Meet Alta’s Leadership Team

As the dynamic CEO and Principal Engineer of Alta Science and Engineering, Derek drives Alta’s success with visionary leadership and a deep understanding of engineering and science. With 3 decades of experience, Derek brings unparalleled expertise, strategic insight, and a commitment to excellence. His primary responsibility is to ensure that Alta provides exceptional client service while meticulously fulfilling contract obligations and delivering exceptional value.

Derek holds Professional Engineer (PE) licenses across seven states – Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Montana. His working background has an extensive range of civil and environmental projects performed for ports, cities, counties, states, tribes, and federal governments. In a technical capacity, Derek uses his engineering expertise to provide project management, design, and cost estimating. Furthermore, he oversees Alta’s construction engineering support.

Jon seamlessly blends financial acumen with extensive operational consulting expertise. With 25 years of experience, Jon expertly manages Alta’s operations while simultaneously directing diverse environmental projects across Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. His leadership includes environmental site investigations, Brownfields, and remediation projects, engaging stakeholders and serving state, federal, and tribal clients.

Jon’s focus is using quality data to guide client decision making around challenging environmental issues. Bringing senior-level expertise in Brownfields programs, grant development, and hazardous waste site investigation, Jon actively reinforces Alta’s commitment to excellence in engineering, science, and environmental stewardship. He contributes to the industry by regularly presenting at conferences, serving on industry boards, and leading the discussion on current industry issues.

Dr. Robin Nimmer brings more than 20 years of expertise, specializing in hydrogeology; groundwater flow and transport analysis; groundwater–surface water interactions; groundwater, surface water, and soil sampling and monitoring; aquifer tests; aquifer characterizations; water supply; and environmental site characterizations. She is uniquely proficient with flow and transport within fractured rock environments. Her experience also includes assessment and remediation of a wide range of contaminants in soil, groundwater, surface water, and vapor. Notably, Robin’s work has been published in a range of professional journals, and she presents her work at local, state, and national conferences. Robin leads Alta’s Water Resources Division overseeing her staff and many projects.

Tarita, a Certified Ecologist with ESA certification, serves as the Ecosystems Division Lead at Atla, leading ecological and multi-disciplinary projects across the Western U.S.. With over two decades of work experience and advanced degrees, she has played important roles in several environmental and ecological projects.

One of Tarita’s biggest strengths is leading teams on topics such as ecological impacts from land use and development plans, wetland and stream restoration, habitat selection, GIS modeling, invasive species management, compliance, NEPA and ecological monitoring. Her expertise extends to strategic planning for the conservation of fish and wildlife species, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of ecological principles.

Leveraging her own diverse project experience, Tarita leads professionals with varying backgrounds, fostering collaboration to develop practical solutions firmly rooted in ecological principles. In her role, she manages a variety of projects ranging from short-term projects with 1 to 5 staff members to expansive multi-year projects exceeding $2 million annually. She effectively collaborates with private clients, local, state, and federal agencies, and tangentially involved stakeholders.

Sarah leads Alta’s Environmental Services team bringing more than two decades of experience in environmental assessment and remediation projects, human health risk assessment, and public health research. Sarah’s extensive experience is derived from successfully managing diverse projects, including site characterization, environmental sampling, human health and ecological risk assessment, data analysis, remediation planning, compliance monitoring, and post-remediation plans. Sarah is an expert on Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) sites in Idaho, Washington, and Montana, and she has conducted risk assessments in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

She collaborates with state, federal, and tribal environmental and health agencies and staff to facilitate public health and environmental assessments of hazardous waste sites throughout the Inland Northwest. Internationally, she contributed to a pesticide exposure study in Nicaragua, and participated in a lead poisoning emergency response action in Nigeria.

As Alta’s skilled Project Controller and Finance Division Lead, Jennifer plays a pivotal role in steering the financial well-being and regulatory compliance of our organization. With an unwavering commitment to excellence, she oversees critical corporate accounting and business management responsibilities, ensuring strict adherence to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Leading regulatory compliance, Jennifer meticulously tracks and enforces corporate policies to comply with state and federal contract regulations, including stringent adherence to all cost principles. Operating within the framework of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FARs) 40 CFR 31.41 and 40 CFR 31.22, she maintains high standards in accounting practices.

As Project Controller, Jennifer meticulously tracks IDEQ contract budgets, generates task orders, and submit monthly reports tailored to the specific requirements of contract officers. She recently spearheaded the transition to Deltek Costpoint enhancing our software capabilities for improved tracking and reporting for the firm. Her multifaceted role ensures the financial health and regulatory compliance of Alta.