Upstarter Profile

Allison Pursley Moran, a Seneca native, never imagined building her life in the Upstate.

Six years after returning from the University of Alabama, she’s deepening her roots here and progressing through her company’s ranks.

At work, she manages an engineering consulting office where she’s worked her way up from field technician. At home, Allison helps tend to a 2,500-square-foot greenhouse, is planning a home renovation, and in December 2021, she welcomed her first child.

“I was really looking to go elsewhere,” she says. The lure of playing tuba in Alabama’s marching band – with a front row seat to the team’s football dominance – took her out of the state. There, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with a minor in environmental science and water resources.

Upon graduation, she pursued everything from cruise ship jobs to raft guiding to hospitality roles in California and Colorado. Even when a family member’s cancer diagnosis brought her back home, she had her sights set on “moving on” afterward.

“When I graduated college, I really didn’t even feel like I wanted to be an engineer,” she says, adding that she finished the degree because she was so close. “I felt like I should do something in the field of engineering, so I applied to ECS to see if I liked it.”

From field to management

In August 2015, Allison took a role as field technician with ECS Limited, an engineering consulting firm that specializes in environmental, geotechnical and construction materials testing services.

“And then, really, opportunities arose, and I moved into a project manager position, followed by the department manager position for construction materials, and then a year and a half, after that, I moved into the office manager role,” she says.

“It blows my mind when I think about what I’ve been able to work up to within six years,” she adds, noting that the firm propelled her advancement through engineering certificate training and pursuing her Professional Engineer license.

She credits patience, perseverance, and a supportive employer with helping her advance.

“As long as you give back to a company that’s investing in you, you’re going to keep moving up,” she adds.

She leads a team of 25 engineers, project managers and field technicians who perform due diligence, testing and ongoing code and specification review for construction sites. The Greenville office is one of 70 locations within ECS Group of Companies, which has over 2,000 employees across the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Southeast and Southwest United States.

“People that are focused on the environment are often opposed to construction and development, though I think that’s a naïve point of view,” she adds. “Since I’ve been in this position, I’ve seen the benefits that these construction projects bring to the Upstate economy through jobs and career opportunities. It’s rewarding to have a hand in that process while acting as stewards for the environment.”

Best of the region

“Environmental” isn’t just a work term for Allison. A lover of the outdoors, she gets the best of all worlds by living in the scenic foothills community of Seneca and working in Greenville.

She enjoys digging in the dirt with her husband, Andrew, a chef-turned-farmer who began growing crops on their two acres of land during the pandemic. They were inspired by farm-to-table concepts to serve local restaurants, providing peppers and tomatoes to restaurants as well as propagating plant starts for wider uses.

His culinary creations must have won her over: the pair met working together at Andrew’s family restaurant. They’ve been together since 2016 and married in early 2020.

And they love to make the most of the scenic outdoors with their dog Sancho – taking in the dense concentration of waterfalls during hikes in Oconee County, or enjoying days on the water at Lake Keowee or Lake Hartwell.

“We’re so close to the mountains, we could hit anywhere from four to 10 waterfalls in a day,” she says.

As the pair adjusts to parenthood, Allison finds the growing region a perfect place to build a family, surrounded by family and friends, with career opportunities on the horizon.

“My parents raised us with a love of the outdoors, and it’s exciting to build a family where we can share that with our children, too.”