KBJW announces Brent Johnson as new CEO
November 6, 2025
Koontz Bryant Johnson Williams, Inc. is excited to announce that Brent Johnson, PE, PG, AOSE, is our new CEO. Greg Koontz, after a storied 40+ years in the engineering field and over 35 years as the CEO of KBJW, will retire at the end of 2025. “The company will be in a steady pair of hands with Brent’s great business acumen and exciting vision for KBJW’s future,” Koontz says.
Greg and Brent have worked tirelessly over the past 2 years to ensure a seamless transition. “It’s been a multi-level-process for a couple of years now,” Brent says. “Greg has been a great leader and has taught me a lot to help this transition go as easily as possible.” Part of this transition included naming Mark Williams, PE, as the Chief Operating Officer at the beginning of the year.
Brent boasts over 20 years of geology and engineering experience. He graduated from James Madison University with a B.S. in Geology, then worked at Townes PC for several years. He then founded Geo-Solutions, a firm offering geotechnical, construction materials testing, septic design and environmental services among others. Starting out, Brent was a “one-man band,” doing everything from accounting to consulting, reports and field work, before his company grew in size leading to a merger with then Koontz Bryant and Wilmark Engineering in 2017.
Brent said being in charge of his own company prepared him for his upcoming role as CEO at KBJW. He noted that it was very helpful to see every piece of a business, which is something that he takes with him to this day. “It taught me that you can’t really take your foot off the gas for too long… I learned that very early on. There’s a lot of attention and a lot of effort that goes into running a company every day,” he says.
Brent also noted that getting his “hands and feet into everything,” in terms of the different aspects of keeping a business going was paramount. Since joining KBJW, Brent has kept his strong work ethic, leading countless projects throughout the years.
An Exciting New Chapter for KBJW
Reflecting on 2025, Brent said that he’s proud of the strides that KBJW is on target to hit this year. Though he’s happy to see KBJW’s success in the past few years, he says that he’s very excited for the future of the company. “We’ve got tons of opportunity in front of us right now,” Johnson notes. “And we’re poised for growth opportunities.”
Brent says his primary focus is cementing goals that’ll propel KBJW forward in the coming years. He says that staying ambitious in internal and external growth as a company is key going forward. “It is a very exciting time to be in the engineering industry, and it is a very exciting time to be at KBJW. We are where we want to be right now to keep growing and to set ourselves up as one of the best firms in the region,” he says.