Oprah Winfrey. Steve Ballmer. Sheryl Sandberg. Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Joseph P. Derhake. What do these names have in common? They are all included in this year’s Los Angeles Business Journal’s LA 500 list of the 500 most influential people in the LA business landscape.
Joseph P. Derhake, CEO and founder of Partner Engineering and Science, Inc., is a civil engineer with over 25 years of experience in commercial real estate due diligence. He is also a successful entrepreneur and businessman, and a passionate advocate of active risk management for empowering clients with sound business and investment solutions. Mr. Derhake has steered Partner into an industry-leading firm with a mission-critical focus on providing a collaborative, creative, and entrepreneurial environment. Under his leadership, Partner has navigated several high-profile acquisitions, including Nevada Construction Services, Birdsall Services Group, and LandAmerica Assessment Corporation, all while continuing to provide top notch engineering, environmental and energy consulting and design services for commercial real estate transactions.
“I find that it is unique to see someone with an analytical engineering mindset also have a great aptitude for out of the box entrepreneurial thinking,” says Partner Principal and original co-founder Jenny Redlin. “Not only is Joe remarkable at both, he has been able to translate that into creating a company of engineers who understand the very diverse world of commercial real estate transactions and how to apply the analytical to the entrepreneurial.”
From a startup consisting of eight employees, Partner Engineering and Science, Inc. has grown into one of the fastest-growing small businesses in California, with over 700 employees in 40+ offices across North America and Europe. Certified as a 2018 Great Place to Work, Partner has recently been named to Zweig Group’s 2018 Hot Firms list, ENR’s Top 200 Environmental Firms and Top 500 Design Firms lists, and Inc. 5000’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America list. Partner has also been ranked a Los Angeles Business Journal Fastest Growing Private Company for seven straight years in a row.
Included in LABJ’s LA 500 list are influential executives spanning entertainment, media, technology, sports, design and architecture, among others. “The executives featured here were selected after months of extensive research, and represent the diverse array of industries and business categories that define Los Angeles,” says LABJ publisher and CEO Anna Magzanyan. “It was no easy task, but I am proud of the eclectic assortment of professionals we have assembled, and we’re confident it will inspire, intrigue and spark conversations.”
Other top design and architecture executives listed alongside Mr. Derhake included Skanska’s Mike Aparicio, AECOM’s Michael S. Burke, and famed architect Frank O. Gehry.
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