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Originally from Marysville in the Sacramento Valley, John graduated with a civil engineering degree from Cal Berkeley, and then accepted a position with the City of Redwood City, working under the public works director. Fast forward to four years later when Stan Kangas, with a list in hand of 12 Stanford University projects that had been approved for design and needed an engineer, reached out and offered John a position with BKF. He was hired on, and over three decades later, and a firm Associate, he is still working on projects not only for Stanford, but other university and college campuses, public works projects, and corporate campus projects, which he also finds enjoyable.

“Over the years I’ve found the campus work to be very rewarding,” he said. “I know that in building educational facilities, we are helping to make a long term investment and a lasting impact which will be felt for many, many years to come.” He added that this work can also be challenging, since many of the campuses on which we work are 100+ years old. “Figuring out the existing infrastructure can be challenging.”

Whether it’s an iconic higher education project or a municipal project, John says making a difference in the community is really what drives him. In fact, following 9/11 he felt inspired to apply this “making a difference” mentality to his personal life, and donates blood every eight weeks at a local blood bank. “Making a donation is an easy way for me to provide a gift to society and save lives.”

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