Media Contacts: Becca Boyer, Kaskaskia Engineering Group

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts: Becca Boyer, Kaskaskia Engineering Group

618-233-5877 (office)

618-910-2538 (cell)

Lisa Bryant, Neka Creative

651-493-2768 (office)

Keith Baker named VP of Illinois-based Kaskaskia Engineering Group, LLC

ST. PAUL, MINN. – March 29, 2016 – Keith Baker has been named vice president of Minnesota Operations for Belleville-Ill.-based Kaskaskia Engineering Group, LLC (KEG), a 100-percent woman-owned and managed, certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), civil engineering and construction contracting firm.

Baker has 30 years of business experience in private, public and non-profit sectors, as well as 18 years of experience with MnDOT. During his tenure with the transportation department, he championed small business growth and sustainability, and worked with DBEs, and small and minority-owned businesses across the state to bridge the gap and meet the government agency’s demand for certified DBE and minority-owned businesses.

Baker created a strategic partnership, leveraging the capacity of women and minority-owned engineering and architectural businesses certified as DBE/TGB firms, which better positioned them to compete and win contracts for work on the US Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings stadium).

“Keith is an influential leader in business and has a genuine compassion for the community and its development; he’s the perfect individual to drive KEG’s operations in the Twin Cities region,” says Geri Boyer, KEG’s president and founder.

Baker is delighted to be part of a firm that is aligned with his values and is committed to nurturing a relationship with the community. He says KEG is a significant asset to the region, benefitting its prospective non-DBE clients, as well as other small, minority-owned and DBE businesses.

“Demand is high for DBE and minority-owned firms in the region [to fill government contracts], yet few firms exist,” says Baker calculating fewer than 2000 certified DBE firms are in the region, and only 30 are in the highway heavy construction industry. “KEG has the expertise and the capabilities to fill this gap.”

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Baker says KEG is capable of filling the region’s gap by doing what it does best. KEG has a long history of building and nurturing long-lasting relationships, forging new partnerships, and fostering collaborations with communities, agencies and the industry to advance opportunities for DBE and minority-owned firms to help them compete.

According to Baker, there is an abundance of contract opportunities in the region for DBEs and minority-owned businesses. Over the next 10 years, $10 billion is slated for public infrastructure improvements and private development in the Twin Cities metropolitan area alone,and $6.8 billionis projected in the next 20 years for projects in Rochester, Minn.

KEG has expert capabilities that include full-service transportation engineering and construction contracting, which are unique for a DBE. No other certified DBE in the region in engineering or the construction industry offers such a broad range of hybrid services.

Furthermore, KEG has established collaborations with federal agencies, state and county agencies and private businesses throughout the nation. KEG’s vast range of services, plus its collaborations allow the firm to view projects with a holistic approach – taking into consideration during all phases of a project, stakeholder needs, environmental factors and ramifications and client expectations.

KEG has locations throughout the Midwest, including Evansville, Ind., Ste. Genevieve, Mo., as well as five offices in Illinois.

Baker is an executive board member and program chair with Everybody In, an organization whose goal is to eliminate racial employment disparities in St. Paul and Minneapolis and the seven-county region by 2020. Baker resides in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

To learn more about Kaskaskia Engineering Group, LLC, visit To conduct business with the company’s St. Paul office, contact Keith Baker at 651-500-8877, or via e-mail at .

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About Kaskaskia Engineering Group, LLC

Kaskaskia Engineering Group, LLC (KEG) is a privately-held, 100-percent woman-owned and managed, certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), civil engineering and construction contracting firm with headquarters and five locations in Illinois, as well as other Midwest offices in Evansville, Ind. and Ste. Genevieve, Mo.

The name Kaskaskia is derived from the Kaskaskia Indians who first inhabited Kaskaskia Island, which was home to the relatives of KEG’s president and founder.

KEG’s full service capabilities include infrastructure analysis and planning, structural engineering, transportation engineering, traffic engineering, CADD design, public involvement, geotechnical engineering, general contracting, GIS mapping, environmental science, construction observation/management, water resource management, right-of-way research and acquisition, and cost of estimating. The firm’s vast range of in-house, full-service capabilities affords us the ability to understand to more than just how to complete a project. It allows us to view projects with a holistic approach – considering all phases of projects, as well as environmental, client and stakeholder needs.