Benjamin J. Finnegan, PE, BCEE

Ben Finnegan is a process engineer and technical specialist with over a decade of profes­sional experience in the design and opti­miza­tion of drinking water processes and hydraulic systems.

As a volunteer engineer, Ben has delivered engineering services for Engineers Without Borders and Water for People on water projects on a global scale, in Honduras, Nicaragua and Nigeria. As Ben puts it, “providing safe and reliable drinking water to the 1 billion people who don’t currently have it, while maintaining supplies to the 6 billion who do, is one of the great challenges of our time. That’s what inspires me, and it’s why I get up and go to work every day.”

Since joining CDM Smith, Ben has worked on an impressive variety of projects. He has been part of the team that has delivered recom­men­da­tions to Flint, Michigan to help map a path forward after the city’s water crisis; contributed to the design for a sizeable water plant in Jordan, one of the most water-stressed countries on Earth; and he is currently leading design of the filter modules for Houston’s $1.5B NEWPP expansion project—at 2,300 square feet each, the filter basins are among the largest in the world.

“Since I was 17 years old, I’ve wanted to design the next generation of infra­struc­ture to help solve the world’s water crisis. There’s no better place to do that than a firm with the history, passion, and vision of CDM Smith. From the days of Thomas Camp, CDM Smith has pushed the envelope of innovation in water treatment. And, since I joined the company, I’ve been able to live and work on projects all over the world, from my hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota to as far away as Santiago, Chile,” Ben says.