ENR East is proud to announce the winners of the ENR East Top Young Professionals 2026 competition.
Celebrating the emerging leaders who are shaping the future of design and construction across the region, this year’s competition attracted a strong field of entries from across the Eastern Region, including Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
The format of the competition remains the same as last year, continuing the consolidated structure that unites the old regional editions of the ENR in wider territories. ENR East covers the states formerly under ENR MidAtlantic, ENR New York and ENR New England.
Judges evaluated more than 100 entries to choose the region’s top 25 professionals under the age of 40. The judges did not score entries from people employed by the same company or in which there was a conflict of interest.
This year’s judges were:
André Barbour, director of diversity and inclusion at NEI General Contracting; Brian Derr, vice president of infrastructure engineering at The LiRo Group; Qianyu Hu, aassistant district engineer in the Maryland Department of Transportation; Rod Jones, Senior Project Manager, Holder Construction; and Lili Liang, Deputy Director of the Department of Transportation at the Maryland State Highway Administration.
Each honoree will be featured in the February 2, 2026 edition of ENR East, highlighting their professional achievements, industry impact and contributions to their communities.
Below is the list of ENR East 2026 Top Young Professionals listed alphabetically by last name.
Congratulations to the winners!
Marlon Bessproject manager at Leeding Builders Group, New York
Rafiqul Chowdhurypresident and founder of Quadrant Engineering, Astoria, New York
Robert (Bob) Dieterle Jr.associate director of Delta Consulting Group, Abington, Pa.
Kenneth Donaldsenior project engineer and carbon reduction manager at VHB, Watertown, Mass.
Lori Ferrissexecutive director and co-founder of Built Buildings Lab, Boston
Alicia Heinsensenior associate at KSS Architects, Philadelphia
Freddys L. Hernandezassistant commissioner of the New York Department of Design and Construction, Long Island City, New York
Christopher Hoffmanco-business unit leader, DC/Baltimore at DPR Construction, Reston, Virginia.
Michael Hopperassociate partner of LERA Consulting Structural Engineers, New York
Dimitra Karachaliouassociate vice president of AECOM, New York
Kevin Khemrajvice president of Welkin Mechanical LLC, an Iovino Enterprises company, Great Neck, NY
Caleb Krautergroup leader | water and wastewater at Herbert, Rowland & Grubic Inc., Harrisburg, Pa.
Alison Lovesenior associate and engineer at STV, Boston
David Sambacivil engineer at Kimley-Horn, Herndon, Virginia.
Gina Semeraddirector, HVAC at Jaros, Baum & Bolles, New York
Andrew Shalhoubassociate/section manager at Burns & McDonnell, Morristown, NJ
Sajid H. Sheikhsenior vice president of construction and program management at Enovate, Berkeley Heights, NJ
Lauren Simonedirector of learning and development and lean construction at WM Jordan Company, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Marilisa Stiglianodirector of operations, infrastructure solutions at AtkinsRéalis, New York
Celine Szeproject manager at AECOM, New York
Adnan Taqiproject manager at Jacobs, Boston
K. James Taylor Jr.associate vice president, national government market sector leader at Verdantas, Wilmington, Del.
Lauren UnderwoodNortheast Division Manager at Apex Companies, Quincy, Mass.
Will Wagnerbusiness development manager at Bechtel, Reston, Virginia.
Brigid Wrightproject manager at Leeding Builders Group, New York
