Recently, Rotary Director Sandy Lemke introduced our newest Rotarian, Harrison Abbott. Harrison Abbott is a design professional and team manager for Kiewit Corporation and moved back to Omaha from south Texas last year. Working for Kiewit as a professional engineer, he collaborates, designs, and executes with a multitude of projects across North America. Harrison’s early life includes being born and raised in western Nebraska on a family ranch. Attending and graduating from Ogallala, his family encouraged him to study and gain real world experience outside the family ranch and led to completing an engineering degree from the University of Nebraska (Lincoln). After graduating, he joined Kiewit in 2012 as a field supervisory staff and worked on TD Ameritrade Headquarters and STRATCOM.
Harrison Abbott with President Sean Connolly and his sponsor Sandy Lemke
In 2017, Harrison transitioned to a structural engineering role focusing on design, collaboration, and execution of higher-risk projects throughout North America. With this role, he responsible for managing multiple project’s higher risk temporary works through feasibility studies and completing the subsequent engineered designs. With this assignment came a lot of travel the past 5 years, working with private clients (Exxon Mobil, Conoco Phillips, Alaska Airlines), government agencies (USACE, NAVFAC, DoD), and state agencies (DoTs). This has led to living in states such as Alaska, Texas, Washington DC, New Mexico, and more.
Through the successes over the past 5 years, Harrison was fortunate to move back to Omaha to lead a team of structural engineers from the new Kiewit HQ. While the move back has not been that long ago, he led design efforts with Riverfront Play Equipment / Sculptures (to be opened next year), and the temporary structural management and analysis of the Farnam Pier (set Summer 2022).
Prior to moving around the country, Harrison was active in volunteering efforts such as Habitat for Humanity, HETRA, and smaller fundraisers. Upon moving back, he is looking forward to collaborating with community leaders to develop and give back to the community, as well as, learning from community leader experiences in Omaha.
