Our Leadership
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David Candia (Dave) is a Managing Principal at Stanton Engineering, and a graduate of the University of Maryland's ABET-accredited Fire Protection Engineering program. With over 20 years of experience, he has developed expertise across every fire protection engineering discipline: fire suppression design (wet and dry sprinkler, preaction, deluge, clean agent, and water mist), fire alarm and mass notification design, life safety and building code compliance, fire pump design, water supply analysis, smoke control and fire modeling, and risk and hazard analysis. He has authored hundreds of engineering judgments for atypical spaces prescriptive codes do not anticipate, serves as SES's subject matter expert for fire alarm and mass notification design, is a Designer of Record, and leads the firm's healthcare fire protection work across both private and government projects.
Dave also brings a unique perspective few consulting engineers have: Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) experience. Dave managed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Division of the Fire Marshal, serving as an AHJ over 13 million square feet, reviewing designs, inspecting construction, witnessing testing, and applying the International Building Code alongside NFPA standards, the NIH Design Requirements Manual, and Joint Commission requirements. That AHJ perspective means he designs with approval in mind.
His work spans the private, state, and federal sectors, for clients including the DoD, NIH, NIST, VA, GSA, and DoS. He works across delivery methods, including design-build, where SES is hired directly by the general contractor rather than the architect or prime engineer. Federal agencies, municipalities, and institutional clients return to Dave because they know what they will get: honest guidance, rigorous work, and a partner who treats their mission as his own.
Dave is a licensed Professional Engineer in Maryland, Virginia, and New York, and a member of SFPE, NFPA, NSPE, SAME, and ICC.
"The best projects happen when we treat our clients as true partners. Understanding their goals, their constraints, and their vision is just as important as the technical work, and it is the part of this job I enjoy most." — Dave
Thomas Irwin (Tom) is a Managing Principal at Stanton Engineering and a graduate of the University of Maryland's ABET-accredited Fire Protection Engineering program. With 17 years of experience, he has built deep expertise across the full range of fire protection engineering disciplines: fire suppression design, fire alarm and mass notification, smoke control and CFD fire modeling, life safety and building code analysis, timed egress analysis, water supply testing, and construction period support. He serves as a Designer of Record and as a third-party CITP reviewer, and he is recognized within the firm for his command of Federal fire protection and life safety criteria.
Tom's defining strength is secure and mission-critical Federal work. He has led fire protection and life safety design for some of the most sensitive facilities in the Federal inventory, including four-star command headquarters, secure operations and intelligence production centers, and hardened data centers, for the US Army, US Air Force, US Navy, DoS, GSA, and FBI. That work includes the USSTRATCOM Replacement Headquarters at Offutt AFB, the Air Mobility Command Headquarters renovation at Scott AFB, and secure cyber and communications facilities from Fort Meade to Osan Air Base. He has detailed knowledge of Federal criteria, procedures, and guidelines, including the Unified Facilities Criteria, which lets him design complex, secure projects with compliance and approval built in from the start.
He also brings particular depth in Federal healthcare. Across projects for the VA, DoD, and NIH, Tom has developed intimate knowledge of NFPA standards and the VA Design Manual, and he has served as a Designer of Record on major medical work such as the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center hospital addition, where his scope included fire suppression, fire pump, smoke control with CFD atrium modeling, and mass notification design. As one of the firm's third-party (CITP) reviewers, he has supported SES's certified independent review of hundreds VA projects, which gives him a reviewer's eye for what it takes to get a design approved.
Tom is a licensed Professional Engineer in Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia, and is a member of SFPE, NFPA, NSPE, SAME, and ICC.
“On the kind of work we do, there is no such thing as close enough. These are missions people depend on, so the standard has to be a design that is right, defensible, and ready for approval the first time.”
— Tom
Daniel Little is one of Stanton Engineering's longest-tenured team members, having joined the firm in 2006 and grown alongside it ever since. He started his career as a CAD Operator, building a strong technical foundation in fire protection engineering design from the ground up; that hands-on beginning has informed everything he has done since.
Over the years, Daniel's technical skill and natural leadership ability earned him progressively greater responsibility, moving through the roles of CAD Manager and BIM Manager before stepping into his current position as Operations and Program Manager. Today, he oversees project execution, resource allocation, operational planning, and client coordination across a diverse portfolio of projects, while continuing to provide leadership in BIM management and technology integration.
He holds NICET Level II certifications in both Water-Based Systems Layout and Fire Alarm Systems: a reflection of the technical credibility he brings to every aspect of his work. Few people at the firm understand how all the pieces fit together better than Daniel does, and that perspective makes him an invaluable resource for both the team and the clients they serve.
"I've had the privilege of watching this firm grow from the inside out. When you've been part of something for that long, you stop thinking about your job in terms of tasks and start thinking about it in terms of legacy." — Dan