Act of Excellence – Spring 2026 Winners

Jennifer Schmitz, Design Technology Manager
Information Technology

The Act: When Jennifer joined an initiative supporting SEH’s requirements for federal work, her role initially focused on vendor procurement and software licensing. As she became more involved, she recognized broader technology implications that needed to be evaluated.

Through detailed research, thoughtful questions, and close review of vendor requirements, Jennifer helped the team better understand the technology considerations associated with this work. She also helped clarify requirements and provided valuable information that supported the team’s decision-making.

Jennifer’s initiative, persistence, and attention to detail strengthened SEH’s readiness to pursue federal opportunities and demonstrated the impact employees can make by looking beyond the immediate scope of their role.

Spencer Notch, Engineer-in-Training
Civil Engineering

The Act: While supporting multiple projects for a client, Spencer consistently proved to be someone the team could count on. With crews and priorities shifting daily, he stepped into a variety of field assignments without hesitation and quickly adapted to whatever support was needed most.

In addition to supporting several projects at once, Spencer helped train field staff, maintained daily construction diaries and quantity tracking, and remained attentive to client expectations, project budgets, and field technology requirements. His ability to balance these responsibilities while staying organized was an asset to the team.

What stood out most was Spencer's willingness to help. When faced with schedule changes, weather delays, or unexpected challenges, he often asked what else he could do to support the team and help move work forward. His positive attitude, strong work ethic, and commitment to getting the job done made a meaningful impact on the success of these projects.

The Act: Nick, Owen, Jakob, and Travis demonstrated exceptional teamwork and adaptability while delivering the design for a large multifamily housing development in Colorado. During the final stages of design, the project was impacted by the adoption of new building codes, requiring significant revisions to mechanical and plumbing systems to meet updated energy, refrigerant, and system design requirements.

Faced with a compressed schedule and evolving project demands, team members across multiple regions came together to share responsibilities, apply the new code requirements, and keep the project moving forward. They took ownership of critical design elements and collaborated closely to ensure work remained coordinated and on schedule.

The team also identified design refinements that strengthened coordination, code alignment, and overall quality.
Their collaboration and flexibility kept the design on schedule and supported the client’s goals, exemplifying the teamwork recognized through the Act of Excellence program.