Charlie Townsend, PE, VHB Raleigh Land Development Team Leader, was selected as the 2025 Engineer of the Year by the Professional Engineers of North Carolina (PENC). The Engineer of the Year award is given annually to an individual who stands out as an excellent engineer displaying an outstanding record of achievement in education, employment, and professional and public service activities.
“PENC has been an essential part of my engineering career, and I’m honored to receive this award,” said Charlie. “Volunteering across the organization on a broad scale in many different areas is enriching and allows me to make a bigger impact on the engineering profession in North Carolina.”
Since joining PENC in 2021, Charlie has taken on multiple leadership roles, including Chair of the Community Leadership Committee and Secretary of the Educational Foundation (EF) Board. In these roles, he led volunteer initiatives, boosted scholarship engagement and fundraising, and helped expand access to PENC EF scholarships through university partnerships.
He currently serves on the University Speaker Series Committee, guiding engineering students on the path to PE licensure and ethics. He also helps organize the PENC Raleigh Seminar by recruiting speakers, coordinating logistics, and moderating sessions.
Professionally, Charlie is the Local Design Lead and Senior Civil Engineer for NC State’s Integrative Sciences Building and manages two affordable housing projects—Birch and Branch and Strickland Road—in Raleigh. His deep local experience adds exceptional value to regional projects. In 2023, he was honored with two PENC awards: Young Engineer of the Year and the President’s Award.
