CHICAGO — Bowman Consulting announced that key technical staff and professional leadership of the former McDonough Associates recently joined the firm to open its Chicago office. Bowman commenced its Chicago operations with a staff of 25. Eleven of them are former McDonough owners who will become Bowman partners including former McDonough president Feroz Nathani, who joins Bowman as executive vice president and a member of its board of directors.

As the firm’s fourth new national branch this year, the move expands Bowman’s presence throughout the Midwest, particularly in the transportation sector.

“We were presented with a unique opportunity to add a block of talent that has been together for well over 10 years,” said Gary Bowman, president of Bowman Consulting. “Over the past several months we have been exploring a variety of options to keep this talented group working together and to preserve as many jobs as possible. This approach enables their proud tradition of service and quality to continue as we move ahead together.”

Notable among the many projects the group has designed are: Chicago’s Millennium Park, reconstruction of the Kennedy and Stevenson Expressways, the Illinois Tollway open road tolling program, redevelopment of O’Hare and Midway airports, and the Wacker Drive viaduct reconstruction effort.

“Once we decided as a group to find a new professional home, our primary focus was to partner with a group that elevates integrity above all other considerations, while permitting us to retain those aspects of our culture that have earned us deep and lasting respect from our longtime clients,” said Nathani. “Our relationship with Bowman Consulting clearly meets those objectives.”

The move also adds structural and electrical engineering to the firm's collection of service offerings.

Along with the acquisition of Austin, Texas-based Loomis Partners — scheduled to close at the end of 2012 — this expands Bowman’s staff to 400 and becomes its twentieth office.