Karlene Thomas is a principal and owner at Pinyon Environmental, Inc., an 80 person, full service environmental engineering and consulting firm headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado. Karlene is an Environmental Professional and licensed Professional Engineer with over 30 years of consulting and project management experience and five years of mechanical design experience. She has a strong background in design-build, regulatory compliance, water quality, watershed protection, hazardous materials/waste management, soil vapor mitigation and environmental permitting.

Karlene has a passion for the engineering industry, STEM education and protecting Colorado’s precious water resources. Karlene is the current National Director of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Colorado, is on the board of directors of the ACEC CO Scholarship and Education Foundation, Colorado Watershed Assembly and Cherry Creek Stewardship partners. She is an active member of the ACEC CO Government Affairs committee and has developed relationships with legislators and provides technical expert opinion on upcoming legislation and guidance on business and engineering topics.

Karlene loves to call Colorado home, is an avid rock climber and enjoys hiking, mountain biking, skiing and being outdoors. Karlene earned her BS from Brigham Young University in Design Engineering and her MS from Rochester Institute of Technology in Mechanical Engineering.