CEI nears HQ relocation as it marks 50th anniversary

by Paul Gatling ([email protected]) 737 views 

Bentonville-based CEI Engineering Associates marked a significant milestone in its history on Oct. 10 and did so at a new office complex it will soon call home.

CEI officials welcomed employees, clients and supporters to a 50th-anniversary event at the Rice Office Complex at 2600 N.E. 11th St. in Bentonville. It will be the company’s new national headquarters in a couple of months.

CEI recently signed a lease to occupy 36,851 square feet (two floors) in one of two ROC office buildings. They were built three years ago.

The relocation will more than double CEI’s office footprint. The company leases about 14,000 square feet in multiple buildings at the Regency Park Business Centre at 3108-3200 S.W. Regency Parkway in Bentonville.

President and CEO Jeff Geurian said the relocation should occur near the year’s end.

Jeff Geurian

“We enjoyed celebrating our 50th anniversary alongside the clients and partners who helped get us to this landmark achievement,” said Geurian, a CEI employee since 1990 and its chief executive since 1996. “And to be able to host everyone in our future home made it that much more memorable.”

James Shields and Tom Pace formed Shields & Pace in 1973. Bob Holmes and Mike Shupe bought the firm and renamed it CEI Engineering Associates in 1984 to reflect its focus on civil engineering and environmental and industrial engineering.

The company has 170 employees and offices in eight states.

“We have [employees] in 18 states representing CEI,” Geurian said. “That is the biggest change of the past 50 years: the advent of remote work and utilizing talent throughout the United States.”

CEI has been a Walmart civil engineering consultant (CEC) since the early 1980s and is providing services to the company’s new headquarters project in Bentonville. CEI also provided services during the construction of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Northwest Arkansas National Airport and the Razorback Regional Greenway.