GRAEF is proud to honor Dewey Hemba as an Icon of Construction, an award presented by The Daily Reporter. Dewey accepted his award at a virtual awards ceremony on March 25.

Dewey Hemba is a structural engineer and principal at GRAEF, celebrating his 40th anniversary in June 2021. For his entire career, he has been learning and playing a leadership role in southeastern Wisconsin’s construction industry. If you live or work in the area, you have probably been the recipient of Dewey’s knowledge as you drove into and parked in one of the numerous parking structures on which he used his design expertise.

Throughout his career, Dewey has pushed the industry to embrace new technology after thorough testing and rigorous examination. He has literally written the book on parking structure design, co-authoring books on functional design and maintenance of parking structures, which are reference standards for all parking consultants.  Within this industry, anyone who thinks of Milwaukee and a parking expert knows Dewey Hemba.

What sets Dewey apart from other consulting engineers is his willingness to help and educate those around him. Dewey’s experience and knowledge in concrete is incredibly vast, but he keeps himself and those he mentors grounded. He engages with contractors and ready-mix suppliers to develop practical solutions that laborers can execute. He never talks down to anyone, but instead elevates those around him by educating them up to his level. Dewey has the unique ability to simplify complex engineering to lay-people and keep the topics interesting.

Clients love working with Dewey. They respect his thorough knowledge and hands-on involvement with their parking structure projects. His approach is to simply lay out the facts: the costs, the advantages and disadvantages, the schedule impacts, and the long-term performance and functional impacts to the myriad of design options as the process unfolded. Anything that helps a client make an informed decision that is best for their financial and functional goals is appreciated.

Dewey graduated from the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut with a degree in Civil Engineering and later received his Master of Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. During his professional career he has belonged to the National Parking Association, the Parking Consultants Council, the International Parking Institute, the Wisconsin Parking Association, the American Concrete Institute, the International Concrete Repair Institute, and the National Association of Corrosion Engineers. Please help us congratulate Dewey!

Watch the entire virtual program, including Dewey's acceptance speech, and read more about the award and other recipients in The Daily Reporter's Special Publication: