Some of the construction industry’s most impressive young talent will be recognized as ENR’s 2025 National Top 20 Under 40 award winners next year. 

Selected from more than 450 entries received last summer during the regional Top Young Professionals competition, ENR’s 2025 National Top 20 Under 40 group represents AEC sectors across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

The winners will be recognized at a gathering in New York City in March. Additionally, a cover story and photo spread featuring this year's National Top 20 Under 40 awardees (listed below) will be published in ENR's May 12, 2025, print issue. The feature story will include professional insights and perspectives from the honorees regarding the industry's most pressing challenges.

Panels of independent industry judges selected up to 25 winners to represent each of the five ENR regions. A national team of judges then reviewed the highest scoring candidates from each regional contest to determine the national award winners. 

A special thanks to this year's national team of judges: 

  • Jerri Daniels, associate vice president, Dewberry
  • Sadia Janjua, chief digital transformation, project controls and VDC at The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
  • Jake Schmidt, project development manager, FCI Constructors Inc. 

Feature articles on regional Top 20 Under 40 winners will be published early next year in ENR's respective regional magazines. The process for selecting the 2025 national Top Young Professionals in the ENR regions was done a little differently this year, with a regional consolidation now being announced. As the construction industry continues to evolve, the audience for ENR Regional Editions has also shifted, with firms often working in broader geographic footprints across the U.S. With that in mind, Regional Edition newsletters and website content are evolving to fit, as follows: 

The New York, New England and MidAtlantic regions will merge to form ENR East, while the Texas & Louisiana and Southeast regions will join together under the banner of ENR Texas & Southeast.

Similarly, the California and Northwest editions will merge to form ENR West, with the state of Nevada—previously part of the Southwest region—also being added.

Also, the existing ENR Mountain States region will add the states of Arizona and New Mexico, and will become ENR Mountain States & Southwest.

Finally, the existing ENR Midwest region will retain its name, but will add both North Dakota and South Dakota to its coverage territory.

Much will remain the same, though, with each newly re-formed region continuing to publish six bi-monthly print and digital magazines, a bi-weekly newsletter and regional-specific digital content posted daily to the new regional websites on ENR.com.

In addition, ENR’s successful Best Projects competition/events and top firm rankings will continue to provide the same level of opportunity to showcase outstanding company work.

If you know an outstanding candidate to be considered for emerging leader recognition next year, don’t miss your chance to submit an entry to ENR’s regional competition when it goes live next summer. 

For more information about the contest, visit www.enr.com/top-young-professionals. 

ENR's 2025 National Top 20 Under 40 award winners are listed below in alphabetical order by last name. Congratulations! 

Nila Abubakar, principal, managing director, Walter P Moore. Originally submitted to ENR Southeast & Texas 

Lauren Alger, director of sustainable design, STV. Originally submitted to ENR East

Christopher Baersten, vice president and project manager, Kennedy Jenks Originally submitted to ENR West

Alex Belkofer, senior VDC director, McCarthy Building Cos. Originally submitted to ENR Midwest

Steven Burke, senior director, sustainability, Suffolk. Originally submitted to ENR East

Jeff Byrne, senior superintendent, JE Dunn Construction. Originally submitted to ENR West

Priscilla Chavez, business development manager, PCL Construction Services Inc. Originally submitted to ENR West

Hallie Crouch, partner, director of strategy, Bialosky. Originally submitted to ENR Midwest

Grisel Gray, director of preconstruction and estimating, Gilmore Construction Corp. Originally submitted to ENR Mountain States

Will Kirby, transportation sustainability leader, HDR. Originally submitted to ENR Midwest

Jennyfer LaBuff, director of data engineering and application development, Sundt Construction. Originally submitted to ENR Southwest

Lauren Ladowski Kraemer, principal and vice president, ARCO/Murray National Construction. Originally submitted to ENR Southeast & Texas

Jennifer Mahan, associate, Thornton Tomasetti. Originally submitted to ENR East

Colleen Marnell, Midwest regional leader and senior vice president, Kimley-Horn. Originally submitted to ENR Midwest

Larisa N. Escalle, rail and transit lead, Northern California, GHD Inc. Originally submitted to ENR West

Adrian Russell, director of DEI and procurement, Shiel Sexton Co. Originally submitted to ENR Midwest

Charles (Wesley) Southall, department manager, Burns & McDonnell. Originally submitted to ENR East

Anthony Valdiosera, CEO, VST Engineering Inc. Originally submitted to ENR West

Ethan Walton, project director, McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. Originally submitted to ENR Mountain States 

Catherine Woodworth, area superintendent, Hensel Phelps. Originally submitted to ENR West