Young Professionals
ACEC Minnesota Young Professionals connects people in the early years of their careers at member companies across the state. Its events bring young professionals together and introduce them to the broader ACEC Minnesota community.
Much of this industry runs on relationships. The peer you meet on a tour this year may be the project manager you team with five years from now, and Young Professionals is a low-pressure place to start building that network.
Leadership Team
Young professionals plan and lead every event on the calendar. The leadership team sets the year’s program and recruits speakers and tour hosts, and ACEC Minnesota staff handle the logistics behind each event.
Members serve a one-year term that follows the association’s July 1 program year. The team meets monthly, and most members spend about 15 to 20 hours a year on the work. Members who want more responsibility can serve as vice chair, the first step toward leading the team as chair.
2026-27 members
- Rauof Abeidi, Rani Engineering, Chair
- Renee Sailor, HDR, Vice Chair
- RJ McKeever, HNTB, Past Chair
- Connor Hall, Burns & McDonnell
- Ronald Kitoy, Mead & Hunt
- Shan Morgen, Isthmus Engineering
- Zach VanOstrand, PE Services
- Sam Yunker, Burns & McDonnell
A Path Into Industry Leadership
For young professionals
Young Professionals events build relationships across companies and disciplines. Attendees hear directly from industry leaders about how their careers took shape and grow comfortable in rooms where senior engineers and public officials gather.
For member companies
Young professionals who feel connected to the industry are more likely to stay in it. Supporting their participation strengthens retention and puts your company’s name in front of peers across the state. It also develops the people who will one day lead your teams.
Events
The leadership team builds the calendar around staple events and adds new ones each year. Registration for each event opens on the ACEC Minnesota events calendar.
Young Professionals events drew more than 270 attendees over the 2025-26 year, with more new faces than in years past. Tours of Allianz Field and the Highland Bridge neighborhood were among that year’s highlights. Young professionals also met legislators at Politics in Engineering and Transportation, hosted with WTS, and spent time with engineering students at the University of Minnesota.
Fall kickoff
The year opens each September with a relaxed evening of food and games. It’s the easiest first event for newcomers, and leadership team members make a point of introducing them around the room.
Site tours
Twice a year, young professionals go behind the scenes on major projects, from stadiums to water treatment plants. Tours alternate between linear and vertical work so every discipline gets a turn, and they consistently draw the most new faces.
Politics in Engineering
Young professionals meet legislators and hear how infrastructure policy takes shape at the Capitol. The leadership team is planning the 2027 event alongside ACEC Minnesota’s Day at the Capitol, so attendees can join member company leaders as they meet with lawmakers.
Leadership roundtable
Leaders from public agencies and consulting companies share how their careers took shape, then rotate through small-group conversations with attendees. Burns & McDonnell has generously hosted the roundtable in recent years.
College outreach
Leadership team members meet with engineering students at the University of Minnesota to talk about careers in consulting engineering. Many engineers first hear of ACEC Minnesota after they start working, and outreach gives students a friendly face in the industry before they graduate.
Social events
Pickleball and trivia nights give young professionals time with peers away from the office. Those friendships often become the working relationships that carry a career forward.
Thank You to Our 2026-27 Sponsors
Sponsorship determines how many events the leadership team can hold each year. ACEC Minnesota thanks the companies that invest in the next generation of the industry.
Platinum
Gold
Bronze
Become a Sponsor
Sponsorship is available at Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze levels, with the Platinum level reserved for one company. Sponsors are recognized on this page and at Young Professionals events throughout the year.
Each sponsorship supports the full year of programming.
Sponsor Young Professionals