ENR Midwest is honored to name Paul VanDuyne as its 2023 Legacy Award winner. 

This awards program recognizes industry veterans with many years of experience and long lists of contributions to their profession and community. In choosing this year’s recipient, ENR editors weighed several criteria, including each nominee’s history of innovation, career highlights and an engagement within the industry and the surrounding community.

VanDuyne, an electrical engineer, joined the engineering consulting firm previously known as KJWW as its 16th employee in 1976.  He rose to become company president in 2003 when the firm had 200 employees and four Midwest locations. He led the company’s growth and spearheaded a merger with a California firm in 2015, when the company became incorporated as IMEG. Today IMEG is employee-owned, has more than 2,100 team members at 75 locations across the U.S., and is ranked #71 among ENR’s Top 500 Design Firms.

VanDuyne is credited with prioritizing the company’s goals of sustainable and innovative design, which led to many design achievements. Some groundbreaking projects include the first and largest lake-coupled geothermal hospitals, the first LEED Platinum-rated data center, the largest LEED Platinum-rated office building, and the net zero LEED Platinum Denver Water administration building, which also incorporates a ‘One Water’ design concept for maximum water efficiency.

VanDuyne is a member of Design Futures Council, National Society of Professional Engineers, Illuminating Engineering Society, and the Association of Energy Engineers. He also recently co-authored “Equity by Design: Overcoming Bias and Capitalizing on Data to Reach Broader Outcomes,” an essay on overcoming bias within AEC firms and the evolution of design from simply making buildings that work to considering the impact the built environment can have on social equality.

To read more about VanDuyne and his achievements, check out the Jan. 30 print issue of ENR Midwest.