Contact: Scott Zimmerman, CEO and President
szimmerman@whyterra.com
608-210- 3919
Madison, Wi. — – Terra Engineering and Construction Corporation, one of the region’s leading
specialty contractors, this week announced ownership and leadership changes to ensure the future of
the company.
President and CEO Scott Zimmerman said the company will transition from family-ownership to
employee-ownership to reward employees for their hard work building the 45-year- old company.
Terra, known for its underground foundation work, transferred 25 percent ownership of the company to
its non-union employees through a new retirement benefit called an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.
Unionized employees have a pension that will not change.
The 90-employee company with offices in Madison and Milwaukee has grown from a small operation
started by Gary Zimmerman, Sr., in 1972 to a thriving $40 million enterprise run by his sons Scott and
Gary Zimmerman.
“Together, we have built a team-oriented company that looks out for our clients and employees,” said
Scott Zimmerman. “This is the legacy Gary and I want to give to our community, our employees and our
industry.”
Terra specializes in earth retention systems, energy pipelines, utilities, landfill gas systems and
watercourse projects, among other contracting services.
The Zimmermans, who are planning for their eventual retirement, also announced a succession plan
that will include the promotion of two executives, Tony Arts and Donna Kopp. Both will have an
ownership stake in the company.
Tony Arts, a licensed professional engineer with a master’s in business administration from the
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, takes the new position of Executive Vice President. Zimmerman
said Arts will oversee engineering, estimating and will be responsible for the vison and direction of the
company.
Gary Zimmerman, a 38-year veteran of the company, moves from Vice President to Chief Operations
Officer, and Kopp begins her new role of Chief Financial Officer.
Two other long-time employees also move up. Chris Steinke takes the role of Operations Manager and
Mark Rippe moves from Safety Director to the new position of Director of Risk Management.
