our history
It started with a simple vision.
When opportunity knocks…
It was early 1981. Tom Wallace was working for the largest structural engineering firm in Tulsa when his brother-in-law approached him with an offer. His company was looking to construct a new office building and he wanted Tom to be the structural engineer for the project. It offered Tom the opportunity he’d been looking for: to start his own firm.
His business plan was simple: he wanted to be larger than his previous employer (six people at the time) and have a computer on every engineer’s desk (unheard of at that time). He wanted to create a company that was great to work for, consistently turned out high-quality documents and was on the cutting edge of technology.
Our Founder
Tom Wallace is a unique blend of art and science. A gifted engineer with a passion for art and architecture, Tom worked with art professors while studying architectural engineering at Oklahoma State. He’s built geodesic domes and designed large structures. He’s a die-hard modern architecture apostle who values gray and white pipe steel above all else.
Tom used to say, “The best thing you can say about a structural engineer is that you’ve never heard of him,” as many structural engineers were known because of problems. Yet over time, he, his partners and our amazing Wallace staff built a company that’s nationally-recognized.
Tom’s original vision fueled a company that we feel is truly great. Our core values of responsiveness, flexibility, quality and creativity are a direct line to the way he believed professional services should be performed. He wouldn’t have it any other way. And neither will we.
That’s it, the bio’s over. Back on your heads. #iykyk
1980s
Tom Wallace founded Wallace Engineering on June 1, 1981, as a sole proprietorship. On the first day of business, Tom purchased an Hewlett-Packard computer, which was not cheap. He was so proud of it that he drove it around in his VW Beetle that was, presumably, worth much less.
While waiting for his brother-in-law’s project to kick off, Tom started knocking on the doors of local architectural firms. His first completed project was a six-story building anchored by a local bank.
In 1985, Wallace started its still-continuing relationship with Walmart Stores, Inc. Producing as many as 300 stores a year at its peak, the program began with Walmart’s then-flagship store of 42,000 square feet and grew to include larger facilities such as Hypermarts, Supercenters and Sam’s Clubs.
Fueled by our developing niche in prototypical building programs, Wallace had grown to 45 employees and literally filled every nook of office space. In 1989, with 12” of snow on the ground…in April, we relocated to a new 10,000 square foot space in downtown Tulsa.
1990s
In 1991, Tom Wallace offered ownership to a group of employees for the first time and five new principals were named. Additional principals were added in the following years, bringing our ownership group to 12 by the end of the decade. And, in 1992, we began offering civil engineering as part of our services.
The middle years of the 1990s brought big changes to Wallace when our largest client began developing in-house engineering capabilities. This event spurred us to begin a concerted effort to increase and diversify our client base.
During the early ’90s, Wallace Engineering began collaborating on projects with GMH Corporation, a Kansas City firm owned by Mike Gray and Steve Huey. This relationship gave us the opportunity to open our Kansas City office in 1995. GMH’s experience – in multiplex cinemas, with clients such as AMC Theaters, and with high-end facades with the A. Zahner Company – buoyed the firm and helped Wallace stabilize. That year, we also opened Wallace/SC in Irvine, California, to further capitalize on our volume and multiplex cinema expertise.
Through these efforts, we were fortunate to grow our staff back to the level it was at the start of the decade.
2000s
The start of the decade saw Tom Wallace being inducted into the 2000 Class of the Oklahoma State University College of Architecture, Engineering and Technology Hall of Fame. Our client base continued to grow and diversify in both the prototypical and traditional project markets. By the end of 2001, Wallace employed a total of 139 professionals.
A number of changes in offices and locations took place in these years. The decision was made to close our California office in 2002 while we began renting field-office space in Oklahoma City. 2003 saw Tom Wallace purchase an abandoned warehouse north of downtown Tulsa and begin renovations that would create the home of our Tulsa office in 2006. We also started offering civil engineering services in Kansas City in 2003. Win Rice and Pryce Joyner moved to Colorado and, in 2005, moved into permanent office space, creating our Castle Rock, Colorado office. Our Oklahoma City office also officially opened in 2005, allowing us to expand our current client base there.
In 2006, Wallace celebrated our 25th anniversary in conjunction with the move to our new offices. By the end of the decade, four more principals were added to help guide our continued growth.
2010s
Like the rest of the country, Wallace continued to weather the 2008 economic crisis early in the decade, but we were committed to growth as we could make it happen. In 2010, we began offering civil engineering services in our Oklahoma City office. In 2016, civil services were also added to our relocated Denver office.
In 2014, Sarah Appleton moved to Atlanta and opened our office there. In 2015, we opened a short-lived office in Chicago, closing it in 2017. Now having five offices, we also continued to grow our staff and our leadership team. Thirteen new principals were added during the 2010s. These years also saw the retirement of Kansas City principal Mike Gray, our first retired owner.
The latter half of the decade brought changes in our leadership structure. In 2017, Tom Wallace decided to step down as President CEO of Wallace Engineering. Tom Hendrick, who had been serving as Wallace’s COO, was named as his replacement in these roles. A restructured board of directors was also formed, with Carrie Johnson elected Chair and Charles Wall elected Vice-Chair.
2020s
COVID-19 strikes our globe and most of our employees began working remotely in mid-March 2020. Still, we are looking for ways to continue to evolve. We began offering surveying services in our Oklahoma City office in 2020. In 2021, Howell & Vancuren, a Tulsa landscape architecture firm, joined Wallace Engineering, allowing us to enhance our landscape architecture services.
On June 1, 2021, we celebrated our 40th anniversary and rebranded as Wallace Design Collective, a reflection of our evolution as a professional services firm and of our view of our future. The year also saw Carrie Johnson inducted into the Oklahoma State University College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology Hall of Fame.
In April 2022, KSi Structural Engineers, a well-known firm with offices in Atlanta and Nashville, joined Wallace, growing our presence in the southeastern U.S. In 2023, Chouteau-based Bennett Surveying joined the firm, strengthening our surveying capabilities.
Tom Hendrick stepped down as President and CEO in 2024. Darren Burns was named as his successor, Thor Wiggins was named COO and David Thacker was named CFO. And in 2024, Wallace opened its eighth office in Rogers, Arkansas, taking us to the booming Northwest Arkansas area.