Local Politician Named Houston’s 2023 Engineer of the Year
Professional Engineer and Harris County’s Precinct 3 Commissioner, Tom S. Ramsey, grew up in the small town of Crockett, Texas. One brutally hot summer, Ramsey found himself working on a TXDOT road construction crew and decided he wanted to be the guy in a pair of khakis, a white hard hat, and an air-conditioned truck – A.K.A. the Resident Engineer.
An Engineers Journey
Since everything in our built environment comes from civil engineering, it was only a natural step that Tom Ramsey would pursue this as his central study at Texas A&M. In 1972, Ramsey worked for the university sampling water in the Houston Ship Channel to find a solution to decrease pollution and increase wildlife population. “I can take you to that same spot today, and there are multiple fish and wildlife. It’s an alive body of water. And that was really my generation that did that,” Ramsey says.
After graduating in 1974, Ramsey spent seven years as a municipal engineer. “It was a wonderful experience because that allowed me to work for over 50 cities in Texas doing water, wastewater, drainage, roads, traffic and everything that a municipal entity needed. To me, that was a great foundation to build a career on.”
In 1981, Ramsey joined Southwestern Laboratories in Houston, primarily doing geotechnical environmental sampling and construction materials inspection. This gave him a chance to work on the Hardy Toll Road, which would become the first toll road in Harris County, as well as the most successful toll road authority in the United States. “I can’t imagine traffic in Harris County without the toll road system,” Ramsey says. “And we were told by the state of Texas that there’s no reason we would want to build a toll road here.”
Then 1993 came, and Ramsey partnered with Klotz Associates where he held a leadership role back in Houston for 25 years, growing the company from 20 employees to around 150. One of Ramsey’s biggest recommendations to fellow engineers is to not get pigeonholed into any one area. By experiencing as many facets of the trade as possible, you can be well on your way to becoming a better engineer.
Impacting the Houston Community
During his career, Ramsey helped plan and build 500 miles of Houston sidewalks for children to be able to safely walk to school, led the inspection team while at Southwest Labs on the George R. Brown Convention Center, and developed and innovative and costeffective way to mitigate flooding in Bunkerhill Village.
“People might say we’re boring, but we’re focused on solutions,” Ramsey comments about engineers. “Tell us the problem, and we’ll figure out how to solve it. We can’t do everything, but we can do something.”
A genuine family man, Ramsey and his wife moved to Spring Valley in 2006 to be near their three adult children – who have now given them seven grandchildren. Ramsey served as Mayor of Spring Valley from 2012 to 2020 where he crafted one of the safest cities and greenest parks without raising taxes.
“The [Houston] Chronicle questioned why engineers would be involved politically in Harris County,” Ramsey says. “Who knows more about the constructed universe than engineers? Engineers cannot sit at home and complain about the problems. They can’t say, ‘if it was up to me, I’d fix the drainage problem, I’d fix that roadway, we’d have cleaner drinking water.’ Well, it is up to you. The only way you’re going to get any kind of credibility is if you get involved with the politics.”
With an excellent track record of making improvements in Spring Valley, Ramsey ran for Commissioner of Precinct 3 in 2020 and won. Ramsey never views the post as being partisan but rather a “registered professional engineer” who lives and operates in Houston.
The Importance of Engineers Getting involved
A longtime citizen of the Greater Houston Area, Ramsey is an active citizen who frequently gives back to the local community. He’s taught a Bible study for over 50 years, now at Second Baptist, and also serves on the Board of the nonprofit Loving Kids, among multiple other charitable initiatives. Even with a busy schedule, Ramsey served as the President of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) and the American Public Works Society (APWA) and continues to stay involved and attend meetings to support all engineering professions. This directly ties into Ramsey’s number one piece of advice for up-andcoming engineers these days: listen.
“People don’t listen,” he states. “Having worked with 50 cities, 20 counties and every state agency you can name, I think the biggest issue with our engineers is they have to listen. Unless you listen and understand the problem, you’re not going to be a very good engineer. Every relationship I have that matters started with participating in night meetings and technical societies and being a part of the community.”
If you’re wondering why Tom S. Ramsey, P.E. has been named 2023’s Engineer of the Year, that just might be as good of an answer as any.
About Houston Engineers Week
As a non-profit run by volunteers, Houston Engineers Week was founded to support the educational efforts of engineers through scholarships and to bring awareness to STEM education and the career opportunities available to younger generations, and to recognize the professionals that have made significant engineering contributions to the Houston area. The Eweek committee also teams with MATHCOUNTS® and Future City to provide volunteers for each competition. To date, Houston Engineers Week has provided more than $143,000 in scholarships to engineering students and over $20,000 to STEM programs for students K-12.
The ceremonial engineers week kicked off with the annual Run of Pi 5K and 1K Fun Run on February 18th with over 280 runners in attendance. Additional events include Houston’s Young Engineer of the Year awards ceremony, Outstanding Engineering Student Award Luncheon to hand out scholarships, and the Engineer of the Year Gala recognizing Mr. Tom Ramsey, PE and his engineering contributions to Houston. To register for events, obtain more information, or explore sponsorship opportunities, visit www. houstonengineersweek. org.