Elevate Rapid City Names RESPEC Best Place to Work for Young Professionals

RESPEC has been named the 2026 Best Place to Work for Young Professionals by Elevate Rapid City, recognizing the company’s commitment to creating meaningful career opportunities for early-career professionals.

The recognition reflects a culture where emerging professionals are trusted with real responsibility early in their careers. Across RESPEC, young professionals are leading project work, building client relationships, serving their communities, and helping shape where we go next.

For RESPEC, developing young professionals is also a larger commitment to strengthening the communities where we work. In Rapid City and across our offices, RESPEC supports employees through mentorship, hands-on project experience, technical training, leadership opportunities, and employee ownership.

Maggie Sebert, an early-career professional in the Mining and Energy sector, says, “I’ve greatly appreciated the opportunities I’ve had to interact directly with clients and be a part of projects that have real value to them. It has been meaningful to me to know that I am trusted by others within RESPEC to be a client-facing representative of our company.”

We’re seeing that investment show up across the company. In the last 9 years, eight of our engineers have been named South Dakota’s Young Engineer of the Year at the chapter level, and three were awarded ACEC’s Young Professional of the Year.

Their impact extends beyond project work. Last year, RESPEC employee-owners completed more than 1,400 hours of volunteer work, with many of those efforts being driven by early-career professionals who are finding new ways to serve their local communities.

Employee ownership plays an important role in that culture. As a 100% employee-owned company, RESPEC gives employees a direct connection to the company’s success and a shared responsibility for the workplace they are building together.

“Developing young professionals is part of who we are,” said Jason Love, RESPEC President and CEO. “We’re proud to create opportunities for people to grow, lead, and make an impact early in their careers. We want to continue building a stronger, more dynamic workplace for generations to come.”

RESPEC was recognized alongside fellow finalists Rapid City Rush and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology at the 2026 Elevate Rapid City Business Awards. As RESPEC continues to grow, so do the opportunities. We remain committed to supporting emerging professionals, as they build meaningful careers, serve their communities, and shape the future.