Edward Eugene (Gene) Reed, chief executive officer at E.E. Reed Construction, has been named the 2016 recipient of ENR Texas & Louisiana’s third annual Legacy Award.

This program was added to our annual awards line up in order to recognize industry veterans with many years of experience and long lists of contributions to their profession and community. In choosing this year’s recipients, ENR’s editors weighed several criteria, including each nominee’s history of innovation, outstanding career highlights and an engagement within the industry and the surrounding community.

Reed, 82, is a 1953 graduate of Lamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg, Texas, and earned a bachelor's of science degree in Civil Engineering and a bachelor's of business administration degree from The University of Texas at Austin.

After serving in the United States Air Force and following a 17-year career with Harvey Construction Co., he went on to form E.E. Reed Construction Co. in 1976.

The company's first project involved building cabinets at a church in Stafford and today, the E.E. Reed family of companies has more than 300 employees, eight offices operating from coast to coast with locations in Texas, Virginia and California. In 2015, the firm billed more than $546 million dollars.

Some of the notable projects that he has been involved with include the Sonny Carter Astronaut Training Center Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory – NASA in Houston, the Sugar Land Memorial Park Veterans Memorial in Sugar Land, and Energy Towers I, II, III & IV in Houston.

Reed’s company has played a part in about 1,000 Texas projects and in the last decade alone, has completed more than 145 office projects, 30 of which were LEED, plus more than 182 industrial projects totaling over 25 million sq ft.

Reed will be honored at ENR Texas & Louisiana’s 2016 Best Projects luncheon in Houston on October 19. Also, look for an in-depth profile highlighting his career and achievements that will be included in the February 13, 2017 issue of ENR Texas & Louisiana.