V3 Companies

V3 Companies is an Illinois civil engineering and construction-management firm founded in 1983 and based in Woodridge, outside Chicago. The employee-owned practice blends civil engineering, land planning, environmental work and construction management under one roof, which lets it carry projects from concept through construction. V3 serves as the corridor construction manager on the massive I-490 Tollway program near O’Hare, overseeing more than 100 separate contracts and coordinating railroads, the FAA and the airport. That role — herding a multibillion-dollar corridor of overlapping contracts — is the kind of complex program management V3 has built its reputation on across the Midwest.

V3’s name is shorthand for a Latin phrase, Visio, Vertere, Virtute, or The Vision to Transform with Excellence, that the firm says captures its intended impact on employees, clients and the communities where it works.

That vision traces back to founder Rob Petroelje, who started the firm in 1983 around the idea that every team member would have a voice, every client would receive long-term value, and success would be shared broadly. V3 states that five core values still anchor the firm day to day: unwavering integrity, commitment to excellence, focus on clients, dedication to employees, and service to community.

The firm’s service lineup, as listed on its own site, spans 15 named offerings grouped under construction, land development, planning and landscape architecture, transportation, and water and environment, including construction engineering, land surveying, landscape architecture, floodplain and stormwater work, site civil, structural, transportation planning and design, and wetlands and ecology, among others.

V3 has also expanded well beyond its Illinois roots. Its current office footprint, per the company site, includes Denver, Colorado; Chicago, West Chicago and Woodridge, Illinois; Carmel, Indianapolis, Martinsville and South Bend, Indiana; Charlotte and Pinehurst, North Carolina; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Greenville, South Carolina; and Sherwood Park, Alberta.

Leadership has passed through three CEOs since the firm’s founding, with Pat Kennedy currently serving as president and CEO. V3 describes its recent strategic priorities as continued growth through innovation, regional diversification of clients, and expansion into new markets such as renewable energy, building on four decades of what the firm calls putting principles and people ahead of short-term profits.