THE TRAILHEAD
When Roger Heeringa started his structural engineering career at DCI in 1989, the world looked a little different.

His Kirkland, Washington office—a simple setup in a new engineering startup—was surrounded by drawings, a desktop computer with a screen the size of an eReader, and an electric sense of purpose that buzzed through the new, young engineer.

“I’d had three offers,” Roger recounts from a video screen of his home office today, the image quality beyond what he was working with back then. “And that’s what made me decide: it felt like Mark and Guy actually wanted me here.”

Those men, of course, were Mark D’Amato and Guy Conversano, co-founders of DCI Engineers, then known officially as D’Amato Conversano Inc, Consulting Engineers.

“To them, I wasn’t just another potential new hire.”

That understanding—that his value was in who he was as much as what he could do—stayed with Roger through the years as he participated in the company’s offsite employee-family gatherings and he continued working with clients across the Puget Sound Region and around the country, deepening a sense of responsibility and camaraderie that could only be earned through trust – the type of trust that translated to a stay or two at a client’s home instead of a hotel for site visits and check-in conversations that revolved more around life than what was happening on the job.

THE WINDING PATH
That reflection on what he wanted out of life came to Roger early.

In December 1993, Roger quit drinking. And shortly thereafter, with that shift in mindset, so did his attitude at work.

“For a while, I was looking out for myself and asking, ‘What's my salary?’ What's in it for me?’ Until finally, I realized I needed to think less about myself and start thinking about the company and just trust that I would be successful if the company was successful.”

Shortly after that, Roger became Principal, and several years later, he started managing the firm.

And through the Great Recession of 2008, Roger helped DCI weather the uncertainty – with a little help from his friends.

Like the rest of DCI’s leadership, and the industry as a whole, he had tossed and turned about how to keep the company afloat. So, he called up Mark Woerman and Arlan Collins of CollinsWoerman and drove across the lake to their office, where they advanced a DCI payment for the work on Issaquah’s new Swedish Hospital.

“That kept us going,” Roger recalls.

From then on, it was one forged path after another.

MEASUREMENTS OF SUCCESS
Roger’s resume has included an impressively diverse set of projects across the country. From the 1.7M-sf, mixed-use mega development Hollywood & Vine and the equally large and complex design behind Frank Gehry’s Grand LA, located across town in Los Angeles, to the dual tower office/hotel, Avalara Hawk Tower, overlooking the Seahawk’s home stadium…

…Roger’s done quite a bit.

Not only in terms of a portfolio either, as he’s been active on building councils and committees in the industry: the State Building Code Council (as Structural Engineer representative, appointed by the governor), the Council on Vertical Urbanism (member since 2014, on the Americas Region Steering Committee and the CVU Seattle BOD), the SEAW, the ASCE, and Akin (formerly known as Childhaven), where he sat on the board for many years, following in the steps of Guy Conversano.

Trying to put into words what DCI has meant to my career and life is pretty much impossible to do.”
-Roger Heeringa, Retirement Announcement to Staff

As Principal in Charge of Sustainability, Roger has also been a major driver behind the firm’s SE 2050 Commitment (net zero embodied carbon structures by 2050), pointing to an important stat that changed how he saw the world.

“Several years ago, I learned that 40% of global CO₂ emissions come from buildings and a quarter of that is from the embodied carbon released into the atmosphere from the construction of those buildings. So that really is what got me interested and why I saw an opportunity for this industry to make a difference.”

CLARITY AND PERSPECTIVE
And while the path has led Roger to reach career summits, it’s the view up there that provides perspective. Like any retiree, hindsight—as they say—has given Roger 20/20 vision.

“My greatest regret is that I didn’t get to know more of you on a deeper personal level,” Roger wrote in his retirement message to DCI staff. “I recognize that I allowed my position as ‘boss’ over the last 20-ish years get in the way of sharing who I am personally and getting to know y’all on a deeper level.

I know that is my loss.”

Roger notes that loss also translated to a loss of perspective when it came to a work-life balance – a specific moment, he recalls with clarity, of when he was working through a problem on one of his projects several decades ago around Christmas time, and Kelly (Roger’s wife) had her family visiting.

“I couldn’t figure out the modeling; and then I just had this epiphany,” he recounts. “And so, I drove into the office from North Bend to Kirkland to work it out.”

While the model was the most complex challenge he had worked out—the outcome was overshadowed by how he got there.

“To come up with the solution was great. But to think I needed to go in and test it at that moment? That’s not good work-life balance.”

THE ART OF BALANCE & LETTING GO
It was Roger’s sons, Caleb and Evan, who led him to a closer work-life balance when they introduced him to backpacking in his mid-forties.

“They said, ‘Hey Dad, we’re going to go backpacking. Wanna join?’

You don’t pass up time to spend multiple days in the woods with your two boys,” he smiles, going on to describe all of the treks he’s taken since, many of which have been sections of the PCT in Washington, Oregon and California.

“I realized on a hike, that I really just like seeing what’s around the corner.”

Balance is, after all, what engineers do each day – at least for the seasoned ones, like Roger, who understand—over time—the delicate “give and take” between teams. Where cost, schedule, and function balance the scales between success and failure. A good project from a failed one.

Balance is also understanding what it means to let go.

While talking with a mentor of his about his upcoming retirement, Roger mentioned the difficulty of leaving a company where he’d spent his entire career. To which his mentor offered some perspective: that retirement is similar to when children grow up and leave the house.

“When your kids are born, you think okay, this is what their life is going to be. This is the person they’re going to become,” Roger recalls. “And in many ways, they do; but in a lot of ways, they don’t. Because they become their own person with individual thoughts and passions.”

And it’s with that perspective that Roger steps into retirement: an understanding that he did his best and that people—this company—will do just fine.

A few weeks after this blog post is published, Justin Wei, DCI Principal in San Diego, will be dropping Roger at a PCT trailhead where Roger will undertake a 100-mile section.

In this desert, the scenery will be quite different from his favorite section of trail.

Dry. Hot. Unfamiliar.

But like any good engineer, Roger welcomes the challenge.

Roger Heeringa retires May 1, 2026 but will serve as Principal Emeritus, where he will be available to his clients for any questions or special project needs.