ENR Midwest has selected Matthew Walsh as its 2017 Legacy Award winner. Walsh is co-chairman of The Walsh Group, a 118-year old family-owned company that provides design, build, finance, operation and activation services across North America. With more than 40 years of construction and real estate development experience, Walsh has led his firm into the heavy civil industry grew the company into one of the nation’s largest heavy civil contractors. He was directly involved in major U.S. projects such as the reconstruction of the Dan Ryan and Kennedy Expressways in Chicago, and the Ohio River Bridge Projects in Indiana and Kentucky. He also helped fund the Walsh Foundation, which annually provides major grants to many educational, church and civic charities.

It is also my privilege to announce ENR Midwest’s Top Young Professionals for 2017. These 20 individuals have built extraordinary industry portfolios in just a few short years. In addition, many donate significant amounts of time and expertise to serve their communities.

ENR Midwest received 40 entries for this year's competition, so it was especially challenging to narrow the outstanding entries to just 20. I strongly encourage anyone who submitted but did not win to resubmit next year - just be sure to save a copy of your entry so you can add in all your accomplishments to come in 2017!

You can read more about both awards and profiles of all the recipients in the Jan. 30^th print edition of ENR Midwest. Thanks again to everyone who participated this year.

2017 ENR MIDWEST TOP 20 UNDER 40 HONOREES

Ben Braun, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at American Structurepoint, based in Indianapolis

Eric F. Dues, Structural Engineer/Inspector at Gannett Fleming Inc., based in Columbus

Joe Eckhart, Project Executive at Hunt Construction Group, an AECOM Company, based in Indianapolis

Paul F. Findlay, Director of Preconstruction at Robinson Construction Company, based in Perryville, Mo.

John George, Operations Manager and Sr. Structural Engineer at AECOM, based in Columbus, Ohio

Mani Golparvar-Fard, Associate Professor, Faculty Entrepreneurial Fellow and Faculty Excellence Fellow at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and CEO and Co-Founder of Reconstruct Inc., based in Urbana, Ill.

Joseph D. Hauber, Senior Project Manager at Geotechnology, Inc., based in Erlanger

Damaris Hollingsworth, Project Manager at DLR Group, based in Minneapolis

Sarah Jacobson, Senior Associate at Gensler, based in Chicago

Kelly Mansell, Construction Executive at Mortenson, based in Minneapolis

Erin O'Keefe, Program Manager at Sargent & Lundy LLC, based in Chicago

Mamon Powers III, President – Indianapolis at Powers & Sons Construction, based in Indianapolis

Jason Pugh, Architect, Urban Designer at Gensler, based in Chicago

Chris Ranck, Principal Water Resources Engineer, Arcadis U.S. Inc., based in Indianapolis

Lucas Richmond, Sr. Multimedia Manager at Gilbane Building Company, based in Milwaukee

Darcey Schumacher, Principal at Wallace Engineering, based in Kansas City

Devon Seal, Senior Environmental Engineer at Gresham, Smith and Partners, based in Columbus

Dan Sizemore, Senior Superintendent at Mortenson Construction, based in Itasca, Ill.

Erin Valentine, Director at McCarthy Building Companies, based in St. Louis

Mike Zorich, Associate / Project Executive at KJWW Engineering Consultants, based in Rock Island, Ill.