1. Your name and title:

Karl E. Knapp, P.E.
President and CEO
CVL Consultants of Colorado, Inc.

2. Description of your company:

CVL was founded in 1961 and has offices in Denver, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Our company provides planning, civil engineering, land surveying, and construction management services for a variety of projects including:

Mixed Use Communities
Commercial Developments
Single Family Neighborhoods
Townhome and Condominium Projects
Transit Oriented Developments
Arterial Roadway and Highway Designs

3. Your role and philosophy at your company:

My primary role is to develop key client relationships and to foster accelerated professional growth opportunities for our outstanding consulting professionals. Our collective philosophy is that service to our clients comes first. Our company’s success and steady growth is a testament to our ability to satisfy our clients beyond the scope of our contracted services.

4. Where did you grow up and when did you move to Colorado? How did you find yourself in Aurora?

I grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota. After an introduction to consulting in Arizona, and 10 years of service in the Las Vegas market, I opened a very successful office for a national consulting firm in Denver in 1996. The growth activity in Aurora has provided a significant source of business for us since my arrival in Colorado, including projects in highway maintenance facilities, mixed use communities, large single family developments and arterial roadway design.

5. What is your favorite thing about living in the metro area?

I believe that the metro area represents the premier community in the nation to develop a meaningful career in a progressive professional environment, while having the best of a variety of recreational activities and natural geologic beauty within convenient reach.

6. Something you are proud of accomplishing (don’t be shy or modest, please):

I am very proud of being the founder of a company that serves our established client base over and over again. The development of many of our project managers from their graduation dates to the present, as they provide premier service to our clients, is a huge source of pride for me. Balancing career and teaming with my wife to provide a stable and nurturing home for our two children is as good as it gets.

7. What are your degrees and honors/awards you have earned/received?

Received a Bachelor of Science Degree from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 1984.

Earned a professional engineering license in Nevada in 1990 and Colorado in 1996.

Active member of the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver since 1996. Board member of the HBA Associate Member Council 1997.

Served on the Scholarship Committee for the American Council of Engineering Companies in 2000 and 2001, and served as the committee chair in 2002.

Board member with the Aurora EDC since 2002.

Parker EDC member since 2005.

Council President, Joy Lutheran Church, 2007.

8. What do you do for fun?

I participate in shooting sports, golf, horseback riding, and snow skiing. I also enjoy playing the guitar and mandolin, as well as vocal performance.

9. Do you have a favorite Aurora story?

Nothing too amusing comes to mind. I do find it interesting that the very first design project I landed in the metro area in 1996 was a very small residential subdivision in Aurora, just east of Parker Road. Throughout all the years of company growth, our Aurora projects have grown with us. Some of our largest and most prominent projects today are located in Aurora.

10. What would you say is Aurora’s biggest secret?

I believe that some of Colorado’s most promising future leaders will come from the young, innovative professionals working in Aurora’s intellectual industries today.  

11. You would define Aurora’s strengths as:

Aurora presents opportunities for business on an open playing field, by aggressively pursuing economic development and inviting all of those who are willing to actively participate. The Aurora lifestyle offers a broad range of new housing options for families, with excellent connectivity to the full spectrum of activities throughout the greater metro area.

12. What would you change in Aurora and/or the metro area?

I believe we must change the mindset of the citizens of the metro area to recognize the need for nationally superior business incentives. We must be competitive with other states and provide for a steady influx or growth of companies capable of continuously expanding and stabilizing our economy.

13. What do you think is the most important issue/challenge in Aurora?

It is paramount to cultivate a steady stream of professional jobs to be located in Aurora. Continuing to support needs of the current and future medical and aerospace industries, while searching for, and preparing for the next substantial technological industry, must be recognized goals.

14. How would you define a leader?

One who is wise enough to build upon the momentum, successes and failures of the past, with the foresight to improvise and create targeted group or societal benefits today and in the future.