Awards

Angela Popenhagen, Senior Project Manager with Stantec, has been honored as a recipient of the 2025 APWA Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year Award.

Angela’s remarkable career spanning over 30 years as a consulting engineer, dedicated to serving numerous municipalities and state agencies, speaks volumes about her exceptional contributions to the field of public works. Angela’s passion for assisting small communities, especially those facing resource constraints, is truly commendable.

Beyond her professional responsibilities, Angela has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the promotion of public works in her community. She actively engages in educational initiatives at local schools, including Women in STEM, which further enlightens the next generation about the importance of public infrastructure. Additionally, Angela educates and collaborates with local community leaders and legislators, advocating for policies that prioritize infrastructure development and maintenance in the region. 

Angela has an extensive track record of involvement with the Minnesota Chapter. She has served in all the Chapter leadership roles, including Chapter delegate. She played a critical role in both the 2005 APWA Congress (as Chapter President) and in the inaugural 2016 PWX (Host Committee co-chair), both highly successful and held in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Angela’s outstanding contributions to the Chapter and APWA have been recognized through awards that include the Hugo G. Erickson Award for Chapter Service, and the Harry S. Swearingen Award at the National level.

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A young professional, Sarah has many notable contributions to the public works profession, the APWA-MN chapter, and her employer. Her APWA-MN membership began 13 years ago when she was a student at the University of Minnesota. In her 11 years of municipal engineering experience, Sarah has demonstrated a passion to the public works profession in a myriad of ways.

Professionally, Sarah has consistently demonstrated leadership and her commitment to advancing water resources and water protection goals of the City of Minnetonka. She has been recognized four times in five years by the city’s Employees in Action Committee: Exceptional Customer Service (2019), Teamwork (2022), Innovation (2022), and Innovation (2023).

Sarah has an impressive track record of involvement with the Minnesota Chapter, starting as a college student. She served as vice president of the inaugural APWA-UMN Student chapter, helping to create a strong foundation on which the chapter has continued to build. Sarah has been a member of the APWA-MN Young Professionals Committee since its inception in 2016, chairing the committee in 2022-2023. She currently serves on the APWA-MN Executive Committee as the Young Professionals Director as she continues her involvement with the Young Professionals Committee and many YP-driven chapter events.

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Throughout his career, Ross has made many notable contributions to the public works profession, the APWA-MN chapter, and his community. For the past two decades, Ross has proven himself to be a leader and innovator in water resource management. He consistently looks for the best solution to complex problems, keeping in mind the unique community needs of each situation.

Ross has been honored with the City of Edina’s Leadership Award as someone whose work exemplifies the city’s values of integrity, quality, and service. He employs those values to bring people together to work on big ideas, including asset management, policy development, and community involvement.

Within APWA-MN, Ross is a frequent speaker at chapter conferences, workshops, and other education programs, sharing his expertise on a variety of water resource topics. Additionally, Ross is active in the American Water Works Association, the Institute of Asset Management Minnesota Branch, the Minnesota Cities Stormwater Coalition, and the City Engineers Association of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota has long benefited from Ross’ service as a recurring mentor for the U of M Civil Engineering Capstone Class, where he provides consulting and project management advice and practice projects for undergraduate students.

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Bridget’s role with the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) is key to the successful project operation at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and six MAC-owned general aviation airports in the region. Not only is Bridget responsible for development and implementation of the MAC’s seven-year $3.1 billion Capital Improvement Program, she also oversees planning, design, construction and environmental affairs/compliance for all seven of MAC’s airports.

In addition to her pivotal role at MAC, Bridget has been a member of APWA-MN for more than two decades. Within APWA-MN, Bridget has served on the Conference Planning Committee since 2012 and was elected to a two-year term on the APWA-MN Executive Committee as the State/Regional/County Director in 2016. Additionally, Bridget has presented or moderated several sessions at chapter conferences, including most recently at the 2024 APWA-MN Fall Conference when she presented a popular session on MAC’s 20-year vision for the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. 

Bridget is a member of both the Airport Council International (ACI) - North America Chapter and the American Association of Airports Executives. She chairs the ACI Sustainability Working Group and serves on the ACI Environmental Affairs Steering Committee. Bridget has participated on numerous policy advisory boards for the MN Dept. of Transportation, Hennepin County, and Ramsey County, and has coached LIttle League and soccer teams in her community.

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The City of Chaska desired to revitalize its downtown as a hub to reflect and celebrate its historic character, traditional small-town character, and values. With two major highways traversing downtown, these roadways provided important access and traffic movement yet also included challenges for residents, business patrons, pedestrians and bicyclists.

Project goals were to provide a comprehensive network for non-motorized transportation, safely accommodate all users, provide efficient and reliable vehicle mobility, provide infrastructure improvements compatible with the natural and human environments, and develop a financially responsible implementation plan. Achieving these goals required a detailed engineering and planning review to fully understand the benefits and deficiencies of various alternatives. Project success can be attributed to partnerships and compromise among the City of Chaska, Carver County, and MnDOT to find a solution each agency could accept. 

The final project established a transportation system truly rooted in strong partnerships, flexible design, and collaboration. The $23 million in construction investments greatly reduced traffic crashes, improved local connectivity, greatly improved and expanded pedestrian accommodations, and allowed Highway 41 to operate safety and efficiently. This innovative project serves as a model for future transportation initiatives, demonstrating how community-driven planning and multi-agency collaboration can successfully integrate local and regional goals.

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