Zweig Group, a leading provider of advisory services, research, and education for the AEC industry, announces Nathelyne Kennedy, President and CEO of Nathelyne A. Kennedy & Associates, Inc., as the recipient of the 2021 Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award, an award recognizing outstanding leaders in the AEC industry.
Throughout her nearly 50+ year career in the AEC industry, Nathelyne accomplished many firsts, including in 1959, being the first black woman to receive an engineering degree from a college or university in Texas. She took this pioneering spirit with her throughout the rest of her career, eventually founding a first-of-its-kind, award-winning civil engineering firm, Nathelyne A. Kennedy & Associates, in Houston (acquired by WSB in 2019).
Zweig Group president and CEO, Chad Clinehens, said, “Nathelyne is an inspiration to the AEC Industry, displaying incredible courage throughout the course of her career to persevere in the face of obstacles and grow her firm through a combination of entrepreneurial spirit, technical expertise, and a dedication to hiring and cultivating the best talent in the industry. She embodies the spirit of this award as well as Zweig Group’s mission to Elevate the Industry.”
Nathelyne gave back by nurturing young talent into the next generation of engineering stars. Her firm worked on many landmark projects, such as the widening bridges on IH 10 in West Houston in 1983, and the Bayport Master Plan in the late 1990s, and the 12-year reconstruction of William P. Hobby Airport completed in 2010. WSB acquired the firm in 2019, and today, Nathelyne continues to audit drawings for the firm’s most complex projects. She has been named Minority Business Woman of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Entrepreneur of the Year by U.S. Black Engineer. Today, she is still working at age 83.
Nathelyne’s team said, “Nathelyne Kennedy is one-of-a-kind. She has faced several challenges, but they didn’t get in the way of her building one of the most successful, Black, female-owned engineering firms in Texas. Nathelyne has led by example, cultivating relationships and building a reputation for herself. She is an inspiration to any young woman and has proven that engineering is not a male industry, but a male-dominated industry.”
For more information on the Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award, click here.
