WHPacific, one of the largest Native American-owned engineering and land development firms in the U.S., is moving its headquarters to Portland.

Hal Keever, president of WHPacific, said the firm moved its headquarters from Anchorage, Alaska to Colorado Springs about four years ago to take advantage of the oil and gas market. That market has died down, Keever said.

“We decided to really focus on our core competencies where we had a long history in Portland,” he said. “Many of our employees have been there for 20 or 25 years, and the Portland market is a nice foundation to continue to grow our business.”

The company has had an office in Oregon for decades and currently employs about 75 people in its Portland and Salem offices. The firm also has offices in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, New Mexico, North Dakota and Washington.

WHPacific has been involved in many Portland projects, including the Nike World Campus expansion, the Portland International Airport renovation and expansion, the Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center campus and the Cascade Station mixed-use development. Currently, the firm is involved in the first phase of design for the Boones Ferry Road improvement project in Lake Oswego; it’s the cornerstone project of the city’s Lake Grove Village Center Plan.

WHPacific is owned by NANA Development Corp., a private for-profit corporation that represents more than 13,400 Inupiat shareholders, descendants of the first people to populate northwest Alaska. The firm has worked on multiple tribal projects in the Pacific Northwest.

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