Alan Krause: world-trekking MWH Global chief lived up to the company name.

• Author: Bronikowski, Lynn
• Position: EXECUTIVE EDGE

ALAN KRAUSE WALKED THROUGH

Denver International Airport after a recent trip when he spotted signage for MWH Global that depicted a dam his company had built in Ethiopia.

"The Takeze Dam is a very large structure in Ethiopia we completed last year which impacts 80 million people -- providing power, heat and water," said Krause, who in November was named CEO of the Broomfield based engineering giant that employs 7,500 in 180 offices in 35 countries. "It's one of our many international projects that impacts people in a good way and makes you feel good about what you do."

Krause, 57, joined MWH in 1997 when TerrMatrix, the company he created, merged with MWH. He holds a master of geological engineering degree from the University of Nevada Mackay School of Mines and has completed the Harvard Business School Owners/ Presidents Management Program.

A native of Alaska, where his father worked for the railroad, Krause traces his interest in engineering to his lifelong passion for building things.

"In college I was a carpenter building houses at the time," Krause said. "I always liked to be involved in building and liked the fact that you could go back and see what you had done."

Krause originally set his sights on geology, but an encounter with three grizzly bears while he sampled springs in a remote area of Alaska's mountains impelled him to rethink his career choice.

"I came very close to getting mauled by three grizzly bears that came out of the brush - a sow with her two grown cubs," Krause said. "I was scrambling up a tree when the bear got to the base and could have easily knocked over the tree. Within seconds I was rescued by a helicopter. But that was pretty much it for me, and I decided to move into engineering, went back to school and got a master's in engineering."

Today he returns to Alaska to oversee MWH's hydropower project, which aims to help the...