Sergio “Satch” Pecori, P.E., chairman and CEO at Hanson Professional Services Inc., has received the Ed Rapp Leadership in Action Award.
The annual award recognizes individuals who best demonstrate leadership despite challenges, deliver long-term solutions, positively influence others and advocate collaboration. Pecori was honored during the Innovations Conference on Infrastructure.
Pecori, who works at Hanson’s Springfield headquarters, joined Hanson in 1974. He directs the activities of senior-level management and assumes overall accountability for the firm’s quality of work. He also has served as a project manager and principal-in-charge for a variety of the firm’s projects. During his career, he has worked on a wide variety of projects in the U.S. and overseas, including railroads, highways, bridges, dams, communications facilities, environmental remediation, low-level nuclear waste sites and U.S. Department of Defense-related facilities.
Pecori served on the U.S. Department of State’s Overseas Buildings Operations’ Industry Advisory Panel and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Reserve Forces Policy Board, for which he was the Cyber Policy Task Force chair and was recognized in 2015 with the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service.
He also is involved with many professional organizations. He is a member of the American Council of Engineering Companies and served as national chair-elect and chair from 2016 to 2018; is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), serving on its Industry Leaders Council; and is a member of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers (ISPE). In 2018, he was inducted into the National Academy of Construction. His many professional and volunteer appointments include the boards of directors for Illinois National Bank, Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, Lincoln Presidential Foundation and Memorial Health System.
Pecori has received numerous awards, including ISPE’s Illinois Award and the Boy Scouts of America Abraham Lincoln Council’s Trailblazer Award in 2015, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2019, ASCE’s Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) award in management in 2020 and the 2023 Alumni Award for Distinguished Service from The Grainger College of Engineering at UIUC.
Pecori received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in geotechnical engineering, both from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; is a licensed professional engineer in six states, including Illinois; and is a licensed civil engineer and geotechnical engineer in California.