Kathryn Wilhelm
Kathryn Wilhelm is a seasoned Program/Project Manager as well as Senior Process/Mechanical Engineer whose specialty is water and wastewater treatment systems in support of green building design and ecosystem restoration efforts. Her position at Bioengineering Group is Vice President of Engineering for the company, and Manager of Gulf South Operations services through our Louisiana offices. Kathryn was recently accepted as a Lifetime Member of Strathmore’s International Who’s Who.
Kathryn, a self-described math-junkie, believes her experience has prepared her to address the profound post-Katrina environmental and restoration issues now facing her adopted hometown of New Orleans. “It’s almost as if my entire career has been a series of stepping stones to get me ready for this challenge. I am humbled by its importance and enormity, but exhilarated that my team and I can truly help make the Greater New Orleans area better than it has been.”
Kathryn’s remarkable 28-year career began at Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Kansas - no pressure there to be sensitive to protocol! Because of her responsibility of the more than 40 fluid systems, including water and wastewater throughout the plant, Kathryn became intensely aware of the importance of quality assurance and safety procedures and set out to develop the first relief systems to avoid dangerous chemical interactions.
After eight years at Wolf Creek, Kathryn and her family moved to Mobile, AL where she joined the staff of Brown & Root USA. Kathryn honed her skills performing mechanical & chemical process engineering and design for chemical refineries and pharmaceutical plants for clients such as Chevron, Ciba-Geigy, and International Paper. It was here that the environmental impact of these plants hit Kathryn between the eyes, seeing both the risk of acute release and the significance of cumulative effects. “Being responsible to design all the systems – from the air to the solids - gave me greater insight into the importance of asking the right ‘what if’ questions. You don’t win popularity contests but you don’t lie awake at night worrying. “I’m glad my work with highly sensitive materials gave me the training to address the chemical interactions so we can avoid ecological catastrophe.” Four years later she joined Herzog Hart Corp. where she fell in with Project Management in addition to object engineering concepts. In this position she discovered a real joy in mentoring people. She succeeded in supporting creative individuals, receiving credit for their contributions, and helping the general public realize the value of the entrepreneurial spirit of those engineers and scientists who create tomorrow’s world today. When the firm underwent a successful acquisition after a period of tremendous growth fueled by those core values, she moved on to her next opportunity - Volkert & Associates.
Kathryn’s move to Volkert & Associates brought her deeply into wastewater treatment for municipalities and the Department of Defense. She was one of the first to use the phrase Decentralized Wastewater Treatment and introduced it at the WEFTEC conference in the mid '90s. One of her goals is to see Distributed Sewer Design become the wastewater treatment of choice across the globe. Her achievements brought value to her firm and clients, and kudos to Kathryn herself as she was named ASPE/MACE “Engineer of the Year” in 2002.
Little did she know that when she accepted the Directorship of the Mechanical, Water & Wastewater Division at Burk Kleinpeter, Inc. in late 2004, she would be at the epicenter of one of today’s most critical infrastructure projects – New Orleans. Then Hurricane Katrina hit and those efforts were primarily focused on damage assessment in the greater Gulf South Coast. At Bioengineering Group, Kathryn has helped assemble an engineering team that is up to the challenge of designing and managing fast-paced and comprehensive hurricane protection infrastructure projects. She has also assumed the technical role as Principal in Charge for over $200 million of contract capacity associated with these projects. Kathryn has been integral to the design of sector gates, roadway closure gates, floodwalls and drainage pump station upgrades. She demonstrated the capacity to not only manage the in-house technical staff, but also our design team partners, to meet aggressive project design and construction schedules. “I know I have the talent at my disposal to do it right because my personal philosophy is same as that of Bioengineering Group - that interdisciplinary solutions are essential. I believe the firm’s interdisciplinary approach is what sets us apart and it most definitely allows our solutions to be sustainable. We use natural processes where we can, and add technology where appropriate – I find it refreshing to marry the two. If you design it right, the result can withstand the wrath of mother nature as well as the failings of human intervention.”
Kathryn and her husband, Michael Hubbert, DMD, reside in Covington, LA on New Orleans’ Northshore. They have two grown daughters who live in Baltimore, MD and Hattiesburg, MS. Kathryn and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening, swimming and entertaining friends with good southern cooking. They are also looking forward to becoming first-time grandparents.