Even within the well-established New England design and construction community, there's still ample room for fresh new talent. In ENR's inaugural feature of top young professionals in New England, we showcase an impressive collection of current and future leaders under the age of 40.

Some, like Matthew Consigli of Consigli Construction, have elevated long-standing family businesses to a new level of success. Others, such as Ryan Hutchins of Gilbane Co., have risen up the ranks within some of the nation's largest firms to assume leadership roles.

Although all of our featured professionals are based in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island or Vermont, many have gained influence well beyond New England. In some cases, individuals such as Laura Handler of Tocci Building, have established themselves as respected industry experts.

Those recognized by ENR either nominated themselves or were nominated by colleagues. Each was selected by an independent jury on the basis of a number of factors, including career experience, industry leadership and community service.

This year's judges included: Deb Michener, senior associate at Stantec Planning and Landscape Architecture; Shawn Seaman, vice president and chief operating officer in healthcare and science & technology at Suffolk Construction; and Mark Walsh-Cooke, principal at Arup.

Read on to learn more about the region's top young talent.

ANDERSON

KyAnn Anderson
Improves project outcomes through effective community outreach
38, Senior Project Architect
Kleinfelder
Cambridge, Mass.

As a senior project architect at Kleinfelder for the past three years, Anderson has proved that she not only has the technical skills to meet client needs, but she also knows how to connect with the community. While leading a $50-million project for the Massachusetts National Guard headquarters in Lexington, she recognized the need to interface with neighboring communities to achieve a positive outcome. Anderson parlayed these skills to become Kleinfelder's first senior community liaison, working on two major projects under way in Boston: the $1-billion expansion of Boston's MBTA system from North Cambridge through Somerville and terminating at Tufts University in Medford and an $80-million city-wide project in Cambridge involving infrastructure and streetscape upgrades. In executing her communication and outreach plans, she aims to meet client and community needs, compress project duration by streamlining approvals and potential claims, and ultimately help to reduce the total project cost.