsibilities included planning, scheduling, material procurement, implementation, and execution of construction projects including the construction of schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, runways, and housing for military personnel. Daniel also served as a program manager for both local and national environmental nonprofit organizations. He worked closely with federal partners at the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Land Management to develop conservation, restoration, and workforce development programs nationwide.

Jessica Zatopek is the Accounting Manager and Project Manager for the Covington firm. Jessica oversees the firm’s daily accounting and financial operations. She provides financial analysis statements including monthly income statements, WIP, and actual to budget variance analysis. She is the liaison between the Covington firm and the company’s CPA. She assisted in the development and implementation of policies and procedures relating to financial management, budget, and accounting. Jessica has eight years’ experience and earned a BA (Accounting) from University of Southern Mississippi in 2011. She is currently working toward earning her CPA.

Kim Goodman is the Staff Accountant for Covington Civil & Environmental, LLC. She is responsible for maintaining financial records and procedures. She assists project managers and engineers through budget analysis and work-in-progress reports. In 2019, Kim earned her BSBA from the University of Southern Mississippi and began her accounting career working for a local nonprofit where she gained experience in fund-based accounting and purchasing through governmental agencies.

Julie Daughdrill is the Office Manager for Covington Civil & Environmental, LLC. She is responsible for planning, organizing, and controlling the clerical aspect of the CCE organization, including the preparation, communication, coordination and storage of data that supports production and other important operations of this professional establishment. Ms. Daughdrill provides input to management on the development of policies and procedures for human resources, risk management, records management, and forms management. She has worked in the engineering environment for 15 years and has a degree in Computer Science.