JACKSON, Miss. – Waggoner Engineering, Inc., a full-service economic development, planning, program management, and engineering firm, is pleased to announce that John Merrill and Karen Guthrie have joined the firm at its office in Birmingham, Alabama.
John Merrill – Director of Public Policy & Strategic Markets
Merrill will be responsible for building client relationships and developing opportunities for Waggoner in Alabama, adding value to our clients through extensive experience working with state and local government.
Before joining Waggoner, Merrill served as the Alabama Secretary of State since 2014, setting new state records for voter registration and participation in elections with more than 2.2 million newly-registered voters. He was first elected to public office as a representative of Alabama House District 62 in 2010.
Merrill also worked in several business roles, including director of business development for the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama and the director of community relations and community education for the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education.
Merrill is active in more than 30 civic, community, and professional organizations.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from the University of Alabama.
Karen Guthrie – Regional Executive Administrator
Guthrie will provide administrative support to the assigned leadership teams in Alabama and Florida and coordinate regional communication.
Guthrie has over 30 years of administrative and paralegal experience, facilitating all aspects of internal and external communications and supporting the day-to-day administrative and operational functions.
Before joining Waggoner, Guthrie was the executive assistant to the Alabama Secretary of State, John Merrill. She handled communications, events, briefings, and travel.
She spent over 20 years working with several law firms in the Montgomery metro area before joining the Office of the Attorney General.
Guthrie is a member of the Alabama Association of Paralegals, and the National Association of Legal Assistants and serves on the Legal Studies Advisory Board at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama.
About Waggoner
Waggoner Engineering, founded in 1976, is a civil engineering firm with a passion for helping communities realize their full potential. Today, Waggoner has expanded to 15 offices in five states and is recognized for its innovative, multi-disciplinary services that make it much more than a traditional engineering firm.