Reza Akhavan

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT REZA AKHAVAN

Akhavan currently leads market strategy across Colorado, Canada, Utah, the Desert Southwest, Texas, and Oklahoma. He is responsible for division-wide initiatives and aligning strategies with market demands in these regions.Before joining Kleinfelder, Akhavan built and led a team of transportation infrastructure professionals, serving clients across Colorado and the U.S. West. His team worked closely with public agencies like Caltrain, Sound Transit, UTA, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In Colorado, he partnered with the City and County of Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, Denver International Airport, the Regional Transportation District, and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), ensuring technical excellence on various high-profile projects.Akhavan spent 27 years with CDOT, where he rose to Transportation Director for the Denver metropolitan area. In this role, he managed regional transportation funding and led teams responsible for major projects such as the I-25 Valley Highway reconstruction, U.S. 36 express lanes, and the I-225 highway expansion and light rail extension. He championed CDOT’s first design-build project at the I-225 and I-70 interchange in the early 1990s and advocated for the region’s first construction manager/general contractor delivery method for the Pecos Street Bridge replacement over I-70. Akhavan has substantial owner-side and consultant-side experience in alternative delivery. Following his time at CDOT, Akhavan managed the Rocky Mountain Division of a global architecture and engineering firm, with responsibility for over $100 million in revenue. He led a team of more than 650 staff, overseeing the planning, environmental review, design, and construction of projects ranging from small-scale to large infrastructure initiatives.Akhavan also served as a consulting program manager on CDOT’s 2013 flood recovery program, which included the reconstruction of U.S. 34 through Big Thompson Canyon that utilized CMGC.Akhavan has successfully led large-scale programs and transformed organizations in both public and private sectors, using proven team-building techniques. His leadership has resulted in billions of dollars of infrastructure improvements across the Western United States.