Army Corps of Engineers tribute to our founder

Even a brief look at the professionals on the Dawson & Associates team pages show

dozens of men and women who led the US Army Corps of Engineers at the highest levels. Our members commanded Corps districts, divisions and the entire Corps operations. Members on our team also headed Corps planning and regulatory offices.

Still, there are some tributes from the Corps of Engineers that stand out and one of these is the Corps’ new book, History and Perspectives from Former Leaders by Dr. Robert Wolff, PhD. Dr. Wolff’s book profiles 10 civilian and military leaders whose service helped transform and modernize the Corps and US Army Civil Works.

Our founder Bob Dawson is one of the profiled leaders. The book cites many aspects of Bob’s leadership, most notably how he reformed the Corps of Engineers selection and funding processes for federal water projects. This reform, which passed as part of the 1986 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), established cost sharing as a crucial part of federal water projects. This change was monumental because it proved that beneficiaries were willing and able to pay for their projects. Prior to Bob’s leadership, cost sharing in development of Corps projects did not exist.

The reform also had lasting impact because it pushed Congress and the White House to think about water projects on a national scale. We live in a competitive world and there are a lot of countries that want to emerge from the fight economically stronger than the United States. As Bob recognized, if America is going to succeed, we need better ports, better inland waterways, and better flood protection.

At the time, Bob was associate director of the Office of Management and Budget, where he oversaw budget and policy for about one-fourth of the federal budget, including the U.S. Departments of Energy and the Interior, as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency. Shortly after, Bob left that position to enter the private sector and in 1997, he founded Dawson & Associates.

For more about the Bob’s role in federal water project reforms, click here for an extended interview he did on the law’s 40th anniversary.

Col. (Ret) Edward Fleming

Exec. VP & Director of Business Development

A member of the Dawson team since 2022, Col. (Ret) Edward R. Fleming spent 25 years in the US Army Corps of Engineers and commanded of the Corps’ New Orleans and Charleston Districts.