Parsons Corporation (Parsons) is an American technology-focused defense, intelligence, security, and infrastructure engineering firm headquartered in

Centreville, Virginia Centreville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States and a suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 73,518 as of the 2020 census. Centreville is approximately west of Washington, D.C. History Colonia ...

. The company was founded in 1944. Parsons has more than 16,000 employees across 24 countries. Carey Smith serves as Chairwoman, President, and CEO of Parsons. The company has been named as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by

Ethisphere The Ethisphere Institute is a for-profit company that defines and measures corporate ethical standards, recognizes companies that excel, and promotes best practices in corporate ethics. The company is located in Scottsdale, Arizona. The comp ...

for 13 consecutive years.

History

Parsons was founded by Ralph M. Parsons in 1944. The company delivered electronics, instrumentation, ground checkout systems design, and engineering for aircraft, missiles and rockets during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. In 1974, Parsons opened the first part of its headquarters in Pasadena. In 2004, a $29.5 million contract was given to both Parsons and Gilbert Southern/Massman Construction to redo a portion of the

Escambia Bay Bridge The Escambia Bay Bridge is a six-lane freeway bridge that carries Interstate 10 (I-10) across Escambia Bay near Pensacola, Florida. History The original four-lane bridge opened in 1968. It consisted of twin spans of two lanes each with n ...

near

Pensacola, FL Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal c ...

after

Hurricane Ivan Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived, Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlant ...

made landfall and knocked off 58 spans of the original bridge and misaligned 66 other spans. Traffic destined for the bridge was rerouted onto

US 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. With the exception of a short-live ...

(exit 17 on

I-10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally p ...

) for 2 months while construction was taking place, which caused severe traffic jams. The westbound bridge opened to traffic on October 4, six days ahead of schedule, while the eastbound lanes opened to traffic on November 20, 66 days after Ivan made landfall and 27 days ahead of schedule. Both contractors received $1.5 million in bonuses for the early completion. In 2006, Parsons acquired the

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

-based design and construction company 3D/International. In late February 2019, Parsons announced the move of its headquarters from

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

. On May 8, 2019, Parsons executed an

Initial Public Offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

of approximately $500 million on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

under the symbol PSN. In December 2019, it was announced that Parsons and Leidos Holdings Inc. had earned spots on a $4 billion contract to support the cleanup of a former nuclear weapons site in southern Washington state.

Founder's legacy

In 1961, Parsons founded the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. The foundation became entirely independent from the company in 1974.

Signature projects

Notable Parsons projects include: *

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

and

Minuteman Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Mi ...

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons ...

bases, sites and silos (along with another California-based contractor—Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall) * Pershing

MRBM A medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) is a type of ballistic missile with medium range, this last classification depending on the standards of certain organizations. Within the U.S. Department of Defense, a medium-range missile is defined b ...

miss-distance indicatorsPackard Reminds Industry of Its Duty — Defense
// ''Missiles and Rockets'', September 5, 1960, v. 7, no. 10, p. 17. * Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1950) * Olivier-Charbonneau Bridge (A25) *

Mackinac Bridge The Mackinac Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac, connecting the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. Opened in 1957, the bridge (familiarly known as "Big Mac" and "Mighty Mac") is the worl ...

25 de Abril Bridge The 25 de Abril Bridge ( pt, Ponte 25 de Abril, 25th of April Bridge, ) is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, to the municipality of Almada on the left (south) bank of the Tagus river. It has a total len ...

* Work on

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East Rive ...

and

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressw ...

Acquisitions

* 3D/ International, 2006 * Sparta, Inc, 2011 * Delcan, 2014 * Secure Mission Solutions, 2014 * T.J. Cross Engineers, Inc. , 2015 * Williams Electric Company, 2017 * Polaris Alpha, 2018 * OG Systems, 2019 * QRC Technologies, 2019 * Braxton, 2020 * BlackHorse, 2021 * Echo Ridge, 2021 * Xator, 2022

References

External links

"Crucial Iraq police academy 'a disaster'"
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The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...

'', September 28, 2006 {{Authority control Companies based in Fairfax County, Virginia Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1944 Construction and civil engineering companies of the United States Defense companies of the United States Engineering companies of the United States 1944 establishments in California American companies established in 1944 2019 initial public offerings Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Strait of Messina Bridge