ENR’s National Top 20 Under 40
Seattle, WA
Courtney O'Neill
Associate Vice President
AECOM
Engineer devotes career to water management issues
A water resources engineer with 14 years’ experience, O'Neill’s career started at Texas Cooperative Extension, after she received her bachelor’s in Biosystems Engineering at Michigan State University, where she wrote publications and gave educational presentations across the United States on a variety of water and wastewater issues including septic systems, rainwater harvesting and stormwater management. This work piqued her interest in water management issues and led her to pursue her master’s in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington. After graduate school, O'Neill worked for West Consultants Inc. as a hydrologic engineer and worked on projects for a diversified client base ranging from floodplain mapping studies for private developers to developing and analyzing flood models for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Since joining AECOM in 2011, O'Neill has worked on technical projects as a water resources planner, and she is currently America’s practice lead for Watershed Resilience Planning.