Employee Spotlight: Miranda Kleven, PE, Senior Consultant

2025 Charles S. Vein Core Values Award Recipient

An Employee-Owner who is known as the long-time champion of the AE2S Utility Rate Survey is the 2025 recipient of the Charles S. Vein Core Values Award. Miranda Kleven, PE, received the firm’s highest accolade during a staff celebration this fall when Grant Meyer, CEO, and AE2S Cofounder Charlie Vein made the announcement from the Grand Forks office, where Miranda is based. The award is named after Charlie and is given annually to an Employee-Owner who exemplifies the AE2S core values of vision, passion, integrity, attitude, value, and relationships.

One of Miranda’s nominators noted, “her leadership, enthusiasm, and unwavering commitment make her an invaluable asset to our team and a role model for others.”

“I am extremely honored and humbled. I’ve had some amazing role models and peers at AE2S. I know I’m biased, but I think our people stand out technically and in terms of integrity and companionability,” Miranda says with a smile.

An Engineer Focused on Finances

Miranda is just shy of her 27^th anniversary with AE2S. Now a Senior Consultant in the Nexus Practice, she did not plan to become an engineer when she entered the University of North Dakota as a chemistry major. She intended to go on to medical school but ultimately pivoted to acquiring a Chemical Engineering degree.

She began her career at a large environmental consulting firm while her husband, Jay, was in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. After his graduation, the couple brought their growing family back to Grand Forks, where Miranda accepted a position at AE2S.

“When I came to AE2S, I think I was the only non-civil engineer, so I got asked to do the oddball stuff, which has turned out really well for me. In 1999, the City of Grand Forks asked us what to do with their water rates, so we set out to become rate experts,” Miranda explains.

She was instrumental in launching and maintaining the growth of the AE2S Utility Rate Survey. In 2026, the annual survey of water, wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste utility rates for cities and rural or regional water systems turns 25!

“My career at AE2S has been full of interesting challenges. Almost all have been great and rewarding. I have worked on Safe Drinking Water Act regulatory studies, regulatory tracking, funding development, environmental Phase I ESA studies, and Chlorine Risk Management Plans,” says Miranda before listing some of her Nexus projects that focus on utility finances. “The annual Utility Rate Survey and then of course rate-setting, reserve planning, and overall utility financial planning is where I spend the majority of my time and where my passion lies.”

AE2S Career Satisfaction

The things Miranda loves about her job are many of the same qualities that endear her to the people with whom she works. “I truly enjoy developing genuine connections with clients, coworkers, and their families. In the end, we are all just people trying to solve everyday challenges at home and at work. Whenever I can lend an ear or share information and perspective that can help a client be successful, it’s a good day,” she says with a smile. “When our clients look good, we look good. I love how AE2S is truly client-focused and people-focused. I’m proud that we don’t just say this. It’s our actual practice.”

For the past few years Miranda has worked on the Western Dakota Regional Water System, an initiative to bring more water to the western side of South Dakota. “It is exciting to see a potential project with generational impact move from grass roots organization to initial concept development. It has a long way to go before it becomes a reality, but it is fun to support a client on multiple fronts – from working with Board Members to Congressional office staff, to individual community outreach events,” says Miranda. “One of my favorite memories will always be a packed town hall in Edgemont, where the room was overflowing. Some people were sitting on the floor, and our team members were scattered throughout the room listening to and discussing water needs for western South Dakota. That level of engagement on a topic for which everyone is passionate was exhilarating.”

Miranda’s passion for the water industry extends beyond her work at AE2S. She served as the Education and Research Chair for the American Water Works Association North Dakota Section (NDAWWA) for several years early in her career, working with her counterparts in Minnesota and South Dakota to plan and execute the biannual Surface Water Treatment Workshop. In 2004, Miranda received the George Warren Fuller Award, an honor given to AWWA members for their distinguished service to the water supply field.  She currently serves as the Chair of NDAWWA’s Water for People initiative, which raises money to provide access to clean water for communities around the world.

Work-Life Balance

For 28 years Miranda’s life outside of work has centered on her family. She and Jay, who is a Structural Engineer at AE2S, have three daughters and one son.

“One thing for which I will always be grateful is the community my kids found growing up around AE2S, particularly my older kids. I always appreciated the flexibility I was allowed to bring my kids in with me for brief periods if I needed to finish something up or to attend a meeting late in the day,” Miranda says. “My kids loved seeing where I worked and getting to know my coworkers, and they got to see all aspects of my life as their mom. I am grateful to AE2S for supporting my efforts to have work-life balance.”

Miranda has been a big youth soccer and hockey fan since 2008, when her kids became involved in both sports. She served as the Grand Forks Soccer Club President for four years and spent countless hours on the sidelines of soccer field and hockey rinks for nearly two decades.

Now with just one kid at home, she has found more time to garden, play the piano, and dream up new home improvement projects. But she still jumps at the chance to get the whole family together for holidays, family reunions, birthdays, or just because.

Thinking Big & Going Beyond

As Miranda looks toward her 27^th anniversary at AE2S in March 2026, she ponders the firm’s core values that her fellow Employee-Owners say she embodies. “The ‘Going Beyond’ concept may not always be fun at the time, but it always feels right in the end and that is rewarding,” she says. “AE2S staff are strongly motivated by the belief that the work we do improves lives. I have thoroughly enjoyed doing my best to practice our core values throughout my career, and I’m proud that I see those values in all of us.”