2014 40 Under 40: Amanda Brownlee, PE, 37

Amanda Brownlee, PE, 37
Senior Associate, WSP, San Francisco
Kansas State University, BS and MS Architectural Engineering

With more than 13 years of experience on numerous projects as project manager and electrical engineer, Amanda Brownlee has helped dozens of clients achieve their vision of high operating effectiveness at minimum energy costs. Brownlee serves as a senior member of the electrical department at WSP in San Francisco, where she has worked on a wide variety of project types including commercial, laboratory, sports, mission critical, and government buildings. Brownlee is currently working as a project manager for 350 Mission St. in San Francisco where she and her team provide mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and technology systems design for the 340,000-sq-ft, 30-story office tower currently under construction. Brownlee, alongside her design team, has explored ways to achieve U.S. Green Building Council LEED Platinum on the project. Since joining WSP in 2006, Brownlee has focused her efforts in driving innovation by developing corporate CAD standards for the electrical design team that have been implemented across the firm’s major national offices. She also took notice of the importance of keeping WSP updated in BIM industry standards and practices. She leads weekly conference calls with WSP offices in Boston and New York to drive development of updated Autodesk Revit standards for the electrical department. Brownlee’s contributions as project manager and electrical engineer helped the California Independent Systems Operator Iron Point (ISOP) facility in Folsom, Calif., to achieve LEED Platinum and earn the 2012 National Design-Build award. The facility is one of the largest ISOP facilities in the world and is responsible for operating the majority of the high-voltage wholesale power grids in California. Brownlee has taken all of these experiences and skills from the engineering field and put them to use as a volunteer Architecture, Construction, Engineering (ACE) mentor. When she’s not enjoying her new role as mother, she is an avid golfer and lover of the outdoors. 

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