HNTB names Chelsea Merrill as West Region business development officer

Merrill to provide increased focus on key clients, markets and infrastructure initiatives

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Jan. 31, 2022) – HNTB Corporation named Chelsea Merrill as West Region business development officer and associate vice president, overseeing client infrastructure needs in the firm’s West Division and Northwest Division, comprising a 13-state region. She is based in HNTB’s Oakland, California, office.

“Chelsea’s infrastructure industry expertise and proven ability to enhance key client relationships are valuable additions to HNTB,” said John Friel, PE, HNTB West Region president. “Chelsea will partner with teams in the West and our firmwide resources to further build on the region’s impressive history of client success and seek new paths for growth.”

Merrill will focus on growth in the West Region by further increasing HNTB’s strategic focus on clients’ infrastructure needs and successful project delivery. She has a diverse background as a strategic transportation industry consultant, collaborator and advocate. She has led development of strong owner relationships, transportation funding initiatives, legislative tracking, policy analysis, and business development leadership. She also has worked successfully across many key markets with many of HNTB’s largest clients.

Merrill joins HNTB from a transportation technology firm where she was director of transportation market development. In that role, she drove lead, contact and opportunity generation with state and local departments of transportation, private sector engineering firms, and other large stakeholder organizations.

Merrill graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science in political science.

HNTB has been involved in some of the region’s most high-profile, complex infrastructure programs that are reshaping the West. The firm’s many signature infrastructure projects in the region include the Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement in Los Angeles; Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers; Sound Transit’s East Link Extension project in Seattle; Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders; Concourse expansion and the Hotel and Transit Center at Denver International Airport; Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program in Seattle; United Airlines terminals 7 and 8 at Los Angeles International Airport; and the West Davis Corridor highway design-build in Utah.