Arkansas Academy of Civil Engineering announces 13 new members

In its 40^th anniversary year, the Arkansas Academy of Civil Engineering (AACE) on Monday (June 8) announced 13 new members.

Because of restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual induction banquet and business meeting were canceled.  A virtual business meeting was conducted and the inductees will be honored at a combined 2020/2021 banquet next spring.

The new members voted for induction are:

Charles A. Bayles
Design engineering manager, Black Hills Energy.
Bayles has worked for Black Hills (previously Western Gas Company) for 32 years, progressing through a variety of positions leading to his current one. His experience includes providing input to Public Regulatory Commissions in Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming.

Chuck Boyd
Retired division administrator, Federal Highway Administration
Over a more than three-decade career with the FHWA, Boyd worked in locations including Jackson, Mississippi; Washington, D.C.; Seattle; Madison, Wisconsin; Oklahoma City; Little Rock; Chicago; Denver; Kansas City, Missouri; and Nashville, Tennessee.

David “Kit” Carson
Retired Surveys Division head, Arkansas Department of Transportation
Carson was an instructor in the Civil Engineering Department from 1971-1973. After that, he began with ARDOT as staff location engineer for the Surveys Division. After more than 40 years with ARDOT, Carson retired in 2013.

DeJuan J. Carter
Engineering and Construction Division chief, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Carter has, to date, been with the Corps of Engineers for 27 years. His current duties include conducting design and construction activities within the Little Rock District’s area of responsibility. He is also dam safety officer, levee safety officer and bridge safety officer for the district.

David Clements
Director of consulting, Walmart Labs; Cloud Consulting
Clements’ career has seen him in positions with Garver, Carter-Burgess, and Crafton, Tull & Associates. As his professional interests leaned towards information technology design and integration, he took on a role with Baptist Health as a management engineer and later as an IT project manager with Arvest Bank. Clements currently serves as the director of consulting services for Wal-Mart’s Global Cloud Engineering Group. Among his accomplishments are Walmart Grocery Pickup web and app, and Site to Store shipping.

Chad Clinehens
President and CEO, Zweig Group
Clinehens’ career with Zweig began after 14 years with Garver and a stint with McGoodwin, Williams and Yates. Through Zweig, Clinehens works with firms across the country on things such as strategic business planning, marketing and sales, and growth campaigns. He is also chief publisher of Civil & Structural Engineering magazine and editor of The Zweig Letter. Clinehens currently serves on the board of directors of four companies, three of which are national engineering firms.

Andy Davis
Principle/owner, New Water Systems LLC
Arkansas state representative, District 31
Davis founded New Water Systems LLC with the intent of bringing new technologies relevant to his home state to market. Over the years he has expanded the business to have a presence in five states. Davis has been a member of the Arkansas legislature since 2013 where he had a significant role in legislation covering highway funding and reforms, tax reform, education, and environmental regulation.

Kirk Morrow
Owner/president, Morrow Consulting
Morrow has worked for companies that include Phillips Petroleum, JA Jones Construction Company, and S&B Engineers and Constructors Ltd. in Houston, Texas. Morrow’s dedication to safety aided S&B having an excellent safety record; over 5 million hours without a single lost-time accident. He has taught at University of Houston, University of Texas, Texas A&M University, and currently teaches Construction Safety and Construction Productivity for the Civil Engineering department at the University of Arkansas.

Todd Mueller
Senior project manager, Transportation Team Leader, Garver USA
Mueller is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Arkansas and has 20 years of experience in transportation and environmental engineering. His duties at Garver include overseeing municipal, state- and federally-funded projects as large as $300 million. He is a member of the Arkansas Society of Civil Engineers, Arkansas Public Works Association and Little Rock Engineers Club.

Michael Noernberg
Vice president of engineering and QA, W&W|AFCO Steel
Noernberg began his career with AFCO Steel as an intern, working his way to his current position via continued education, research and a dedication to quality. His duties extend to many domestic and global destinations. Noernberg is the management representative for quality certifications issued by the American Institute of Steel Construction, Canadian Welding Bureau, Clark County, Nevada, cities of Los Angeles and New York, and others.

J.D. Phillips
Executive director, Texarkana Water Utilities
Phillips began his career at Hall Engineering Company in Texarkana, Arkansas; later moving on to Day & Zimmerman where he administered contracts for projects that included water distribution, sanitary sewer, industrial sewer, natural gas piping, and asbestos abatement. Phillips currently works for the Texarkana Water Utilities, where for 20 years he has supervised the utilities operations, water production and pollution control divisions before eventually being named executive director of the utility.

Kevin Reynolds Sr.
Vice president for sales and marketing, W&W|AFCO Steel
During his career with AFCO Steel, Reynolds has managed a variety of projects valued at more than $8 billion in construction costs.  Projects including power plants, paper machines, steel mills, office buildings and stadiums. He is a licensed professional engineer in Arkansas and a licensed contractor in North Carolina and Utah. Reynolds is a founding member and past president of the Civil Engineering Alumni Board. He is also a member of the American Institute of Steel Construction, and the Association of General Contractors.

Richard Welcher
Vice president and chief operations officer, Tatum, Smith, Welcher Engineers Inc.
Welcher began his career with Exxon-Mobile Pipeline Company in Houston.  He later returned to Arkansas to continue graduate studies while working for Grubbs, Hoskyn, Barton and Wyatt in Springdale. He joined Tatum-Smith in 2005 as a design engineer, becoming a partner in 2007. Welcher is a licensed Professional Engineer in 40 states. He is chairman of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying Civil/Structural P.E. Exam Development Committee. Welcher currently teaches as adjunct professor for the University of Arkansas Civil Engineering department and for the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.

A group of 20 University of Arkansas civil engineering alums signed a charter to establish AACE on July 1, 1980. Since that time, AACE membership has grown to over 200 active members who mentor, support and work with students and faculty of the UA’s civil engineering department.