Consulting-Specifying Engineer Announces 2021 40 Under 40 Winners
Consulting-Specifying Engineer's 40 Under 40 Awards program highlights individuals who are resourceful, innovative, highly skilled, and exhibit a strong work ethic. These award recipients lead large, complex projects that have affected change and incited positive impacts on a global scale. They are driven both at work and at home, maintaining their personal passions and family balance while providing high-quality engineering leadership for external clients and internal teams. AEI is proud to announce Brett Friedman, Aerospace Market Leader and Principal, as one of the 2021 40 Under 40 Award Winners.
Brett graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from South Dakota State University. After working as a civilian contractor for the U.S. Navy and briefly for a Seattle-based engineering firm, Brett found a home at AEI. He has taken the reins as the Aerospace Market Leader, giving him the ability to work for the clients of his dreams, such as NASA and General Motors. In addition to leading the aerospace market for AEI, Brett works on extraordinarily complex industrial projects. Some of the buildings he designed are one-of-a-kind, including the California Air Resources Board’s Southern California Consolidation project, the world’s largest zero net energy building, and a project involving subcooling rocket fuel with liquid helium for a confidential aerospace client.
Sophisticated, state-of-the-art projects bring challenges as unique and complex as the projects themselves. Brett believes safety is of paramount concern and collaborates with all team members across the various project parties to ensure all codes are followed. Brett’s integrity is always at the forefront of his approach, driving decisions and revisions – maintain a balance between safety and over-engineering a system.
Gaining his clients’ trust and confidence is a key motivator and fuels Brett’s drive to design systems that are unique and more efficient. He welcomes skepticism, challenges, and questions from clients regarding design and technology choices – allowing him to maintain accountability, adaptability, and the opportunity to explain the details and validity of why his specific selections provide maximum benefits.
A self-admitted people pleaser, Brett works hard to ensure his clients are happy, but also to ensure care for his team, maintaining the mantra that projects are a success when the outcome leads to a happy client and a well-appreciated and satisfied project team. A previous AEI mentor once advised Brett to have the courage to hire people smarter than himself and challenge them to surpass him, and Brett works diligently to do just that. He enjoys selecting and cultivating the next generation of AEI engineers by participating in recruiting and mentoring new college graduates. From weekly appointments to help new hires acclimate to the job to ensuring his availability to assist them on projects he manages, Brett strives to remain a consistent resource and trusted partner company-wide.
When he is not working, Brett enjoys giving back to the community as much as he can. He teaches Fundamentals of HVAC at the University of Wisconsin and guest lectures for Renewable Energy Systems and Thermodynamics at South Dakota State University. Brett also worked with the Architecture/Construction/Engineering (ACE) Mentoring program to teach high school students interested in pursuing a career in engineering. He enjoys attending fundraising events for a local pet rescue with his wife and can often be spotted snow-blowing for his neighbors, before they have even woken up, just to make their days go more smoothly.
From Brett’s perspective, these small acts and contributions — both in and out of the office — bring him a sense of peace and purpose.