admin, Author at ELA Group, Inc.

ELA GROUP, INC. TRANSITIONS TO EMPLOYEE-OWNED

ELA Group, Inc., (ELA) is pleased to announce it has completed the transaction to become 100% employee-owned through its newly formed Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

The firm, founded in Lititz in 1996 with offices in State College and Butler, PA, provides a wide range of Engineering and Landscape Architecture solutions to both the public and private sectors.

With this transition, ELA has joined the growing list of companies whose employees are stakeholders in the success of the business.

According to the National Center for Employee Ownership, as of 2022 there are roughly 6,500 employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) covering almost 14 million participants. ESOPs motivate employees, increase productivity,

LITTLE CONESTOGA BLUE/GREEN CORRIDOR: COLLABORATION ACROSS BORDERS

European settlement of Penn’s Woods brought with it the timbering of those woods, the building of homes and settlements, and the landscape of agriculture. In support of agricultural production, our earliest Pennsylvanians also re-routed creeks and rivers, harnessing their power behind low-head dams in order to mill grain and feed the Colonies. As the structure of communities took shape, these same creeks and rivers often formed the borders of the Commonwealth’s counties, townships, cities, boroughs, and villages.

As colonization gave way to western expansion and the building of a nation, the landforms of urban and suburban development flourished and many of the mills disappeared; however, the lasting footprint of their infrastructure remains. Centuries’ worth of “legacy sediments,” trapped behind this network of dams,

ELA GROUP, INC. WELCOMES JASON LITTLE AS PROJECT ENGINEER

ELA Group, Inc., Engineers and Landscape Architects, of Lititz, State College and Butler, PA, welcomes Jason Little as a Project Engineer in our Central PA office. Jason brings several years of experience in land development, stormwater, utility and environmental design. Additionally, he has spent over nine years working as a construction manager/administrator.

Jason graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with a B.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering and an Environmental Engineering Minor. He formally served as Mid Penn Chapter Vice President for the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO). Special accomplishments of Jason consist of serving as Construction Administrator and Civil Engineer for the design of a 110 Million Gallon a Year (MGY) ethanol distillery located in Clearfield,

CHERYL L. LOVE NAMED “WOMAN OF INFLUENCE”

Cheryl Love, RLA, does not seek out the limelight, but it found her as she and other “Women of Influence” were honored at the Central Penn Business Journal Awards Banquet. The awards are based on experience, integrity and leadership.
Love was chosen as a “Woman of Influence” based on her work as a Landscape Architect and Land Planner, and for her volunteer work with ACE Mentoring program.

Love, a Registered Landscape Architect (RLA), is the lone female partner at ELA Group, Inc., an Engineering and Landscape Architecture firm with three offices in Pennsylvania.

Nominated by her supervisor, Love was described as “A gifted Landscape Architect with passion and energy for making the community great,

ELA GROUP REPRESENTED at VETERANS HONOR PARK DEDICATION

On a sunny, Sunday afternoon, the Veterans Honor Park of Lancaster County was dedicated and opened to the public. Six years of planning, fundraising and many hours of donated work came to fruition at the ceremony in Warwick Township, on June 9th, 2019.

Grant Hummer, President Emeritus, and Jason Best, RLA, represented ELA Group, Inc. at the ceremony. As the Warwick Township Engineer, Hummer has been involved with the park since its inception.

Several ELA Group employees donated time on various aspects of the park. George Smith III, P.E. prepared the stormwater analysis, Tyler Hill, P.E. prepared the erosion and sediment control plans, and Jason Best, RLA prepared the engineered site construction drawings based on hand-drawn sketches received from the designer,

GRINESTAFF JOINS ELA GROUP

ELA Group Inc. is happy to announce the recent addition of a new team member!

Kyle Grinestaff, of Leola, PA, joined the team as a Landscape Architectural Designer. Grinestaff earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Landscape Architecture from Delaware Valley University. A Lancaster County native, Grinestaff also attended Millersville University and graduated from Conestoga Valley High School. He brings on-site design and construction experience to his new position.