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Industry Impact Award
Anne Monnier

partner with KPFF Consulting Engineers

Anne Monnier grew up in Denmark 鈥� the homeland of Lego 鈥� with a dad who was a structural engineer, so building things pretty much came naturally. 鈥淚 grew to love that idea of being part of a team that can create stuff. I can use my math and science skills to help the team, and I also liked the idea of helping and being a problem-solver.鈥�

Monnier started her career at KPFF in 1993 and was named a partner in its Portland office in 2009. She was the first female KPFF owner in the Northwest, and since that time an additional 10 women have become KPFF owners.

Her most prominent projects have accumulated more than 60 awards through 29 individual projects. One of them is the Portland Japanese Garden Expansion, where she led the structural engineering work for the creation of a collection of four new buildings. The $33.5 million expansion included teaching spaces, offices, visitor services, a library, workshops and a tea caf茅.

Monnier鈥檚 commitment to resiliency motivates her to design structures that withstand environmental impacts yet remain flexible for future adaptations. She said that growing up in Europe, where structures are hundreds and even thousands of years old, greatly informs her resiliency work.

鈥淭he world is better understanding climate change and carbon footprint, and there is a greater awareness of the need for buildings that can be around for hundreds of years,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e need to use resources in a mindful way and not just tear buildings down 50 years later.鈥�

She worked with two of KPFF鈥檚 leading women engineers to create the Women in Structural Engineering (WiSE) group. In the two years since it was established, the WiSE group has expanded beyond KPFF鈥檚 Portland Structural Division to other offices and is currently growing to include other women professionals in the Portland A/E community.

鈥淚n her time as a KPFF partner, Anne has brought much-needed diversity to the KPFF ownership group. She has helped our senior partners see the value of this diversity in decision-making along with the unconscious bias that we have in the white male-dominated structural engineering profession,鈥� said Principal Craig Totten.

Monnier often explains to young women that engineering is a technical field and they need to embrace that, but that is only part of it. Communication is a significant piece as well.

鈥淐ommunication is huge and recognizing that everybody brings something different to the table. That鈥檚 a lot of fun. It鈥檚 very collaborative, and then there is the tangible thing of driving by a building and knowing that you were part of creating something for the community that they can use for years and years,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e all have different things we鈥檙e drawn to and you can kind of make it what you want it to be.鈥�

Monnier said she also encourages young women to talk to engineers who are at different stages in their profession in order to understand all that it brings.

With the goal of mentoring and training engineers from emerging, minority and women-owned firms, Monnier also has participated in programs aimed at helping disadvantaged youth learn about the A/E/C profession. Using her position of influence as a partner, she has encouraged the firm鈥檚 financial support of organizations such as National Society of Black Engineers, American Indian Science and Engineering Society and the Society of Women Engineers.

In addition, Monnier contributed to the growth and development of her community by being a board member for the Architectural Foundation of Oregon from 2010-2019, and serving on the Critical Building Committee for the Oregon Resilience Plan Task Force from 2011-2012.

During two terms with Central City Concern, she advocated for vulnerable populations, leveraging her engineering expertise to contribute to the design and construction of facilities that provide essential services to those in need. As a member of CCC鈥檚 Building Committee, she provided advice on purchases of new properties for housing as well as evaluating existing properties for upcoming maintenance, including seismic retrofit.