Our Team
— Waggoner —
Joe Waggoner, PE, PLS
CEO and Chairman
Emad Al-Turk, PE
President
Tracy Huffman, PE, PLS, PTP
VP of Operations, North
Hunter Arnold, PE
VP of Operations, Central
Anthony Brister
VP of Operations, South
Bill McDonald
Chief Technical Officer
Veronica Porter
Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer
Misty Biard
Chief Financial Officer
Joe Waggoner
Joe Waggoner founded the full-service firm in 1976 with a singular purpose of helping municipalities, cities, states
Early in his career, Joe thought he might take over the family farm since he loves the country and farming. He transformed that passion to work the land into the founding of Waggoner Engineering, where he cultivated leading-edge urban solutions, planning and economic development that has budded into a major engineering firm with multiple offices across the Southeast, more than 100 employees and dozens of business partnerships.
With visionary leadership, the firm has blossomed over the past three decades into a full-service engineering, mapping, economic development
Those early seeds of farm life have yielded a thriving firm that provides life-enhancing services to millions across the state, region
Emad Al-Turk
For over 30 years, Emad served as a principal-in-charge, project manager, and senior project manager of the planning, design and construction review and management of numerous infrastructure projects for a total value of over $2 billion, both domestically and internationally. Emad has an entrepreneurial spirit and has served in executive and senior-level positions for the last twenty years. He has also served on a number of boards of directors of business and non-profit organizations. Emad enjoys the development of strategic direction of firms that allow businesses to grow and diversify.
Emad is also passionate about advocating for world peace and security through education, cultural exchange, and trade. That is one of the reasons he co-founded the International Museum of Muslim Cultures in Jackson, Mississippi which is the first Islamic History and Culture Museum in the US with the goal of educating the American public about Islamic history and culture. Our hope is that our efforts will contribute to reducing tension, bigotry, wars, and conflicts and will lead to a more balanced and fair relationship between America and the Muslim world that is based on mutual respect, tolerance and understanding.
Tracy Huffman
Diligence, creativity, and a passion for finding solutions all describe Tracy Huffman’s work as Vice President of Operations. In his work with regional infrastructure development, Tracy doesn’t shy away from challenges when there’s no apparent solution he rolls up his sleeves and works with clients to create one.
In an era of limited funding for critical infrastructure, Tracy’s clients agree that he explores virtually every option of funding sources from grants to loans, finding creative ways to develop alternative engineering plans when funds are difficult to obtain. Tracy uses his experience to design site developments, water
When he’s not finding solutions for clients, Tracy enjoys golf and spending time with his family.
Hunter Arnold
Hunter Arnold serves as Vice President of Operations for our Central Region. Hunter is passionate about reaching goals, teamwork
Hunter embraces ideas that transform communities, add jobs and build upon and move beyond the agricultural heritage of the Southeast – strategies that build partnerships and collaboration that deliver answers to problems and overcome obstacles – a “New South” that beckons to new and future generations. He relies on deep values to guide the direction of the firm, including God, respect for others and a commitment to stewardship of resources.
Through his work with Waggoner, Hunter has built lasting friendships and networks that have established the firm as a trusted advisor on multiple levels. Hunter is
Anthony Brister
A passion for service, integrity and sound management—all inspire Anthony’s work as director of Waggoner’s South Louisiana office in New Orleans. South Louisiana remains vulnerable to coastal
Bill McDonald
Bill began his career in engineering in 1984 and joined Waggoner in 1991. He has been responsible for the engineering and management of projects, from conception to implementation, in varied disciplines of civil engineering, including transportation corridor planning and design; utility planning, analysis and design; environmental reviews and assessments; economic development site assessment; flood control and flood hazard mapping; and many other areas of public and private sector engineering and planning projects.
As Chief Technical Officer, Bill is responsible for overseeing the company’s technical excellence and innovation, delivery improvement, and growth strategy for the professional and technical staff in each of the discipline areas.
Veronica Porter
Veronica Porter is Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer at Waggoner Engineering, where she has oversight of strategic market planning, marketing, brand
Veronica has 15+ years of experience leading product and marketing innovation and business transformation in the engineering and construction industry. Prior to joining Waggoner Engineering, she worked in strategic business development and marketing at several fortune 500 companies, with a strong track record of establishing lasting partnerships, growing organizational visibility and increasing market share.
She is a member of Leadership Madison County class of 2019 and
Veronica holds a Bachelor of Science, Art Education from Mississippi College, Masters in Public Relations from
Misty Biard
Misty has worked as an accountant for Engineering and Disaster Recovery firms for 15 years, joining Waggoner in 2011. As Waggoner’s Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, Misty provides management and operational support to Waggoner. She also assists the management team on all strategic and tactical matters related to budget management, cost benefit analysis, forecasting needs and the securing of any financing. She received her B.A in Accounting from Mississippi College and M.B.A in Accounting from Millsap’s College.
We do more than plan and design infrastructure – we transform communities.