Before Edgar Segovia, PE, joined Ardurra, he kept hearing the same thing from people on the inside: it’s a place people stay.

As a senior project manager with over a decade of water and wastewater experience in San Antonio, Texas, Edgar had built a career he was proud of. He had a team he loved, long-standing client relationships, and a firm where he’d grown into a leader. Leaving wasn’t on his radar, but when his twin baby boys arrived, and his schedule demanded more flexibility, he began paying closer attention to what a friend at Ardurra had been telling him for years.

“For the twins’ sake and for my sanity, I needed to find somewhere that was going to give me the flexibility I needed,” Edgar says. “What I heard from Ardurra was simple: do what you need to do, get your work done, and we’ll support you. And here I am.”

 Edgar and his wife, Elizabeth, with their twin boys, Leo and Nathan 

That early conversation captured something essential about what made Ardurra feel different. It wasn’t a formal policy or a line in an employee handbook. It was a simple, human response to a real situation. For Edgar, that made all the difference.

Trusted from Day One

What surprised Edgar in his first few weeks was the level of trust that came with the role.

“Really, the thing that surprised me the most has been the freedom and the trust,” he says. “Being here now, I’m a lot more comfortable day-to-day because I’m trusted to get the job done.”

Three weeks in, Edgar was jumping into a full roster of projects, including water and wastewater pipelines, transmission mains, and rehabilitation work across Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Laredo, and the Valley. The pace was quick, but so was the trust, giving Edgar the room to step in and contribute right away.

“It’s a challenge that I have to meet,” he says with a laugh. “It’s definitely a different environment. There’s such a wide span of projects, and people here are just like, ‘we’re going to get stuff done.’”

That entrepreneurial energy is exactly what Edgar thrives on. As a natural extrovert, he gains energy from client interactions, collaborative problem-solving, and building relationships. At Ardurra, he says the culture gives him room to lean into those strengths.

“My personality is more extroverted in that sense, so I think it gives me a lot to work with.”

A Culture People Stay For

Since joining, Edgar has heard a familiar sentiment echoed across the firm: people tend to stay here. For a company that has grown rapidly through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, that stood out to him.

With the firm recently breaking into the top 50 of Engineering News-Record’s Top 500 Design Firms in under a decade, the growth has been remarkable. But to Edgar, the people story is just as meaningful.

“The growth and the retention — I just keep hearing people say, people don’t leave Ardurra,” he says. “There’s a reason we’re going up the rankings. It’s because people like working here. And that matters because people have choices. When they choose to stay, it means the company is doing something right.”

That perspective is personal for Edgar. [BG1] Having been through an acquisition at a former firm, he knows firsthand how culture can either hold or fracture when companies grow fast."

“It’s not just the resources of a big company. It’s the culture, and it’s the people. When a company is acquired, people are asked to trust something new. The fact that Ardurra has been able to keep people around so effectively says a lot about the culture.”

The Work Means Something

Part of what keeps Edgar energized isn’t just the environment, it’s the work itself. He’s currently involved in some of the largest-scale infrastructure projects of his career, including an 84-inch water main and a 90-inch sanitary sewer in Houston, and a 30-inch water main in Corpus Christi, where access to potable water remains a critical issue.

“We’re helping the city provide potable water to drink. And that’s very impactful,” Edgar says.

For him, the work is personal. Growing up in rural South Texas on a small property far from city services, he didn’t always have reliable hot water. Today, he doesn’t take infrastructure for granted.

“People will turn on their taps and flush their toilets, and they don’t have to think about it,” he says. “That is a luxury that a lot of folks don’t have. There’s a kid out there who used to be me, and they’re benefiting from what I do. I try to keep that in mind.”

The Right Fit

When asked what he hopes people take away from his story, Edgar doesn’t hesitate.

“Tell me how I can help. Tell me where I can make your life a little bit easier. That’s always been my motto.”

It’s a simple mindset, but one that says a lot about who Edgar is and why he has found his place at Ardurra. For someone who values trust, meaningful work, and people who show up for each other, Ardurra has become the right fit.

And for Edgar, that has made Ardurra feel like exactly the place he was meant to be.