{"id":21090,"date":"2026-02-03T11:42:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/?p=21090"},"modified":"2026-02-03T14:02:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T19:02:39","slug":"celebrating-our-2026-top-young-professionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/celebrating-our-2026-top-young-professionals\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating our 2026 top young professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Engineering News-Record (ENR) annually recognizes top young industry professionals under the age of 40 in the United States from each of its 10 regions. The chosen professionals have demonstrated extraordinary leadership and professional growth, all while creating landmark projects and giving back to their communities.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the nation, our young professionals continue to showcase what it means to deliver a better world through innovative ideas and unparalleled leadership. Their sustainable focused work positively impacts our clients, communities and world for generations. We are excited to congratulate and introduce our ENR 2026 National and Regional Top Young professionals. Read more about each of our honorees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here is the full list of people who were recognized for ENR\u2019s Region Top Young Professionals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ENR East<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Marlon Bess, Project Manager (New York, NY)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlon\u2019s construction management career began with Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts in Rockaway, Queens, where he collaborated closely with AECOM Tishman on critical, high-pressure projects. Following this, Marlon joined Leeding Builders Group, where he has experienced rapid professional growth, managing a broad range of trades from large scopes to specialized interior work. Currently, he oversees interior trades \u2014 including carpentry, millwork, flooring, tilework, specialties and finishes \u2014 on high-end, ground-up residential developments.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Dimitra Karachaliou, Associate Vice President (New York, NY)<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driven by a passion for infrastructure and innovation, Dimitra is Associate Vice President at AECOM with over 13 years of experience, specializing in Program\/Project Management and Controls, and Digital Transformation advisory. She provides advisory services to clients, leading digital transformation initiatives across programs that exceed $2 billion in value. Dimitra began her career as a cost estimator for luxury residential projects. In 2016, she joined AECOM as Deputy Project Manager and quickly rose to leadership. In 2025, she launched AECOM\u2019s Digital Transformation Advisory Champions to scale digital consulting capabilities internally.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Celine Sze, Project Manager (New York, NY)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With eight years in the water and wastewater industry, Celine has gained experience in planning, design and design services during construction. As the AECOM deputy project manager of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) Ashokan Reservoir Reconstruction Project, which is part of the largest public works program in the area in more than 50 years, Celine is developing creative solutions to provide more flood-resilient water supply infrastructure in addition to minimizing environmental impacts and enhancing public recreational facilities. Celine is also helping NYCDEP develop a pathway toward energy neutrality at the in-city wastewater resource recovery facilities and carbon reduction across the agency.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Brigid Wright, DBIA, Project Manager (New York, NY)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brigid began her career at Plaza Construction\u2019s Washington, D.C. office in 2012, working on the historic Monticello Hotel renovation. Her experience expanded across diverse sectors, including schedule and construction oversight for a nationally recognized railcar manufacturing facility in Massachusetts, serving as full-charge Project Manager for the first Fisher Houses in New York City, and managing security and MEP trades for the expansion of Resorts World Casino in Queens. Her background in architecture strengthened her ability to translate design intent into buildable solutions, a skill she applied at Leeding Builders Group while overseeing amenity completion of an ENR award-winning luxury residential tower and tackling forensic construction challenges on The Brooklyn Tower.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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ENR Midwest<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Tim Prince, Director of SH&E (Indianapolis, IN)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim began at AECOM Hunt as a safety intern on a project in southern Indiana, where he quickly developed a strong passion for the major construction industry. In 2022, he earned a promotion to Regional Manager, where he began shaping his territory in the Central Region of the company. After three years in this position, Tim was promoted to Director of Safety for the Central Region, encompassing over 30 states. Over the past 11 years, Tim has dedicated himself to transforming the safety culture in the construction industry and helping people.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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ENR Mountain States and Southwest<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Stephanie Tjan, Project Manager\/ Environmental Engineer (Albuquerque, NM)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephanie has eight years of specialized experience as an environmental engineer and project manager, with a strong track record of leading complex environmental investigations and remediation projects. The focus of her work is on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), an emerging contaminant of national and global priority. In her current role, she leads high-profile PFAS investigations and pilot studies to treat PFAS contamination at the Department of Defense (DoD) facilities across the country. Notably, she led the development and execution of the first and largest CERCLA Remedial Investigation for a DoD client in Michigan which included a complex and iterative rapid site characterization approach.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Michelle Hoysick, Greater West Transportation Business Development Director (Denver, CO)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michelle has fifteen years of experience in the transportation industry, demonstrating consistent growth, leadership and impact across her career. She currently serves as Business Development Director at AECOM, leading strategic growth initiatives for alternative delivery transportation projects across the Great Lakes, Great Plains and Rocky Mountain states. She is also the Colorado business development lead, mentoring staff and contributing to long-term success. Earlier in her career, Michelle was Program Manager Oversight Consultant for several major Denver-area transit projects, including the $6.5 billion RTD FasTracks program, including Denver Union Station, and the West and R rail lines. Michelle was also selected for ENR\u2019s 2026 National Top 20 Under 40 this year.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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ENR Texas & Southeast<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Erik M. Alcantara, Client Service Manager\/Senior Project Manager (Coral Gables, FL)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erik is Client Service Manager and Senior Project Manager in AECOM\u2019s Water business line based in Coral Gables, Florida. With over a decade of experience, he leads major municipal programs and projects across South Florida focused on stormwater and flood mitigation, water and wastewater infrastructure, and climate resilience \u2014 bringing together planning, design, permitting and delivery to help communities adapt and thrive. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Florida, a Project Management Professional (PMP), and an Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP). He is also active in advancing the civil engineering profession through ASCE leadership and service, including as President of the ASCE Miami-Dade Branch (FY 2025).<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Imtiaz Ali, Project Controls \u2013 Schedule & Cost Lead (Atlanta, GA)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imtiaz currently serves as Schedule & Cost Lead at AECOM, contributing to one of America\u2019s largest transportation programs \u2014 a $4.7 billon infrastructure project in Georgia \u2014 where he leads the review, analysis and maintenance of integrated project schedules with a strong focus on earned value management and schedule risk mitigation. Earlier in his career, Imtiaz worked on some of the most ambitious developments in the Middle East including the world\u2019s largest indoor sports mall in Dubai.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Tanner Oetjen, Civil Engineer (Houston, TX)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tanner is a civil engineer at AECOM with over nine years of experience in transportation design. Tanner works in the Transportation Planning group, a multidisciplinary group that combines elements of traditional transportation engineering, feasibility and long-range planning. He is a key member on major projects across the state of Texas and is currently leading construction phasing for the Wheeler Station Transit Center in Houston. Tanner has also contributed to Fort Worth\u2019s long-term transportation goals, serving as the lead roadway designer for the city\u2019s Master Transportation Plan and the redevelopment of the historic Butler Place site.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are excited to congratulate and introduce our ENR 2026\u00a0National and Regional Top Young professionals. Read more about each of our honorees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":544,"featured_media":21091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[5711,6254],"yst_prominent_words":[5643,5625,3762,1341,695,706,670,5627],"class_list":["post-21090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aecom-people","tag-enr","tag-top-young-professionals"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/544"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21090"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21127,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21090\/revisions\/21127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21090"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=21090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}