2025 Charles Durham Achievement Award

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The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC)-Nebraska is proud to announce Jeff Sockel, Sr Vice President and Omaha Division Manager at Benesch, as the 2025 honoree of the Charles Durham Achievement Award. This distinguished award recognizes Jeff’s outstanding contributions to the engineering profession and his commitment to excellence in infrastructure development.

Jeff Sockel, PE, VMA, a Kansas State University graduate and licensed professional civil engineer in multiple states, has demonstrated exemplary leadership and expertise in civil engineering throughout his career. While he has spent a significant portion of his career focused on construction engineering and materials, Jeff has also provided technical services across a spectrum of areas including transportation design, intelligent transportation systems planning and deployment, traffic incident management, ADA compliance, asset management, and value engineering. For the last 32 years, Jeff has led and been part of project teams responsible for planning, designing, constructing and/or maintaining infrastructure improvements primarily for public agencies in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, and North Dakota. He has also authored local and national standards. In addition to his technical roles, he has managed Benesch’s Omaha Division for more than 15 years and currently serves on Benesch’s Board of Directors. His commitment to client service, engaging and developing students and young professionals, strong operations and project management, and identifying opportunities has helped Benesch to grow locally from 17 to more than 80 employees. Under his guidance, Benesch has added three new service lines locally and repeatedly delivered innovative and sustainable solutions that have benefited communities and significantly improved transportation networks and other infrastructure across the region.

Beyond his professional contributions to Benesch, Jeff has been deeply involved with ACEC-NE, serving as numerous Board positions including President and National Director, as well being involved in other professional organizations. Locally, he has chaired the Better Streets Better City Bond Initiative Committee and the Improve Omaha! Bond Initiative Committee. His first industry contribution came as a member of the ACI Nebraska Board of Directors. Today, he remains active in ACEC Nebraska and currently serves as the Secretary for the ACEC/Nebraska PAC Board of Trustees. Jeff’s involvement continues at the national level also, serving as 1 of 5 consultant members on ACEC’s National Education Advisory Group, helping to shape future ACEC national conferences and educational programs. Jeff was recognized as a Midlands Business Journal’s 2010 ’40 Under 40′ for his business and community contributions.

The Durham Award is presented annually by ACEC NE to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional service to the engineering profession, exemplifying the highest standards of integrity, technical excellence, and leadership.

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Aaron Buettner

State Director

Aaron Buettner, PE, CVS leads Benesch’s Nebraska structural group, bringing more than 27 years of experience in structural engineering, project management and value engineering to every project he touches. His work spans highway, railroad and pedestrian bridges, and he has delivered public and private projects across the country involving a wide variety of materials and structure types.

Aaron’s technical depth covers the full project lifecycle, from structural design and in-service inspection to forensic evaluation and construction administration. He is proficient in multiple structural design and analysis software platforms and has a keen understanding of load paths and constructability. As a Certified Value Specialist (CVS), Aaron’s Value Engineering work has generated tens of millions of dollars in potential construction cost avoidance for clients ranging from state DOTs to transit agencies.

Notable projects include the Lincoln South Beltway, where his team designed 10 of 21 bridges on the freeway corridor; the N-12 Emergency Bridge Repairs in northeast Nebraska, where biddable plans for three flood-damaged structures were delivered in just three weeks; and the Penny Bridges Replacement in Lincoln, where value planning produced a context-sensitive solution that earned broad community support.

Aaron also serves as a Structures Specialist on Nebraska Task Force 1 (NE-TF1), which is one of 28 FEMA Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) teams located throughout the United States. In this role, he supports the search and rescue mission by assessing damaged structures, recommending structural hazard mitigation within those structures, and monitoring the structure for condition changes during rescue and victim recovery operations. During his tenure with NE-TF1, he has deployed ​on numerous missions within the state of Nebraska and around the nation to assist communities that have been impacted by emergencies or disasters.

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