Meridian President and CEO Roger R. Nagarkar has worked to strike a balance for himself and his employees to offer an atmosphere where everyone works hard and earns pride in their performances, yet has the ability to take home good wages and bonuses, and all while operating in a harmonious work environment.

Established in 1998, Meridian is an Alaskan-owned firm of project managers and environmental professionals. Meridian operates as an independent third party firm, providing consulting services to owners and contractors on projects from start to finish.

To state it directly, the company's goals are to provide a maximum-value service to the clients' satisfaction; earn competitive salaries with incentive bonus opportunities; foster a harmonious work environment, with a strong collaborative and team-playing operating style; and be supportive of healthy and happy family lives.

What stands out most about this company is that overtime is paid to “exempt/salaried” employees if their billable hours exceed 40 hours a week.

Based on the clients' needs and approval, employees have the opportunity to increase their salaries significantly if they work longer hours on client-related work.

Meridian is an employee-owned firm, with stock-purchase opportunities to most all employees after one year of service. Everyone who chooses to participate in the stock ownership program are asked to purchase an “equal number of shares,” so there is no hierarchical order on the ownership status.

This allows for all employees to feel that they are equally important. As such, employees recognize that the company's financial well-being is interdependent with the performance of their co-workers, and so strong team work comes naturally. And so does a strict adherence to quality work and self-evaluation in an effort to maintain quality client services.

At Meridian, project management is viewed as both technical and management oriented, so employees are encouraged to continually enroll in advancement courses and courses toward various certifications.

Employees are also encouraged to take management/leadership training and development courses, primarily because it is one of the core aspects of the business of providing project management on major projects involving multiple executives, multiple disciplines and significant budgets. Regular management training and development programs are key to the success of the corporation.

Employees who take courses are reimbursed up to $1,700 a year, while additional funding may be negotiated. Employees who take courses during the day may make up their 40-hour workweeks during the evenings and on weekends.

Employees at Meridian offer a variety of ways to give something back to their community, by volunteering, for example, for hockey teams, a local medical center and at the homeless shelter.

Meridian employees work hard, and are recognized in multiple ways, including in written and verbal announcements. But the most significant way is by awarding employees with an additional “discretionary bonus” offered by the president and CEO.