ENR West Names 2025 Legacy Award Winners: Glen Kaneshige, Erin McConahey and Cary Kopczynski

ENR West is pleased to announce the region's three Legacy Award winners for 2025: Glen Kaneshige, Nordic PCL Construction, Inc.; Erin McConahey, Arup; and Cary Kopczynski, CKC Structural Engineers. The three represent the Northern California, Southern California and Northwest sub-regions of ENR West, respectively.

The Legacy Awards program recognizes industry veterans with many years of experience and long lists of contributions to their profession and community. More than a dozen individuals were submitted as nominees to ENR West. In choosing this year’s winner, ENR's regional editors weighed several criteria, including each nominee’s history of innovation, career highlights and engagement within the industry and the communities they serve.

Northern California Sub-region

Glen Kaneshige
President, Nordic PCL Construction, Inc.
Honolulu

Kaneshige has lead Nordic PCL Construction since 1999, enabling it to expand across the the Hawaiian islands while taking part in some of the highest-profile projects in the state. He is also a staunch champion of the sector. He served as president of the General Contractors Association (GCA) of Hawaii in 2006 and is currently one of four designated Associated General Contractors governors for Hawaii on the board of directors of GCA. Kaneshige has served as a leader in the NAIOP Hawaii chapter, the state’s workforce development council and in 2009 he served on a 16-person task force created by a Senate Resolution to determine the impact of construction on the Hawaii economy and to develop recommendations for more industry growth to stimulate the state economy.

Southern California Sub-region

Erin McConahey
Arup Fellow, Arup
Los Angeles

For a quarter century, Erin McConahey served a variety of roles for Arup including multidisciplinary design leader, lead mechanical engineer, sustainability consultant and project manager. Her extensive project experience is a testament to the impact her work has had in field of mechanical engineering. McConahey was an early advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within Arup, producing a learning resource on unconscious bias in STEM that was later distributed by the Society of Women Engineers. McConahey also initiated and designed the induction course for new graduates joining Arup. The program, which still happens yearly, brings junior staff together with the objective of setting them up well for their future at the firm.

Northwest Sub-region

Cary S. Kopczynski
CEO & Senior Principal, CKC Structural Engineers
Bellevew, Wash.

For more than four decades, Kopczynski’s firm has been a been a driving force in transforming the Seattle area’s skyline. A two-time ENR Newsmaker, he has been recognized for CKC’s pioneering work in the fields of high strength reinforcing bar and Steel Fibrous Reinforced Concrete (SFRC), particularly for seismic design as the 2021-22 president of the American Concrete Institute (ACI). There, Kopczynski's leadership was instrumental in promoting improved design and construction standards. He has also focused on the issue of productivity in the industry, spearheading the creation of a new entity named PRO: An ACI Center of Excellence for Advancing Productivity.

To read more about the achievements of Kaneshige, McConahey and Kopczynski, check out the March 3 print issue of ENR West.

Here is a list of the prior recipients of the Legacy Awards from each sub-region of ENR West: