Talent
ENR Mountain States & Southwest Announces 2026 Top Young Professionals
Carlie Cook, who works for contractor Rosendin, is one rising industry leader being recognized by ENR Mountain States & Southwest as a 2026 Top Young Professional. Prior to being named director of semiconductor operations, she was a site manager for a large data center project in the Phoenix area, overseeing 300 team members who are managing construction of six buildings.
We are pleased to announce the 2026 Top Young Professionals for the ENR Mountain States & Southwest region. The program, held annually by each of ENR's regional editions, recognizes young industry professionals all under 40 who are achieving excellence in exhibiting qualities of career and industry leadership, and community involvement. Each of the Mountain States and Southwest awardees will be featured in the March issue of the magazine, detailing their successes and careers so far.
The judges for this year’s contest are each former Top Young Professionals: Lindsay Bruckal, Project Executive, Clayco; Daniel Jensen, Regional Technical Manager / BIM for Bridges, Michael Baker International; Jennyfer LaBuff, Director of Data Engineering, Sundt Construction; Yanling Leng, Chief Bridge Engineer, IMEG Corp; and Ethan Walton, Project Director, McCarthy Building Cos. A sincere thank you to our judges for their time and talent, as we could not hold this competition without you.
Judges did not score applications from individuals working at their same firm or with whom they had any conflicts of interest.
The regional winners are automatically entered into ENR's national Top 20 Under 40 contest. Congratulations to this year’s awardees who are listed alphabetically below:
Logan Brandenburg
Vice President, Traffic & Transportation
Bohannan Huston
Albuquerque, N.M.
Kayla Briones
Director of Safety Compliance/Training
Ward Electric
Longmont, Colo.
Carlie Cook
Director of Semiconductor Operations
Rosendin
Tempe, Ariz.
Justin Cooper
Aviation Leader
Garver
Englewood, Colo.
Eric Gunderson
Vice President
Kimley-Horn
Colorado Springs
Kyle Haas
Managing Director
1898 & Co. (Burns & McDonnel)
Englewood, Colo.
Ryan Hankins
Project Executive
Clayco
Phoenix
Chad Harris
Partner/Co-Founder
FH Construction Group
Denver
Adam Hester
Senior Director of Engineering
Primoris Services Corporation | Primoris Renewable Energy
Aurora, Colo.
Michelle Hoysick
Greater West Transportation Business Development Director
AECOM
Denver
Tara Jones
Talent Acquisition Manager
JE Dunn Construction
Denver
Jane Lin
Senior Project Manager
Redmond Construction
Denver
Will McCord
Electrical Dept. Manager
Burns & McDonnell
Phoenix
Austin Mouw
Senior Preconstruction Manager
Adolfson & Peterson Construction
Johnstown, Colo.
Sunny Natekar
Water & Wastewater Treatment Technologist
Garver
Tempe, Ariz.
Matthew Nguyen
Senior Director of Operations, Solar EPC
Primoris Services Corporation | Primoris Renewable Energy
Aurora, Colo.
Dhruv Patel
President, Renewable Energy Group
McCarthy Building Cos.
Phoenix
Amber Smith
Marketing Director
Kiewit
Lonetree, Colo.
Zac Taylor
Bridge Engineer
Kimley-Horn
Salt Lake City
Sandy Thoms
Vice President Traffic Engineering
WSP USA
Tempe, Ariz.
Stephanie Tjan
Project Manager, Environmental Engineer III
AECOM
Albuquerque, N.M.
Gayatri Umashankar
South West Region Based Manager
Digital Building Components
Phoenix
