Celebrating Founders Day 2025 at Horrocks

Horrocks
2 days ago
5 min read

May 31 is an important date for Horrocks, as it is both the birthday of our company’s founder, Gil Horrocks, and the celebration of Founders Day at our firm. This occasion has traditionally celebrated the outstanding accomplishments of Gil while also thanking our employees for their contributions and service to our firm. This year, we are building on this annual celebration to also honor our past President, Jim Horrocks, who passed away in 2024, as well as recognize the exceptional people across Horrocks through our first-ever Founders Day Awards.

Our Founders Day Awards were made to honor two of our company’s founding leaders and reflect the vision and excellence that our employees bring to their projects and teams every day.

Gilbert (Gil) Horrocks was known for his kindness and strong work ethic. He was immensely proud of the company he built and the employees who make our company great. He truly represents the heart and soul of our firm, and his kindness and genuine desire to help others has left a lasting mark on Horrocks and our mission as a company. Individuals awarded the Gil Horrocks Merit Award were selected for exemplifying our core values: Integrity, Quality, Unity, Empowerment, and Service (IQUES).

James (Jim) Horrocks was a part of Horrocks from the very beginning. He began working part-time for his father at 18 years old and then came back to work for the company while finishing his senior year, leading surveys for the firm. He went on to serve as Horrocks' President from 1995 to 2019, building the firm up from around 70 employees to nearly 500. Jim cared for our employees, and approached leadership at Horrocks from a family perspective, while also bringing a shrewd business mind and innovative spirit that would guide our company through huge growth. An incredibly smart and admired leader, Jim represents the excellence, dedication, and expertise of our people who have built on our firm’s foundation and contributed to its success over the years. The individuals recognized with the Jim Horrocks Legacy Award have made significant contributions to Horrocks through outstanding work over the years.

This year, six employees were selected, with three recipients for the Gil Horrocks Merit Award and three for the Jim Horrocks Legacy Award. We are honored to highlight them and their contributions to Horrocks’ culture and business.

2025 Gil Horrocks Merit Award Recipients

Ben Sprague

Ben Sprague is the Nevada Civil Department Manager, located in our Las Vegas, Nevada, office. He is a multidisciplinary project manager with 40 years of experience in planning and designing transportation facilities.

“Ben has helped build the Las Vegas Roadway group over the last 5 years through mentoring young E.I.Ts and experienced engineers into a roadway team that is a shining example of a Horrocks work family. He has done this by showing great patience and kindness to his employees in relation to both their work and personal lives. Ben carries a huge load in terms of managing projects in the Las Vegas office and has a very good reputation among all of our clients, public entities, and other design firms in the valley, as someone that is not only competent but enjoyable to work with.” — Pulled from nomination submissions

Davey Jensen

Davey Jensen is the Idaho Construction Management State Lead. Davey leads as a project manager for Construction Engineering and Inspections (CE&I) on transportation projects in our Boise, Idaho, office.

“Davey consistently stands out as an exceptional leader and team member, embodying Horrocks' core values in every aspect of his work. His unwavering integrity ensures that every decision he makes is built on honesty and accountability. He demonstrates a commitment to quality by delivering outstanding results on complex construction projects across Idaho. Through unity, he fosters strong collaboration among teams and stakeholders, ensuring seamless communication and project success. His dedication to empowerment is evident in the way he mentors and uplifts others, helping them grow professionally. Finally, his heart for service shines through in his constant efforts to meet client needs and strengthen Horrocks’ reputation for excellence.” — Pulled from nomination submissions

Jim French

Jim French is a Senior Lab Technician located in our Twin Falls, Idaho, materials lab. He has been a part of the Horrocks team for over 6 years, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge in materials testing and sampling.

“Jim is a constant source of joy in our office/lab. He has a great sense of humor that keeps morale up and is never one to complain. Jim also is a key element to keeping our lab efficient and dependable by maintaining the equipment we use both in the lab and out in the field so we can provide reliable and dependable results to our client and project staff. Jim solves problems and helps lead our lab team to success by teaching and sharing his full careers worth of knowledge to help our staff, old and new, have the up-to-date information needed so we can be confident in our results and our work that is given to the client.” — Pulled from nomination submissions

2025 Jim Horrocks Legacy Award Recipients

Derek Stonebraker

Derek Stonebraker is the Utah Transportation Operations Director for Horrocks with 18 years of experience in the design, programming, and construction of transportation projects. He has a strong track record of successfully managing diverse teams and has expertise in program management, preliminary design, and construction management.

“Derek has become one of the main thought leaders for how to manage a state in transportation. His committee system that he has set up has tackled a lot of critical issues like overbudget project and resource allocation. He is in many ways setting the standard for how finance and operations work together. Derek was one of the first leaders to explore how to roll out scope and fee reviews in a way that adds value to the business line. His model for setting up a finance committee is being implemented in other states.” — Pulled from nomination submissions

Heather Allred

Heather Allred manages the CADD department at Horrocks as the CADD Practice Lead with an impressive 30+ years of transportation and municipal drafting experience.

“Heather’s leadership is marked by quiet strength, technical mastery, and an unmatched ability to mentor and uplift those around her. She has cultivated a culture of precision, efficiency, and teamwork—empowering drafters and designers to excel, innovate, and take pride in their work. The systems and standards she’s implemented continue to ripple across disciplines, improving quality and consistency company-wide.” — Pulled from nomination submissions

Mark Chandler

Mark Chandler is the Water Practice Lead in our Community Infrastructure Business Line located in our Taylorsville, Utah, office.

“Mark has consistently grown the water practice at CRS before and at Horrocks now. He is intensely focused on gathering work opportunities for his team and is certainly an expert in the field. Mark is the type of person that presents himself with authority. He is a type of gem that we only get to find once in a lifetime.” — Pulled from nomination submissions