Keith A. London

Born in West Virginia to Jack, an insurance adjustor, and Jackie, an X-ray technician, London calls Logansport, Ind., his hometown. He struggled with math in high school but during his junior year a family friend, who was a chemical engineer for a Gulf Coast oil company, became an enthusiastic teacher. The teen became curious about engineering, particularly chemical engineering - at least for a while.

London did his pre-engineering requisites at Indiana State University before transferring to Purdue with his sights set on becoming a chemical engineer. After his first experience memorizing carbon-based chemical compounds in organic chemistry, he reconsidered and selected civil engineering as his focus.

He graduated in the spring of 1984 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. Unfortunately, his pursuit of a job following graduation was also unconventional, and not all that successful. His father helped London send out 500 resumes across the Midwest and Northeast. In the end, he received rejections to all 500.

He left Indiana and drove to California in the summer of 1984. His first job, which came within two weeks of arriving in Southern California, was at the Rancho California Water District. London's assignments included serving as a project manager for the design/build of a 5.0 mgd sequencing batch reactor wastewater treatment facility. At the same time, he did graduate work at both the University of Southern California and San Diego State University. He later joined John S. Murk Engineers, a water/wastewater consulting firm based in Carlsbad, Calif.

In 1990, London married his wife, Mara, whom he credits for teaching him public speaking skills. A year later, John S. Murk Engineers was acquired by Camp, Dresser & McKee Inc. He left CDM in 1997 to join Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, a nearly century-old engineering and science firm based in San Francisco that is focused on infrastructure and environmental services.

In 2006, London became president and CEO of Kennedy/Jenks where he now also serves on its board of directors.

London and Mara have two children: Katherine, 21, who is studying pre-law at the University of Oregon, and Jonathan, 17, who is a junior in high school who plans to pursue a civil engineering/management career. London's older brother is a command sergeant major in the Army National Guard.