Earlier this week, CEO/Chairman, Terry Swor, announced that David Rettner, PE, has been elected by the Board of Directors as the third president in the company’s history, taking the reins from Dan Larson, who will be Terry’s successor to the CEO position.
“David brings technical and project management expertise to AET,” comments Swor, “in his time with us, he has made AET into a leader in transportation design-build and materials research/forensics and has championed AET’s use of leading-edge technology.”
Rettner has been key to growth and has lead AET through several major developments, during his tenure. Joining AET in 2004 as a Principal Engineer, Rettner focused on growing AET’s transportation services. Success came shortly after he joined AET as Rettner took on one of his largest projects to date, a large highway design build in the west metro area, where he oversaw the quality assurance, control, and inspection on the project over the three years of design and construction.
In addition to his contributions on large transportation projects and expanding the name recognition of the company, Rettner started the Pavements Department at AET that has developed into a leading provider of pavement evaluation, design, and materials testing services throughout the Midwest and the United States. His group has developed a state of the art bituminous laboratory and expanded concrete and chemistry laboratories.
Moving forward, he was named Vice President in 2009 where he helped move the company through the recession, expanding the company geographically. Not long after in 2011, Rettner was named Senior Vice President due to his dedication to his work and to the success of AET. He was also elected to the Board of Directors in 2011 and named Division Manager for AET’s Geotechnical and Construction Materials (GCM) Division which comprises nearly two thirds of the company and most of the regional offices. Under his tenure, the GCM division has enjoyed significant growth and strong profitability. “David is clearly one of our great success stories,” says Swor, “he sees opportunity and translates that into success for the firm and for himself.”
In speaking about his time at AET, Rettner focuses on the strengths he has seen grow over the years, “What I love about working at AET is that we have an entrepreneurial approach to business. As a company we are receptive to adding and expanding our technological capabilities and our geographical footprint,” Rettner says. “We strive to be the best at what we do in any location where we provide services.”
Looking to the future Rettner will be working closely with newly appointed CEO Daniel Larson, and AET’s leadership team in overseeing day-to-day operations as well as continued involvement with design-build construction and pavement design and rehabilitation projects. With an eye on the future, Rettner is mindful of new technological developments that are improving the field and bringing improved solutions to clients, “As we grow and move into the future,” Rettner says, “AET will continue to focus on providing technical solutions to our clients with our highly skilled and trained personnel and state of the art technology in all geographic areas.”
A respected leader in the engineering community, David is longstanding member of industry organizations such as the Transportation Research Board, American Concrete Institute, and the American Council of Engineering Companies Minnesota. He is a prolific technical speaker giving numerous high quality presentations every year on pavement design, reclamation and construction.
For further information on the exciting changes for AET’s leadership team, please visit our original announcement found here.
