PERSPECTIVES
Ayres hires chief
growth officer
Wendy Heintz-Joehnk has been
named Ayres’ first chief growth
officer. Heintz-Joehnk joins
Ayres as executive vice president
and CGO, bringing 29 years of
growth leadership experience in
the built environment.
Based in our Waukesha, Wisconsin, office, she is one of
the four-person executive team setting Ayres’ vision and
direction. Her responsibilities include defining strategy
for growth across divisions, identifying key hires and firm
acquisitions to grow existing or new markets and enter
new services, developing new business capture and client
maintenance strategies, fostering staff development,
and serving as an Ayres ambassador in the business and
professional communities.
Heintz-Joehnk is a member of the University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee Alumni Board of Trustees and the University’s
Athletic Board. She has been engaged in numerous
professional and volunteer organizations, including
International Women Leading Sustainability; MIT Wisconsin
Club; Society of Automotive Engineers; Engineering Society
of Detroit; Design Futures Council; Congress for New
Urbanism; Society for College and University Planning; Center
for Health Design; Sustainability Consortium, SoL (Society of
Organizational Learning, MIT); and Milwaukee Metropolitan
Association of Commerce.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational
communication from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
and an executive certificate in strategy and innovation from
provided permanent repairs to the US 34 corridor along
the Big Thompson River near Loveland, Colorado. The
highway was damaged during devastating September 2013
flooding. Ayres played a key role in the project, including
using hydraulic modeling to guide how and where flood
protection would be provided.
Based on the project’s service value to the public, the
effectiveness of its innovations, and the resulting public
safety enhancements, the Colorado Department of
Transportation submitted the project for the award. This
is the first infrastructure project and the first CDOT project
submitted in the 30-year history of CASFM.
Engineering News-Record magazine previously
awarded its Best of the Best and Project of the Year
honors to the project.
The Colorado Department of Transportation project
was designed by lead firm Jacobs Engineering and
subconsultants Ayres, Muller Engineering, RockSol
Consulting Group, WSP, and Yeh and Associates. Kiewit
Infrastructure Co. was the general contractor.
Ayres provided the hydraulic analysis and engineering that
guided the early design steps in the project to mitigate the
damage caused by the immense destructive forces of the
Big Thompson River, whose fury after a 21-inch rain event
over a few days in northern Colorado killed eight people and
did $2.9 billion in damage, including 23 miles of destruction
along US 34, 12 miles of which was virtually erased from the
landscape, according to ENR.
Development project earns
additional honors
the MIT Sloan School of Management. Another organization has recognized the transformative
Project receives CASFM ‘grand’
award prime consultant serving the City of Altoona, Wisconsin.
The Colorado Association of Stormwater and Floodplain
Managers (CASFM) added its voice to those praising the
results of the US 34 permanent repairs, awarding the project
its 2019 Engineering Excellence Grand Award. The project
30 | TRENDS
River Prairie development, for which Ayres was the
In September, the Wisconsin Economic Development
Association presented its Economic Development Initiative
Award to the project.
WEDA said of the project: “Once undeveloped green
space, the site is now a thriving commerce district home to
Ingenuity, Integrity, and Intelligence.