When you ask Mike Carragher, EG84, about his journey to success in civil engineering, he humbly credits the help of others to get him where he is today.

As chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president of VHB, a multidisciplinary civil engineering consulting and design firm, Carragher was recently named the 2021 CEO of the Year by the Environmental Financial Consulting Group. Each year, the award recognizes an individual for their noteworthy contributions to their firm’s success, their community and to the architecture, engineering, and construction industry’s advancement.

The business consulting group noted Carragher’s company leadership, worth ethic, integrity and his efforts to create more diversity, equity and inclusion across the industry as key reasons for honoring him with the award. Carragher takes most pride in helping make a culture shift to inclusivity and diversity in his industry.

“The importance I place on diversity, equity and inclusion goes back to my mom and dad,” Carragher said. “They always met everyone where they were, and treated them equally rather than going to them with preconceived notions or prejudices. As a leader of the company, strategically, I want to find, hire and inspire the people who will help us succeed. I consider it a competitive advantage when employees can come to work as their full, true selves and thereby focus on helping drive us forward.”

From the founders of his company (one of which is a fellow UD graduate) and his close knit group of college classmates to his wife, Joan, AS84, of 36 years and a small cohort of colleagues, Carragher is quick to mention those who have helped him reach his greatest professional achievements. His most recent success began with trust.

“I’m the first non-founder president of VHB,” Carragher said. “Fellow UD engineering alumnus and co-founder, Rich Hangen, BE62, and co-founder, Bob Brustlin of VHB mentored and encouraged me not to think about following in their footsteps, but to take the position and make it my own. They challenged and encouraged me to set a vision of where to lead the company. They trusted me to not merely take care of what they built, but to take it to places they never imagined. The confidence they had in me, meant the world to me. It  was a great point in my career that gave me the inspiration to lead the company and broaden the array of accomplishments.”

Under the nearly six years of Carragher’s leadership, VHB has grown in prominence and scale from $165 million in revenues to an estimated $300 million, producing growth in excess of 80 percent. True to his humble approach, Carragher is quick to attribute the success to others rather than just his own leadership. He notes a core team of VHB leaders who he has built a relationship of “depth, trust and faith” with over the years. They include Mike McArdle, vice chairman of the board and chief development officer, Bill Ashworth, senior vice president and chief operating officer and Keri Kocur, senior vice president and chief people officer,.

Carragher is not alone in appreciating the environment where the group of colleagues “challenge each other to get the best answer” for the company.

“Mike is a strong, thoughtful leader who makes sure that every voice is heard,” Kocur said. “He has a future mindset and is always focused on continuous improvement in all that we do, and to strengthening our foundation for sustainable growth and success. Mike is wholeheartedly dedicated to our people and to creating and providing the best experience for them. I’m honored to work alongside him and proud to celebrate him and his deserving recognition as CEO of the Year.”

In addition to his current colleagues, Carragher says his time as an engineering student at UD helped prepare him for his career and the friends he met while on campus remain a core group of champions in his life today.

“During my time at UD, the engineering program was this incredible, interesting, challenging, practical education. When I graduated, I was not only able to start my career, but hit the ground running because of the practical elements of the education and with a confidence that I belonged in the professional world because the things I learned were translatable to my career,” Carragher shared. “I also built this network of lifelong friends who are all succeeding in a lot of different ways. They are just a really supportive group of people with disparate interests who cheer for each other, encourage each other and celebrate each other along the way.”

He counts his wife as his biggest supporter and partner.

“I’m fortunate enough to have met my wife, Joan, at UD, and we were married a year after we graduated,” Carragher said. “I never would have achieved what I have without her love and encouragement. We’ve been finishing each other’s sentences for 41+ years, and we’ve had a blast through it all.”

Carragher’s love for UD runs deep and he encourages students to pursue their degree at the University any chance he gets. He has spoken at the University as part of the civil engineering’s Kerr Lecture series, where he has taken the opportunity to share words of wisdom for the next generation of engineers.

“The thing I love about my civil engineering career is that everything you do and work on, you have an opportunity to make your community a better place. You are literally shaping your community and helping to change our world project by project,” Carragher said. “I like to talk to young people about finding a way to mix the things they’re learning with where there is opportunity and then bring your passion to that. Keep your eyes open for opportunities and don’t be afraid to take on new challenges.”