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Sightings | Alumni Profile

Jim Spangler MEM '89

Jim Spangler
Jim Spangler

Nicholas School Alumni Council president Jim Spangler has put his education, field and consulting experience to work building one of Raleigh’s most promising environmental consulting and construction companies.

As president of Spangler Environmental Inc., he has taken a department – which would typically be found tucked away in an office of an architecture or engineering firm – and created a freestanding environmental consulting service for clients seeking expertise in land planning, permitting, regulatory agency coordination and environmental restoration. Spangler Environmental has offices in both Raleigh and Wilmington, N.C., and Jim plans to open a third office near Atlanta. With almost 30 employees working on projects from Washington, D.C. to South Carolina and profits at about 18 percent, the two-year-old company, founded in 1999 with Scott Linnenburger MEM ‘98, has come a long way from its humble beginning.

Jim is particularly proud of a recent project in Wilmington. "We repaired about 60,000 linear feet of illegal ditching in wetlands, and also did the replanting and hydrologic restoration of over 400 acres of wetlands for the EPA."

With the rising success of his company, you would expect Jim to be consumed with his fledgling business; however, this is not his only leadership role. As president of the Nicholas School Alumni Council, he serves as the primary conduit for providing input to staff, faculty and the Board of Visitors, on behalf of the thousands of alumni he represents. He also acts as a mentor offering career advice for Nicholas School students and young alumni.

"After graduating from DePauw University in Indiana, I was accepted at Duke, the University of Michigan, and Auburn for their Wildlife Management and Fisheries program; however, I chose Duke because I knew it would offer a challenging and multidisciplinary approach to water resource management." Today, Jim attributes much of his business success to his Duke experiences, both educational and social. It is for this reason that he joined the Alumni Council. "The School of Forestry and Environmental Studies left such a positive impression on me that I felt a sense of obligation to do what I could to help other students get the same return on their investment. I have seen first-hand how the council’s input has been used to specific ends such as awarding annual alumni-funded scholarships, management of the KLN scholarship, and participation in the search for a new dean. Participating on the council gives me an opportunity to give back to the university and is also a way for me to stay in touch with people who share similar interests. I suggest that at some point in their careers, more alumni should try to serve on the council or become active again with the school in some way."

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