Eli Holland envisioned a business set apart from the masses by both the level of service it provides to clients and its ability to foster community, family and growth among its employees.

As a founding Principal of ONE Environmental Group, he wanted to create something unique.

“It came down to building something that services the clients better, and that’s there 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Eli says. “We really try to pick the best of the best employees and really want to put them in a position to succeed.”

Eli embraces what he calls the “trickle up” mantra. “We’re not top-down,” he says. “We guide. We rely heavily on our employees and the relationships we have with them. If they’re doing good work and they’re succeeding, they’re happy mentally, physically and emotionally, then ultimately that serves our clients and projects well.”

The professional geologist who earned his bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma State University embraces his role in business development and client relations. It’s a side of himself he discovered when he thought veterinary medicine might be his future. While working as a vet technician, Eli realized he was drawn more to the finance side of the business than the science.

“That fostered the business side in me, and I could probably draw a line to my interest in that on the consulting side of things, too,” he says.

Eli recently left the Raleigh office for the Asheville one, ideal given its proximity to clients in both Carolinas and Atlanta. He’s regularly on the road and in the field and enjoys a career where no two days are alike.

In his free time, you’ll find Eli mountain biking, camping and hiking in the Asheville mountains. He and his wife, Lindsay, have two daughters, Gemma and Mazzy, in addition to what he calls “a zoo”: two dogs, a cat and two fish.