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Nathelyne A. Kennedy Receives Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award

The national award is given by the Zweig Group each year to someone working in the AEC industry who has made tremendous impacts through courageous leadership

Engineering and consulting firm WSB announced today that Nathelyne A. Kennedy was awarded the Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award by the Zweig Group. The Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award is given annually to one individual working in the architecture, engineering, planning or environmental industry who has made a tremendous impact on their firm through courageous leadership.

Kennedy is the founder, President and CEO of Nathelyne A. Kennedy & Associates, Inc (NAK), a Houston-based civil engineering firm. She was the first Black woman to receive an engineering degree from a college or university in Texas in 1959. WSB acquired NAK in 2019, and today, Nathelyne continues to audit drawings for the firm’s most complex projects.

“Nathelyne treats her staff with a lot of respect,” said WSB President and CEO Bret Weiss. “She invests in people of color to advance them in our industry, an area that is severely lacking and is continuing to work hard and show how important leadership is in our industry, regardless of who you are. I am so proud that she has been recognized by our industry for her extraordinary accomplishments.”

Nathelyne was named Houston’s Engineer of the Year in 2016 and remains the only female to ever receive the award. She has also been previously named Minority Business Woman of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“The most rewarding part is the people,” said Kennedy. “Knowing that we have been successful, not knowing if we could do it, and then we proved we could. It has given meaning to my life and I am so proud of what we have accomplished.

Nathelyne accepted the prestigious award in Denver, Colorado earlier this month, during the Zweig ElevateAEC Conference Awards Gala. The Zweig Group is the leading research, publishing, and advisory services resource for firms in the architecture, engineering and construction industry.  

Newsletter | Volume 3 | Issue 1 | 2021

Seize Opportunities: Nathelyne Kennedy

In 1959, Kennedy became the first Black woman to receive an engineering degree from a school in Texas. Here, she reflects on her more than 55 years of experience since then.

In 1959, Nathelyne Archie Kennedy became the first Black woman to receive an engineering degree from a school in Texas. She is the president and founder of Nathelyne A. Kennedy & Associates, Inc., a Houston-based civil engineering firm that was acquired by WSB in 2019. Committed to advancing the engineering profession, Kennedy has served on the Texas Turnpike Authority Board of Directors and on advisory committees for Texas Southern University, University of Houston Downtown, and her own alma mater, Prairie View A&M University. In 2006 Prairie View named the Nathelyne Archie Kennedy Building, housing the School of Architecture and Art, in her honor. Here, Nathelyne reflects on her more than 55 years working in the engineering industry.

“I hope to see more women heading up their own firms,” Kennedy says. “Engineering is not a male field, it’s just male dominated. I would like to see more women seize opportunities.”

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A conversation with Nathelyne A. Kennedy.

WSB: How did you end up in engineering?

Nathelyne Kennedy: I decided to major in engineering after one of my teachers brought it to my attention. My original plan was to major in math and become a teacher like my father. I thought, “If this doesn’t work out, I can always be a teacher,” so I decided to major in engineering. I found out when I started school that there were only two women majoring in engineering and only one graduated – me. After that, things moved fast. I didn’t know that I was the first Black female to receive an engineering degree in Texas. In the beginning, I struggled to get hired even though I graduated at the top of my class. The men easily found employment over me. But eventually, I was hired by an engineering firm after they decided to give me a one-week trial in Chicago. I pounded the pavement hard in Chicago and eventually moved on to a mid-size engineering firm – again after a one-week trial period. That one week turned into 12 years.

Eventually, life led us back to Houston. I took some time off to raise my kids and then eventually started my own firm in 1981, Nathelyne Kennedy & Associates, Inc. We continued to grow and build our networks and today, I still work with some of the same people from the ‘80s. For 38 years, we operated as NAK and I’m proud of all that we have accomplished.  In 2019, NAK was acquired by WSB, a Minneapolis-based design and consulting firm. It’s bittersweet to hand over what I’ve built, but I’m looking forward to what’s next and know NAK is in good hands.

WSB: How did your role as president of NAK evolve over time?

NK: Everything has changed. At the beginning, I was doing everything myself. We were growing, things started changing fast and I couldn’t do it all. My job shifted toward marketing, business development, and managing the office. When I found out things I needed to do, I learned. I didn’t know I was going to have to go out and talk to people. I was used to sitting in the office. I had to practice how to build my network. I eventually learned to enjoy it because I learned a lot and had the chance to meet many wonderful people. I was new to people and they were curious about me. Right away, we started winning prime work. Designing roads and streets, then bridges. Word got around about us and we continued to grow.

WSB: What were some challenges of owning your own business?

NK: We were a small firm and getting new, young people to come and work for me was a challenge. They would come and get a little experience and then leave for larger firms. The bigger the better it seemed in their minds. Today, I still have two people that have been with me for 30 years, and three people for more than 20 years – and they were the key people that helped build NAK into what it is today.

WSB: What has been the most rewarding part of your career?

NK: The most rewarding part is the people – my staff and other engineering firms. It’s also realizing that we have been successful and have proved that we can do it. I’m proud of our recognition over the years. I have to say that the most rewarding part is not knowing if I could do it, and then achieving success. It has given meaning to my life and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished. It’s been a very rewarding journey.

WSB: What is the proudest moment of your career?

NK: The proudest moment of my career was when I was selected as Houston’s Engineer of the Year in 2016. In the 70 years they’ve given out the award, I have been the only female to receive it. It was a huge honor. It reinforced that I have accomplished something. Not one woman before me, not one after me. I am still the only one in 70 years.

WSB: Who has been the biggest influence in your life?

NK: My parents. My mother was the mother everyone should want. My father was liked by everyone. My mother stayed at home and raised us, and my father was an agriculture teacher. He taught me a lot about money, saving, and people. They were my best teachers. I don’t know of anyone who was better or meant more to me than the two of them. I think about them every day.

WSB: If you could give someone starting their career one piece of advice, what would it be?

NK: Try to learn as much as you can about your craft and business, but don’t learn too much that it will cause you to change your mind. If I had been told it would be this hard to do this, I would have probably looked at something else, but sometimes it is best to just jump in the fire. If you jump in and work your way out it’s amazing how much you learn. To me, that was the best part of business. There is so much enjoyment in learning and meeting people. Deep down, I believe people are nice and that they want to help you. Everywhere I have lived and everywhere I have worked, I’ve loved meeting people, especially my staff.

WSB: What do you hope to see in the future for the engineering industry?

NK: I hope to see more women heading up their own firms. Engineering is not a male field, it’s just male dominated. I would like to see more women seize opportunities.

WSB: What is the most important life lesson you have learned?

NK: Be nice to others – it comes back to you. Do unto others as you have them do unto you. I grew up with that and I really believe in it.

This article originally appeared in the June 28, 2021 issue of the Zweig Letter.

Zweig Group honors WSB with Marketing Excellence Awards

The Zweig Group, the leading research, publishing and advisory services resource for the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, has honored WSB with three awards in marketing.

Every year, the organization offers an awards program that specifically recognizes outstanding work within the AEC industry throughout North America.

Marketing Excellence Awards

Zweig recently announced the winners of the 2021 Marketing Excellence Awards for outstanding, results-driven marketing. Zweig awards the top five firms in each possible category. WSB ranked first place in one category and third in two others.

Award entries were judged by a team of marketing professionals and evaluated based upon overall creativity, messaging, results achieved by the campaign, and level of design.

Advertising | Road Work Ahead Mailer | First Place

Our Marketing team worked closely with our Municipal team to create a direct mail and email campaign that promoted our construction related services. The piece was shaped like a road construction sign that read “Road Work Ahead” on the cover. Inside we talked about our approach and philosophy around construction and highlighted our relevant service areas to support all aspects of construction projects.

Internal Newsletter | Year In Review | Third Place

The Year In Review received a third-place award in the Internal Newsletter category. Since 2009, WSB has published our annual Year In Review. For over a decade, this publication has recapped the previous year and has been distributed at our firm’s annual celebration. The goal is simple – to tell the story of WSB to our staff and external partners.. The Year In Review is one of the ways we celebrate our accomplishments in the past year and tell our internal WSB story. 

We always include an overview of firm achievements and milestones at the beginning of the publication – because we are one WSB.  Even though our work, projects and staff extend across the nation, together  we’re working towards a common goal. The rest of the publication was broken up into our divisions and culture highlights. Our projects and work are always very important to our story, but it’s the people behind the projects that really help shape the way we work. 

Special Event | 25th Anniversary Special Edition Newsletter | Third Place

In 2020, WSB celebrated our 25^th Anniversary. We had many plans prior to the pandemic to keep the celebration going all year long. Client events, staff events, videos, social campaigns – many of these celebrations involved being together in person. When the pandemic hit, we had to switch gears.

Twice a year, WSB publishes an external newsletter. For over 10 years, WSB has mailed a newsletter highlighting projects, innovations, techniques and news. As we began preparing our content for Volume 2 of 2021, our CEO Bret Weiss, mentioned that he thought it would be a great opportunity to highlight our 25^th Anniversary. Twenty-five years have built many memories – more than we could share on the pages of the newsletter, many that are best told by the people who lived them and a couple that should never be in print. We realized that there are countless people, places and projects that have shaped our story, but there were also many things that contributed to our success over the years. We decided to move forward and tell the story of 25 years through 25 things. The 25 ‘things’ varied – some were personal to individuals, some were from long ago, and some were new things that emerged since our rebrand. Through 25 ‘things’ we shared the story of WSB.

The Complete list of Marketing Excellence Award Winners can be accessed here: https://www.zweiggroup.com/2021-marketing-excellence-award-winners/

WSB promotes Tony Havranek, lead fisheries ecologist, to Director of Fisheries

Havranek has led the firm’s aquatic invasive species and carp management service since 2014.

Local design and consulting firm WSB today announced the promotion of Tony Havranek to director of fisheries. Havranek will oversee business development efforts for the firm’s fisheries work.

Havranek has been with WSB since 2014 and has grown the firm’s ecological and fisheries services exponentially. “Tony is recognized as a true expert in our industry and no idea is too big or out of reach for him,” said Andi Moffatt, WSB’s vice president of environmental services. “Tony’s dedication to leading the industry in sustainability and new techniques is unmatched and this type of big-picture, innovative and sky’s the limit thinking is what we encourage at WSB.”

Havranek has nearly 20 years of experience in the natural resources field. Prior to his time at WSB, Tony helped develop federal policies with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and worked with tribal communities throughout the Midwest on their natural resources needs. He is recognized throughout the industry for his forestry, water quality, fisheries, aquatic and terrestrial vegetation, wetlands and wildlife expertise.

“At WSB, I’ve found a place where I can innovate with our clients and staff to improve ecological outcomes through sustainable solutions,” said Havranek. “Together, we will continue to support watershed districts, lake associations, cities and the tribal community to improve water quality and manage invasive fish species.”

Preparing for the Conservation Partners Legacy Grant

By Luke Lunde, Professional Soil Scientist and Amy Anderson, Project Engineer, WSB

Applications for all cycles of the Conservation Partners Legacy (CPL) grants opened on August 1. The CPL Grant Program funds conservation projects that restore, enhance or protect forests, wetlands, prairies and habitat for fish, game and wildlife in Minnesota. To be eligible, projects must be located on public lands or private properties with an easement that allows for public access.

Since 2009, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) has been managing the reimbursable program to provide competitive matching grants from $5,000 to $400,000 to local, regional, state and nonprofit organizations.

Finding funding for projects can be challenging and knowing how to take advantage of a grant opportunity can make or break a project’s success.  Here are some helpful ways you can prepare your application for the upcoming fiscal year 2022 grants.

Determine the grant cycle that works best for your project.

There are three programs available: Traditional, Metro and Expedited Conservation Projects (ECP). Grant amounts needed, project activities, eligible land, funding rounds, review processes and project locations all impact the type of grant program that’s best suited for a project. The MN DNR’s website offers a helpful Grant Comparison Cycle worksheet to guide evaluation.

Determine if the matching requirement will impact your application.

A 10% match of the total grant amount requested is required. There are two matching options. A cash match is actual cash contributed by your organization, a third party or supplies or contacted services to be paid during the grant period. An in-kind match is a non-cash donation of a good service that could include personnel time, use of equipment or donated supplies or services.

There is nearly $10 million available for CPL grants for the upcoming fiscal year 2022. Applications must be submitted by September 20, 2021 for the Traditional and Metro grant cycles and by September 13, 2021 for the ECP grant cycle.

Helpful links:

• CPL Evaluation Criteria
• CPL Request for Proposal

Luke Lunde
Luke is a Minnesota Professional Soil Scientist in WSB’s Environmental Natural Resources Group, and he has over nineteen years of natural resource and environmental review experience. Luke’s experience includes soil survey mapping, geologic hazard assessments, karst feature mapping and mitigation plans, wetland delineation, wetland banking, wetland mitigation, habitat restoration, invasive species management, grant writing, erosion control compliance site management, habitat restoration, invasive species management, natural resource planning, environmental permitting and compliance, for numerous projects throughout the Midwest.

Amy Anderson
Amy has over nine years of professional experience in water resources engineering, specializing in stream restoration and watershed management. Amy’s experience in stream restoration spans the project cycle, from surveying and design through construction observation and post-project monitoring. Amy has been the primary author or co-author of Surface Water Management Plans for two separate municipalities (West St. Paul and North St. Paul) and one watershed district (Valley Branch Watershed District) in the metro area and has presented to citizen’s groups, municipal committees, and city councils on surface water management and planning.

WSB adds to Texas leadership with transportation industry professionals Rob Bailey, Bryan Hodges and Steve Lindsey

Bailey, Hodges and Lindsey join the firm from Atkins North America

Engineering and consulting firm WSB announced today that Rob Bailey, Bryan Hodges and Steve Lindsey have joined their firm. Most recently with Atkins North America, an international design, engineering and project management consultant, the trio brings a wealth of experience to WSB and helps solidify the firm’s transportation presence in the Texas market.

“Rob, Bryan and Steve joining WSB is very exciting for the future of our transportation team,” said Jay Kennedy, WSB’s vice president of Texas operations. “Since 2017, we’ve been very intentional about our growth, specifically by hiring the industry’s top talent. Rob, Bryan and Steve are well-known throughout Texas and their experience will be invaluable to our staff and clients.”

Bailey will oversee WSB’s transportation growth in the Texas market and will support strategic pursuits as vice president of transportation. He has over three decades of engineering experience in design, construction and maintenance of transportation facilities. Most recently he was the transportation GEC/program division manager at Atkins North America.

Hodges and Lindsey, both directors of transportation, will support the firm’s work with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and will lead business development efforts. Hodges is known for his planning, design and project management experience. He was mostly recently a project director at Atkins North America and previously served as TxDOT’s district design engineer. Lindsey’s experience extends through all phases of project development from feasibility studies to maintenance. He was most recently a project director with Atkins North America focusing on planning studies as well as schematic and environmental projects.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the incredible team at WSB and to help shape how we position ourselves in the Texas transportation industry,” said Bailey. “I’ve worked alongside Bryan and Steve for many years and am honored that they’ve chosen to pursue this new adventure with me. WSB’s approach to project delivery is industry-leading and I’m looking forward to supporting our clients’ infrastructure needs with new tools, resources and a commitment to collaboration.”

WSB entered the Texas market in 2017. The firm has made two key acquisitions in the Texas marketplace over the past three years, first acquiring Austin-based Rogers Design Services (RDS) in 2018, followed by Houston-based Nathelyne A. Kennedy & Associates, In (NAK) in 2019. WSB has established brick-and-mortar office locations in Austin, Dallas and Houston, but provides engineering, planning, environmental and construction services throughout the state to the public and private sector. Recently, WSB delivered the final design for Williamson County’s Ronald Reagan Intersections Improvement Project near Sun City, the Multimodal Transportation Improvement Project at Texas Southern University and the Sam Rayburn Tollway Sign Replacement Project for the North Texas Tollway Authority.

WSB hires Kim Lindquist to lead the firm’s community planning and economic development efforts

Lindquist joins WSB after nearly 20 years with the city of Rosemount

Engineering and consulting firm WSB announced today that Kim Lindquist has joined the organization as their director of community planning and economic development. Lindquist joins the firm’s Golden Valley office where she will lead WSB’s community planning and economic development efforts and client activities.

Lindquist brings over 30 years of planning and economic development experience to the position. She has held positions in several communities throughout the Twin Cities metro including Rosemount, Cottage Grove, Minnetonka and Mounds View. 

“Kim is a well-known industry veteran whose experience and knowledge will be a benefit to our staff and clients,” said Monica Heil, vice president of municipal services at WSB. “Kim’s forward-thinking approach to land use planning and development, coupled with her sound understanding of zoning requirements will support WSB’s project delivery throughout many service areas.”

Most recently, Lindquist was the department director for the community development department at the city of Rosemount for over 17 years. Her role was responsible for the operations of the department, long-range planning, economic development, building permit inspections, Fire Marshal activities, code enforcement and GIS functions.

“I’ve always thrived in mission-driven organizations that support our communities,” said Lindquist. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with WSB several times throughout my career and I’m thrilled to join a team that is committed to actionable, realistic and unique solutions that achieve our client’s visions.”

WSB’s community planning and economic development services include comprehensive planning, zoning ordinance and development codes, economic development, capital improvement planning, small area plans, planning and zoning administration and code enforcement.

WSB ranks #185 on the Engineering News Record’s (ENR) Top 500 Design Firms list.

WSB is proud to land on ENR’s nationally ranked list for the ninth year in a row, moving up 25 spots from last year’s position. The ENR’s top 500 design firms are chosen according to revenue for design services performed. ENR’s mission is to connect diverse sectors of the industry with coverage of issues that include business management, design, construction methods, technology, safety, law, legislation, environment and labor.

The past year has been a year of resilience and gratitude for all of us, and we are honored to be recognized amongst many notable organizations that have continued to serve our communities in these unprecedented times. 

WSB’s rapid growth and national expansion would not be possible without our talented staff and clients, who have been with us over the past 25 years, helping us to build what’s next in infrastructure.

Click to view this year’s full Top 500 Design Firm list.

WSB hires Brad Oswald to lead survey growth in Colorado and Texas

Oswald joins WSB with over 20 years of large-scale boundary experience

Engineering and consulting firm WSB announced today that Brad Oswald has been hired as the director of survey operations in Denver, Colo. This is a new role that will focus on growing WSB’s surveying offerings in the Colorado and Texas markets.

In this role, Brad will diversify WSB’s fast-growing survey service. Oswald brings over 20 years of experience of leading large-scale boundary surveys throughout the U.S.

“The bread and butter of WSB’s survey expertise has largely been construction related,” said Kyle Klasen, director of survey at WSB. “Brad’s large-scale boundary expertise will complement the services we already provide and will give us boots on the ground in Colorado.”

Most recently, Oswald was with SAM Companies, a geospatial solutions and construction services company where he acted as the Denver operations manager. His expertise includes business development, field management and project delivery. Oswald is a Licensed Professional Land Surveyor in 16 states.

“WSB’s survey services are well-known in the Midwest and I’m looking forward to delivering the same high-quality, data-driven survey projects for our clients in the Colorado and Texas markets,” said Oswald. “I’m thrilled to join a fast-growing team that is committed to innovation, best-practices and is not afraid of trying something new.”

WSB’s survey services include design, boundary, right-of-way, 3D laser scanning, asset management, construction and contractor staking and environmental compliance services for clients in the government, energy and commercial markets.