CBBEL Promotes Three Long-Serving Employees to Vice President

Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd. (CBBEL) is announcing the promotion of three long-serving employees to Vice President of the 205-person firm: Director of Marketing Sherry Sporina and Assistant Civil Design Department Heads Lee Fell, PE and Bryan Welch, PE.

“We’re excited to announce the promotions of Sherry, Lee and Bryan to Vice President, in recognition of their decades of hard work and commitment to CBBEL,” said CBBEL President Mike Kerr, PE. “Their combined 75 years of experience are a tremendous asset to our team and our clients.”

Sherry Sporina

Sherry Sporina was among CBBEL’s original employees when she began at the firm in 1990. In her 31 years at CBBEL, she has held many roles integral to the operation of the company, both client-facing and internal. As CBBEL CEO and Founder Christopher B. Burke said, “She has been the glue that has held the company together in so many different ways…Sherry’s filled just about every single role that you could have.”

As Director of Marketing, Sherry works alongside company President Mike Kerr, and is responsible for CBBEL’s external communications: from award applications and contracts to client proposals and media. With her promotion, Sherry becomes the only CBBEL Vice President who is not an engineer.

Lee Fell, PE

Lee Fell interned at CBBEL in the summer of 1994 before joining the firm full time in 1995. He is the lead contact for design projects in Algonquin, Clarendon Hills, Darien, Harwood Heights, Oak Lawn and Zion. Lee serves as the Village Engineer for the Villages of Deer Park, Hawthorn Woods and the City of Highwood.

His designs of roadway improvements, water mains, stormwater management systems and bicycle paths span Chicago and its suburbs. Lee also served as Project Manager for the renovation of the Lincoln Park Zoo’s iconic South Pond, improving water quality by adding native vegetation, introducing interactive elements along the pond and adding a boardwalk for ease of access. He is currently the lead on Lincoln Park Conservancy’s North Pond project with similar design aspects to the South Pond.

Lee is a member of the American Public Works Association and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University in 1994.

Bryan Welch, PE

Bryan Welch joined CBBEL in 2006 as Project Manager. He has vast experience in municipal engineering and managing complex multidisciplinary civil engineering projects. Bryan serves as Village Engineer for the Village of Shorewood and is the lead contact for design projects in New Lenox, Crest Hill, Lockport, Aurora, La Grange and Western Springs.

Bryan also served as Project Manager for the Northside Sewer Separation Project in the Village of River Forest, which received a national 2017 Project of the Year Award from the American Public Works Association. The watershed project improved water quality in the Des Plaines River basin and reduced flooding and sewer backups by separating storm and sanitary flows across the northern portion of the Village.

Bryan is a member of the American Public Works Association and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2001.