Our Team
Our team’s highly trained, technically competent, personnel have continuously provided the highest level of service to municipalities and counties along the Mississippi Gulf Coast delivering cost effective, timely, and satisfactory service to meet client needs.
Camille Covington Smith
Chief Executive Officer
Todd Hairston
Business Development Officer
Todd Lafferty
Chief Operating Officer
Ben Benvenutti, PE
Principal Engineer
John Szabo, PE
Senior Consulting Engineer
Andrew Levens, PE
Senior Engineer/Engineering Manager
Bob Escher, PE
Project Manager/Senior Engineer
Sarah McLellan, PE
Project Engineer
Daniel Overstreet, EI, PS
Project Engineer/Surveying Advisor
Nathan Long, EIT
Staff Engineer
Bob Gist
Senior Construction Manager
Alane Young, RPG
Senior Geologist
Robin Kreutzer
Project Manager
Thomas Strange, PWS
Senior Scientist/Program Manager
Don Fayard
Surveyor
Suellen Radich
Staff Accountant
Jade Martin
Scientist
Rachel Kistler
Scientist
Shane Monroe, CFE
Program Manager
Amanda McPhail Sandage
Project Manager
Tommy Parker
Senior Design Technician
Brent Ladner
Senior Design Technician
Daniel Allen
Project Manager
Jessica Zatopek
Accounting Manager/Project Manager
Julie Daughdrill
Office Manager/Project Assistant
G. Rimmer Covington, Sr.
Founder and Principal
A Gulf Coast native, Rimmer 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, Rimmer 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
Chief Executive Officer
Camille manages the firm’s day-to-day operation and provides oversight of human resources and financial functions. She directs program and project management with an emphasis on client relations and program coordination.
Camille has been involved in planning and implementation activities related to NRDA, NFWF GEBF, and RESTORE since 2012, including developing and awarding more than $790M in projects and programs. She has worked closely with representatives of state and federal agencies, developing processes for grant and financial activity tracking, reporting, and management to effectively monitor multimillion dollar projects across multiple landscapes.
Todd Hairston
Business Development Officer
Todd 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.
Todd Lafferty
Chief Operating Officer
Todd brings over 28 years of experience in business continuity, operational efficiency, and risk management. With deep expertise in designing, implementing, and managing corporate contingency planning, Todd sets the highest ethical standard for weathering industry instabilities and business interruptions while providing stable, efficient operations and services.
Prior to joining Covington, Todd held the role of Vice President at Hancock Whitney, where he provided strategic development and managerial oversight of the Bank’s crisis management, operational continuity, and disaster recovery functions. As Manager of Business Continuity, Todd’s leadership initiatives included managing the Bank’s strategic plan to provide continuity of operations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his 15 years at the Bank, Todd led management audits to assess the efficacy of internal controls and promote risk-mitigation operations. He developed productive partnerships with clients by building an understanding of their goals and deliverables, key business processes, and areas of potential risk. He provided skillful team management, training, and mentorship to promote staff retention and growth. At Covington, Todd’s leadership creates and sustains the conditions that ensure our operational stability, continuity, and efficacy.
Ben Benvenutti, PE
Principal Engineer
Ben brings more than 15 years of experience planning, permitting, designing, and managing critical infrastructure projects along the Gulf Coast for industrial, municipal, federal, and private clients. Ben provides technical guidance and oversight on all of Covington’s engineering projects.
Ben is a licensed Professional Engineer in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida.
John Szabo, PE
Senior Consulting Engineer
John 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.
John has extensive experience in designing and managing civil engineering and real estate development projects. He 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, PE
Senior Engineer/Engineering Manager
Andrew is a senior civil and environmental engineer licensed in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas. He brings over 10 years of civil and structural engineering experience, including water, sewer, roads, and drainage design and construction. Andrew has been involved in designing and preparing contract documents, master plans by analyzing existing systems, identifying deficiencies, and prioritizing repair of deficiencies for water, sewer, drainage, and road projects. Additionally, Andrew has experience 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.
Bob Escher, PE
Project Manager/Senior Engineer
Bob has over 35 years of experience as a civil engineer and project manager specializing in utility infrastructure projects along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. His expertise includes design, modeling, and project management of water supply and distribution systems, sanitary sewer collection and transmission systems, sewage lift stations, and road reconstructions.
A former City Engineer, Bob brings expertise in designing, permitting, and managing municipal utility projects, including damage assessment and repair, system improvement and replacement, and new construction. His experience includes managing extensive disaster recovery initiatives in the wake of Hurricane Katrina on projects ranging from water, sewer, and storm drainage infrastructure replacement to small craft harbor repair. A Registered Professional Engineer in Mississippi and Louisiana, Bob has supported the successful completion of complex infrastructure projects at city and county levels throughout his career.
Sarah McLellan, PE
Project Engineer
Sarah is a junior civil engineer with 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.
Daniel Overstreet, EI, PS
Project Engineer/Surveying Advisor
As a project engineer and surveying advisor, Daniel brings over 18 years of experience to Covington. Throughout his career, Daniel has developed substantial expertise in industrial site development, boundary surveying, topographical surveying, construction staking, and civil 3D drafting.
Daniel’s background includes experience in design and permitting, site plan development, utility coordination, construction administration, and National Bridge Inventory inspection on projects such as municipal water and sewer systems, precast bridge design, and roadway and drainage improvement. He is a Registered Engineering Intern in Mississippi and a Licensed Professional Surveyor in Mississippi and Alabama.
Nathan Long, EIT
Staff Engineer
Nathan is a staff engineer with supporting experience in preparing contract documents, permitting, civil design, and construction administration. His recent project experience includes sewer lift station design, transportation, and construction project management. A Certified Engineer in Training, Nathan supports Covington’s senior engineers with various projects.
Bob Gist
Senior Construction Manager
Bob currently serves as our senior construction manager and assumes all project management duties within Covington. In addition to his corporate leadership and technical experience in leading strategic planning and development activities, Bob is also responsible for the overall direction, coordination and implementation of initial budgeting, schedules, bid packages, procurement, constructability issues, safety concerns, and quality control measures as they relate to construction activities from start-up through close-out and commissioning.
He has over 40 years of experience in the construction industry and was formally the executive vice president/chief operating officer of a highly successful Gulf Coast general contracting firm that managed revenues totaling $350-$500 million annually. Bob has a wealth of knowledge of the construction requirements at the local, state, and federal contracting levels and maintains many relationships within the general contractor and subcontractor communities on the Coast.
Alane Young, RPG
Senior Geologist
Alane is a 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 Louisiana Professional Geoscientist #448. She is a graduate of Leadership Gulf Coast and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Business Council Masters Program.
Robin Kreutzer
Project Manager
With a proven track record of successful project management and program development, Robin brings more than 15 years of experience to the Covington team. Her career as a project professional has covered a range of industries, from healthcare to logistics and supply chain to construction, and she has consistently showcased her skills in decision-making, problem-solving, team building, analytics, and strong leadership. She also holds an MBA from LSU Shreveport and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Clemson University.
In her role as project manager with Covington, Robin is implementing her years of experience leading complex projects from conception to completion, developing program curriculums, and implementing advanced educational strategies for Covington’s next phase of growth serving communities along the Gulf Coast.
Thomas Strange, PWS
Senior Scientist/Program Manager
Thomas has over 15 years of experience with planning, permitting, and implementing public projects. He has worked collaboratively with multiple local, state, and federal agencies to assist in permitting of engineering and construction projects across the Mississippi Gulf Coast including stormwater and sewer projects, road projects, and beach enhancement projects.
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.
Don Fayard
Surveyor
Don is a highly experienced professional with nearly four decades of experience in general land surveying across Southern Mississippi. Don’s career covers a wide range of surveying services, including boundary, topographic, hydrographic, differential leveling, construction, public roads, bridges, rights-of-way, drainage improvement, subdivision design, and GPS surveying.
Don has contributed to several major projects in Hancock and Jackson Counties, Mississippi, including the Port Bienville Industrial Complex, the Stenis Space Center, multiple sewer and water facility projects, and the Silver Slipper Casino.
Suellen Radich
Staff Accountant
Suellen joins the Covington team with more than 30 years of experience providing accounting and office management services. A graduate of Mississippi State University, Suellen has worked as an accountant and office manager in a wide range of industries, including utilities, service, and manufacturing.
In her most recent role as an accountant with Design Precast and Pipe, Inc., Suellen provided her deep expertise in accounts payable, insurance, payroll and tax services in both Mississippi and Louisiana, financial statement processing, and bank and credit card reconciliations. Suellen also served as an office manager for nearly two decades with Radich Heating, A.C., and Refrigeration, Inc., where she handled, among other responsibilities, payroll taxes, customer job proposals, bank statement reconciliations, and technician scheduling.
Jade Martin
Scientist
A recent graduate of the University of South Alabama, Jade comes to Covington as a highly skilled young environmental scientist with vast knowledge and experience working along the Gulf Coast. Her previous work includes serving as a patrol team leader with the Mobile Baykeeper AmeriCorps Patrol program and as a research assistant for a project on urban and natural microclimates as an undergraduate. She later presented that research at an AGU conference in Chicago and helped expand the project to San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos.
With Covington, Jade conducts Phase I and II environmental site assessments, conducts field work for site visits, gathers soil and groundwater sampling, conducts wetland delineations, and fulfills wetland permit requirements.
Rachel Kistler
Scientist
Rachel 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, CFE
Program Manager
Shane is a program manager with more than 15 years of experience in governmental financial monitoring and compliance. He is experienced in environmental planning, investigation and compliance, restoration project development and implementation, and restoration project management. He manages a wide variety of restoration-related projects ranging from those that address the eradication of invasive species to coastal marsh restoration.
Shane currently oversees all financial, project management, planning, and compliance-related duties for the RESTORE Act and NFWF-funded projects related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Amanda McPhail Sandage
Project Manager
Amanda is a project manager with over 20 years of expertise in organizational development and administration. With a strong knowledge of best practices for building effective teams and creating stakeholder partnerships, Amanda is highly skilled at driving successful project delivery.
As a former executive director and administrator of non-profit human services programs, Amanda’s experience includes managing operations, setting strategic directives; leading growth initiatives; and overseeing legislative advocacy and regulatory compliance at federal, state, and local levels. At Covington, she brings her leadership expertise to each aspect of the project management process, from initial vision-setting to final milestones.
Tommy Parker
Senior Design Technician
Tommy has over 24 years of experience in engineering design, architectural design, surveying design, and environment permit drawing preparation. As a senior design technician, Tommy brings extensive expertise in preparing drawings, CAD design, and detailing for public works and infrastructure projects across Mississippi.
Tommy’s experience encompasses federal, state, and local government projects ranging from space stations to fire stations. He has provided design layouts and detailing for replacement, expansion, and new construction projects including gas, water, and sewer utilities, pier design, beach restoration, and boat launches; roadways and pathways; and municipal waterfront development.
Brent Ladner
Senior Design Technician
As Covington’s senior design technician, Brent brings 16 years of experience in civil design and drawing preparation for water, sewer, road, and drainage projects across commercial and public sectors. His expertise in design layout and detailing includes identifying incidental or necessary boundary encroachments and coordinating encroachment resolution, as well as determining site grading and drainage, utility systems modifications and extensions, and cut and fill quantities. Brent’s project experience spans public works and infrastructure projects throughout Mississippi.
Daniel Allen
Project Manager
Daniel 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
Accounting Manager/Project Manager
Jessica has eight years of experience and is the accounting manager, overseeing the firm’s daily accounting and financial operations. Jessica also serves as project manager for Deepwater Horizon restoration projects. She oversees sub-recipient project implementation, including the coordination, implementation, execution, control, and completion of project activities to ensure projects are completed within the authorized scope, schedule, and budget.
Julie Daughdrill
Office Manager/Project Assistant
As the officer manager, Julie is responsible for planning, organizing, and controlling the clerical aspect of the organization, including the preparation, communication, coordination and storage of data that supports production and other important operations of this professional establishment. Julie 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.