2017 40 Under 40: Nathan Cesarz, PE, 39

Principal, Market Leader, Affiliated Engineers Inc.

By Jack Smith, Content Manager, and Amara Rozgus, Editor-in-Chief May 15, 2017

Nathan Cesarz, PE, 39

Principal, Market Leader, Affiliated Engineers Inc., Chapel Hill, N.C.

BS Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Cesarz manages projects within the energy and utilities group at Affiliated Engineers Inc. (AEI). His organizational skills and task-minded approach have been critical to the success of energy master planning, detailed design, and construction-administration projects for higher education, health care, federal government, and corporate research clients. In addition to his role as principal, Cesarz provides technical expertise in analysis, emerging technologies, and carbon-reduction opportunities. He is a regular speaker at International District Energy Association, discussing large complex projects including new heat-recovery chiller technologies and the extension of walkable utility tunnels through the heart of major university campuses. Cesarz decided that large-scale utility infrastructure, particularly related to modernizing the efficiency of energy production and distribution throughout the U.S., represented a fundamental opportunity to bring about whole-culture change, improving the provision of basic utilities by making them cheaper, more reliable, and healthier. This work is all-consuming for Cesarz, and for him, there is no distinction between the weeks and months he devotes to project work and his personal commitment to the improvement of people’s lives. He sees himself as one of the lucky people whose career isn’t just what he does, but who he is and what he believes. Cesarz’s family is a baseball family. As a transplant from Massachusetts, the Red Sox are in his blood, and his wife played NCAA Division 1 softball. This summer, Cesarz will coach three of his four kids’ baseball teams. He also loves to read—historical nonfiction in general, U.S. Civil War histories in particular, with an occasional mystery for a change of pace. He has been reading Tolkien out loud to his kids. In addition, he enjoys vacation travel with his family.