Ron Deverman is Associate Vice-President for HNTB, a national engineering, architecture and planning firm, managing environmental impact assessment projects for transportation infrastructure improvements such as transit, passenger and freight rail, roadways, and bridges. Ron has 28 years experience in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with special expertise in community impact assessment, cumulative effects analysis, and federal environmental regulations, such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and Threatened and Endangered Species Act.
His education includes a BS in civil/environmental engineering from the University of Illinois in Urbana, an MA in literature and creative writing from the University of Illinois in Springfield, and post-graduate studies in NEPA and related environmental studies. Ron is the Immediate Past President of the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP). He has also chaired their national NEPA Symposium, NEPA Working Group, Transportation Working Group (co-founder), and 27th Annual Conference (Dearborn, Michigan). He is a Past President of IAEP, the Illinois chapter of NAEP. Ron is a regular contributor to the national journal, Environmental Practice, published by Cambridge University Press.
Ron is also a published poet and has spoken nationally on many subjects, including key competencies for environmental professionals, environmental stewardship, and preserving the quality of place. He has recently spoken at national environmental conferences on the themes, “Reclaiming Our Environmental Imagination” where he incorporated the writings and poems of numerous authors and poets, including his own work, and “Valuing the Sacred” an article on environmental ethics as seen from Christian and Islamic perspectives. His co-author for “Valuing the Sacred” is Dr. Ali Mohamed Al-Damkhi, an Environmental Studies Professor for Kuwait University.
Ron comes from generations of farmers in Illinois’ heartland and has farmed for a living. In the Fall of 2009, he was awarded the John Knoepfle Creative Writing Award for Poetry by the University of Illinois Alumni Association.