Please join us in celebrating Leif Garnass, the Vice President of our Traffic and Technology Group, for 20 years of service. Congratulations! Learn more about Leif and his career at SRF Consulting below. Q: Why did you decide to pursue a career as a transportation engineer? A: I’ve always been interested in highways, bridges, and skyscrapers! Q: What’s the most rewarding part of your job? A: We solve challenges, and the challenges are different for each project. We have the opportunity to be creative and innovative—no one solution fits every challenge! Q: Tell us about your role at SRF. A: As the Vice President of SRF’s Traffic & Technology division, I lead business development and strategic growth while managing projects that focus on the planning and design of connected and managed freeways and arterials, transit and multimodal corridors, rural highways, and reduced-conflict intersections. My career at SRF has spanned all aspects of transportation engineering, from the planning stages of projects through design and implementation. I really enjoy the opportunity to collaborate with many people across the industry! Q: Compared to your first year at SRF, how has your role evolved? A: My first year at SRF focused entirely on learning as much as possible from a technical perspective from as many people as possible. A strong technical background is essential to an exciting career. Over time, my role has evolved into project management and leadership, where I use my technical skills to lead teams and projects successfully. Q: What advice would you give to a young professional thinking about a career in transportation and engineering? A: The opportunities for diverse project experiences are endless, and many may not be apparent early on. Learn all you can from anyone you can (colleagues, supervisors, clients, friends in the industry) to find the area you are most passionate about. There will be an opportunity! Q: What has been your favorite project at SRF? A: My favorite project – or the project I’m most proud of – was completed early in my career. I designed the traffic signals used to manage traffic during the reconstruction of the US 169/Hennepin County 81 “Devil’s Triangle” area in the northwest metro. The project had multiple temporary traffic signals needed to move traffic during four construction stages, with multiple “minor” phases within each stage. The project was challenging and required attention to detail, and I feel the project was a success since we didn’t receive any calls from the contractor during construction!
Congrats on 20 years Leif! You've had your hands on a lot of transformative projects over the years. We'll find a way to work on a few more together in the future!
Scott Poska
4mo
Wow Leif 20 years congratulations! Intern to VP is quite the success story!
Denny Eyler
4mo
Twenty years Leif! Congratulations!
Congratulations Leif on your promotion!
Benjamin Nault
4mo
Congrats Leif!!
Regional Business Development Manager at Stonebrooke Engineering
4moCongrats Leif, I enjoyed working with you on some McLeod projects.