Henderson Engineers Associate VP Named Consulting-Specifying Engineer 40 Under 40 Honoree

Henderson Engineers Associate Vice President Kelly Noel was named a recipient of the prestigious 40 Under 40 Award from Consulting-Specifying Engineer on May 14. The 40 Under 40 Award is given to 40 nonresidential professionals age 40 and younger who stand out in a host of personal and professional aspects in their lives.

Candidates were nominated by a professional colleague or mentor and judged by industry experts based on nine areas, including their commitment to superiority in their academic, professional, personal, and community involvement endeavors. In the May edition and online, Consulting-Specifying Engineer honored each of these young professionals, highlighting qualities that lead to sustained success, recent professional projects, and personal achievements. Noel will be presented with her award at a ceremony in Chicago on Wednesday, Oct. 3.

“This year’s 40 Under 40 winners are versatile, experienced, ambitious, and inspiring,” said Amara Rozgus, editor-in-chief of Consulting-Specifying Engineer. “Now in its eleventh year, the program continues to honor the best in the industry. And it’s more competitive each year — these winners really were stand-outs in a crowded field of nominees.”

From the official announcement: “An associate vice president and the first African-American woman to achieve ownership status in firm history, Noel serves as the principal-in-charge of a team of 32. She has been a driving force behind Henderson’s rapid growth thanks to her work with the company’s largest clients, which includes serving as project or program manager on numerous big-box retail operations. Noel joined Henderson in 2003 immediately after earning her degree from the University of Kansas. Now, she directs a team that is responsible for providing services to one of the nation’s largest retailers.

She has worked her way up from design engineer to associate to principal-in-charge, showing incredible dedication to the company. Her favorite part of her current position is that she is able to mentor other engineers, a passion she developed after growing in her career under the direction of incredible mentors that took an interest in her development.

Away from the office, Noel’s free time is largely spent mentoring the underprivileged youth in the community. It is her greatest passion in life. Providing a positive influence as a mentor to inner-city kids is greatly important to her because she overcame the odds in that setting as one of five children raised by a single mother and grandmother in Kansas City, Kansas. In true Noel fashion, she loves to host others and likes to throw theme parties at her house. She and her husband are sports fans and often visit Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium to cheer on the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals.”

Noel’s selection marks the second consecutive year that a Henderson employee has earned 40 Under 40 recognition from Consulting-Specifying Engineer.

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