Five Kimley-Horn Employees Named to ENR’s 2024 Top Young Professionals List

March 12, 2024

The Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top Young Professionals designation is awarded each year to leaders under 40 years old who are committed to community development, industry advancement, and professional growth within their fields. This year, five Kimley-Horn employees received recognition in ENR’s Texas & Louisiana, Southeast, Northwest, Mountain, and Mid-Atlantic regions.

ENR Mid-Atlantic: Robyn Niss, PE, LEED AP, CSPR

Robyn has been instrumental in pioneering Kimley-Horn’s large-scale K-12 practice, aligning with the Virginia Department of Education’s priority to provide high-quality, effective learning environments for all students. She has successfully delivered over 50 K-12 projects, including new schools, modernizations, and expansions. When she joined Kimley-Horn, her colleagues were working on their first K-12 project in the state. Under her leadership, they have now completed more than 80 school projects throughout Virginia

Robyn’s successes launched a new era of Kimley-Horn’s K-12 work, including trade schools and multi-building campus projects. Her expertise with school projects has also opened doors to related education endeavors, such as bus parking lots, running tracks, stormwater management, environmental consulting, landscape architecture, and land use planning.

Robyn’s regular involvement in community organizations stems from her passion for education and increasing diversity in STEM fields. She actively engages with the Association for Learning Environments, an interdisciplinary group of professionals focused on enhancing students’ educational experiences. Robyn also serves as a board member of the Virginia Beach Education Foundation, which funds innovative learning programs in Virginia Beach City Public Schools. She reviews funding applications as part of the grants team, and she contributed to the foundation awarding 30 grants totaling $48,000 from 77 applications in 2023.

ENR Mountain States: Nicole Williams, PE

Nicole’s unwavering dedication, expertise, and passion make her an exceptionally qualified leader within the industry. In her present position as roadway practice lead at Kimley-Horn, she oversees multiple projects and actively engages in program management and digital delivery for state Departments of Transportation (DOTs). Her involvement in innovative projects—such as being the lead designer on the first diverging diamond interchange in the Salt Lake Valley and program manager for Utah’s DOT and Texas’ DOT digital delivery strategic plans—demonstrates her ability to deliver groundbreaking solutions.

Nicole is recognized as an outstanding mentor and coach by the team she leads in the roadway group as well as women across the firm. She has participated in numerous programs designed to recruit, develop, and retain successful women in practice. Nicole has also had opportunities to share her personal story of overcoming struggles with self-confidence in the professional realm.”

As project manager for the UDOT Digital Delivery Strategic Plan, Nicole helped UDOT develop a repeatable process, data, and procedures for digital delivery projects. Her work on this program resolved common challenges faced by contractors and DOTs—the data they need was not clearly defined and standardized and there was not a process to deliver this information. In creating guidelines for digital project delivery, Nicole and UDOT defined a standardized process that removes data transfer obstacles between project phases, allowing designers and contractors to have a consistent workflow that results in the same product every time.

ENR Northwest: Nick Chen, AICP

Nick’s never-ending desire to help those around him has established him as a leader in the land planning field. Whether it is the communities he serves, his clients, or his partners within Kimley-Horn, Nick is dedicated to finding solutions which benefit others. Nick leads a variety of project types, ranging from mixed-use and residential development to long-range land use planning, parks and open space planning, and community outreach. He has always prioritized mentoring the next generation of planning professionals through his land planning practice at Kimley-Horn, various mentorship programs, and as adjunct faculty in UC Irvine’s Masters in Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) Program.

During his time at the Kimley-Horn office in Orange, California, Nick pioneered the profitability office production coordinator (OPC) role, where he standardized operations and helped partners to manage the financial aspects of projects. When moving to the Pacific Northwest, Nick took on a similar OPC role serving all Kimley-Horn offices in the PNW area. In this role, Nick developed clear guidance and policies used to train staff across the region. He now helps to lead the land planning and entitlements team in the Seattle office, focused on assisting partners in all four Pacific Northwest offices with profitability review for their projects. Nick’s role includes building the Pacific Northwest land planning practice with local and national private clients and also growing the landscape architecture practice through parks planning with local jurisdictions.

Throughout his career, Nick has taken leadership roles in multiple professional organizations, including the American Planning Association (APA), the Urban Land Institute, and the University of Washington’s Urban Planning and Design Professionals Council. In 2019, Nick became one of the youngest section directors for the Orange Section of APA California. In this role, Nick led a dedicated board of professionals through budget planning, yearly events, professional development opportunities, and a mentorship program.

ENR Southeast: Kellie Clark, PE

Kellie’s visionary mindset and dedication have made her an exceptional leader who has cultivated a reputation for facilitating meaningful change at Kimley-Horn. In her more than 11 years at Kimley-Horn, Kellie has significantly improved the firm’s surface water practice by increasing communications, providing valuable resources, and creating opportunities for staff through the Surface Water Connectors group.

Kellie also serves as an office practice leader for the Fort Myers office, where she helps mentor, partner with, and empower more than 40 staff members. Additionally, Kellie is a leader for the surface water practice in Florida, overseeing more than 40 staff members. She also holds a firmwide leadership role for Kimley-Horn’s surface water practice nationwide.

This year, Kellie graduated from the 2023 Florida Engineering Leadership Institute. In this program, she was project manager for the Hurricane Ian Remembrance and Children’s Engineering Garden project in Lee County, Florida. This project included educational signs with topics about hurricanes, safety, and what engineers do to serve the community before, during, and after these storms.

Kellie’s participation in industry groups and community organizations demonstrates her commitment to professional development and public engagement. She is a member of the Florida Stormwater Association and serves on the planning committee for the Southwest Florida Water Resources Conference. Additionally, Kellie has been a dedicated member of the Florida Section of the American Water Resources Association (ARWA) since 2013. She has served on the Board of Directors and as Treasurer, Vice President, and President. Her involvement in this nonprofit organization stems from her belief in the importance of promoting understanding and exchanging knowledge in the water resources field. Kellie’s passion for education and mentorship, particularly in STEM fields, aligns with AWRA Florida’s mission, making her a natural fit for leadership roles within the organization and beyond.

ENR Texas & Louisiana: Edwin Tamang, PE

Edwin is a proven leader to watch in both Central Texas and on a national scale as he cultivates exponentially productive aviation teams. In 2023, he led multiple programs across airports in Texas, including San Antonio International Airport’s airfield safety enhancement and improvement program, new terminal development program, and new ground loading facility. As the airfield program manager, he is working with major stakeholders that include Joint Base San Antonio of the United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration.

In the last five years, the teams under Edwin’s leadership have completed projects at over 600 airfields across the US and abroad, including multi-billion-dollar programs at Los Angeles International Airport and Orlando International Airport (ENR 2023 Southeast Project of the Year, Airport/Transit).

Outside of his aviation services work at Kimley-Horn, Edwin has been an active member of the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC) and the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) since 2011. Edwin has spoken at multiple AMAC engagements—most notably with the Annual Airport Business Diversity Conference (State of Airport Development in Texas) and Project Leaders Inspiring Future Talent (LIFT) with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. For NASAO, Edwin partnered with the Texas Department of Transportation, the Alabama Department of Transportation, and the South Carolina Aeronautics Commission in a presentation titled “Innovative Contracting for Statewide Airport Pavement Maintenance Implementation.”

Edwin was also an engineering instructor for the Florida Department of Transportation Aviation Office for 11 years, training more than 800 aviation professionals in airfield pavement design and pavement management implementation. Within the aviation industry, Edwin is known for his involvement across industry initiatives and commitment to growing and developing young professionals.