Meet Our Team

More About Chris

I believe that the most successful people have found the intersection of their passion and their talents, and that’s my vision for QRS – to use our talents in engineering and project management to make a positive difference in the world around us. Growing up in Idaho, I was fortunate to spend a lot of time exploring the many diverse areas within our region. It’s through this upbringing that I’ve developed a love of the outdoors and the environment. I’ve had the opportunity to travel to some amazing places for work, from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the Canadian Arctic; from the mountains of Idaho to the bayous of Texas. Each new location was an opportunity to meet fascinating people, see many different walks of life, and learn about new and interesting ways of doing business.

I have always been drawn to rivers and the natural environment, and as a Project Manager I enjoy bringing teams of people together to achieve big, challenging goals. From fish passage facilities to bridges to recreation facilities, QRS provides me the opportunity to work with great clients throughout the industry and I’m always on the search for the next challenge.

More About Nick

Nick was born and raised on a farm in Eastern Montana, and that background developed a strong work ethic and a passion for finding practical solutions to complex problems. Nick’s professional career spans 25 years. Over that time, he has gained valuable project management and engineering design experience on numerous water resources, fisheries, and civil engineering design projects in six Western States. Through this experience, Nick has learned the value of maintaining open and honest communications with project stakeholders, including owners, landowners, permitting agencies, and the general public.

Nick’s design resume includes irrigation infrastructure design, anadromous fish screen design, fish passage design, stream restoration and in-stream habitat improvement design, pump station design, gravity, and pressure irrigation pipeline design, stream simulation culvert design, storm drainage design, green stormwater infrastructure design, road design, 1D and 2D hydraulic modeling, dam breach and spillway hydraulic analysis, flood studies, USACE 404 permit applications, erosion, and sediment control, commercial and residential site design, project management, contract administration, construction inspection, and surveying.  Nick’s extensive project management experience includes coordinating and leading stakeholder outreach, analysis, design, and permitting tasks for projects ranging from small, short-duration efforts to large-scale, multi-disciplinary endeavors extending over several years with total project values in excess of $100 million.

Ricardo Zavala

Manager, PE

  • B.S. Civil Engineering, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 2007
  • Boise, Idaho
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More About Ricardo

Ricardo has over 16 years of field surveying and civil engineering experience including LiDAR data processing, flood plain mapping, commercial site design, site grading, road design, green storm water infrastructure design, site utilities design, culvert design, storm drain system design, project management, contract administration, construction inspection, erosion and sediment control, anadromous fish screen design, fish passage design, and stream restoration design.

William Zimmerman

Manager, PE

  • B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 2009
  • Boise, Idaho
  • Accomplished Under 40 (Idaho Business Review 2020)
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More About Will

William grew up in Pendleton, Oregon, a rural town famous for its Round Up, about three hours west of Boise. After graduating from high school, he joined the Oregon Army National Guard and served as an Aviation Powerplant Mechanical while obtaining a Mechanical Engineering degree from Oregon State University. Will has worked for both small and medium sized regional consulting firms in Boise specializing in the hydropower, fisheries, and water resources industry and has served as a Managing Principal, Project Manager, and Mechanical Engineer bringing almost 15 years of water resources and project management experience. William holds his Professional Engineer (PE) license in multiple states throughout the Northwest.

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