Ralph Peterson
Ralph R. Peterson, former Chairman and CEO of CH2M HILL, began his engineering career with the company in 1965 as an Oregon State University student – the school that awarded him his bachelor's degree. He went on to earn a master's degree in engineering from Stanford University and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
CH2M – named for founders Cornell, Howland, Hayes and Merryfield, with the HILL added after a merger with California-based Clair A. Hill – is one of the world's leading environmental engineering firms. The 60-year-old company now boasts more than 18,000 employees worldwide and gross revenues of $3.8 billion in 2005. The company has been named one of Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" (2006) and "Corporation of the Year" at the 2005 Minority Enterprise Development Week. It ranks 591 on the Fortune 1000 list and number eight on the magazine's industry rankings for engineering and construction firms.
Peterson helped shape the company and its mission—"Build a Better World." Throughout his career, he has been a vocal advocate for sustainable development, serving on the Clinton Administration’s “Technology for a Sustainable Future” initiative. He led CH2M HILL's environmental clean-up projects, such as the Rocky Flats project that completed in 2005. The company also worked on Hurricane Katrina clean-up efforts and was awarded the contract to widen Interstate 25 between Denver and Colorado Springs.
"I am firmly convinced," said Peterson in a 1997 interview for the Stanford University annual report, "that the economics of sustainable development will lead the design and construction industry to shift its focus to a longer-term life-cycle approach to building and infrastructure."
This Colorado business leader has earned many honors in his more than 40-year career, including the Rocky Mountain News 2005 Businessperson of the Year award; an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines; the International Bridge Builders Award from the University of Denver; and the American Society of Civil Engineers President's Award.
Peterson passed away in 2009. He had a reputation as a night-owl, and often replies to e-mail in the wee hours of the morning. He enjoyed reading, skiing, fishing and the arts. He was married to Betty D. Peterson for more than 40 years. They have two children and four grandchildren.
CH2M – named for founders Cornell, Howland, Hayes and Merryfield, with the HILL added after a merger with California-based Clair A. Hill – is one of the world's leading environmental engineering firms. The 60-year-old company now boasts more than 18,000 employees worldwide and gross revenues of $3.8 billion in 2005. The company has been named one of Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" (2006) and "Corporation of the Year" at the 2005 Minority Enterprise Development Week. It ranks 591 on the Fortune 1000 list and number eight on the magazine's industry rankings for engineering and construction firms.
Peterson helped shape the company and its mission—"Build a Better World." Throughout his career, he has been a vocal advocate for sustainable development, serving on the Clinton Administration’s “Technology for a Sustainable Future” initiative. He led CH2M HILL's environmental clean-up projects, such as the Rocky Flats project that completed in 2005. The company also worked on Hurricane Katrina clean-up efforts and was awarded the contract to widen Interstate 25 between Denver and Colorado Springs.
"I am firmly convinced," said Peterson in a 1997 interview for the Stanford University annual report, "that the economics of sustainable development will lead the design and construction industry to shift its focus to a longer-term life-cycle approach to building and infrastructure."
This Colorado business leader has earned many honors in his more than 40-year career, including the Rocky Mountain News 2005 Businessperson of the Year award; an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines; the International Bridge Builders Award from the University of Denver; and the American Society of Civil Engineers President's Award.
Peterson passed away in 2009. He had a reputation as a night-owl, and often replies to e-mail in the wee hours of the morning. He enjoyed reading, skiing, fishing and the arts. He was married to Betty D. Peterson for more than 40 years. They have two children and four grandchildren.
