Melvin G. Spinks, P.E., CFM, F.ASCE, former president of CivilTech, A Woolpert Company, has been named a fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Spinks was the founder and president/CEO of CivilTech Engineering Inc., a Texas-based civil engineering firm established in 1997 and acquired by Woolpert Inc. in 2021. He retired in 2023, and during the 25 years leading CivilTech, he grew the firm from a water resources engineering firm to a multidiscipline firm in transportation, structures, economics, and construction engineering, with offices in Houston and San Antonio. In 2024, Spinks received the prestigious lifetime achievement award, being named the 2024 Houston Engineer of the Year, during Houston Engineers Week. Also in 2024, he received the Distinguished Graduate Award from Texas A&M University Zachry Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering.
He recently started a new firm, Spinks Solutions LLC, to continue his work as an engineering expert in civil litigation cases involving drainage and flooding issues.
Over his 38-year professional career, Spinks has been actively involved in ASCE and the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). He previously served as ASCE Houston Branch President, ASCE Texas Section Vice President Professional, ACEC Houston Chapter President, and on the ACEC Texas Board of Directors. He has been a strong advocate on engineering policy and legislative issues at the local, state, and national levels. Spinks helped lead the Texas Section’s first Infrastructure Report Card in 2004 and continued his leadership in committee involvement in subsequent years. As a business leader, he has also served as a board member on many other business organizations in the Houston area. He currently serves on the Texas A&M University Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Advisory Board.
Spinks’ professional engineering career focused on stormwater and flood risk management projects in Texas and the United States. He is recognized nationally as a subject matter expert in hydrology and hydraulics, water resources engineering, engineering economics, and engineering risk analysis. He has managed over 400 engineering projects, including multi-million-dollar USACE federal flood risk reduction projects in the Houston area. He has served as a testifying expert in district and federal courts, including for Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Harvey, and other notable flood disaster and drainage civil cases. Through his engineering economics work with USACE, he helped to secure millions in federal funding to reduce flooding in the Houston area and many other areas in the United States.
Spinks graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, with a bachelor’s degree (1985) and a master’s degree (1987) in civil / water resources engineering. He is a licensed professional engineer in Texas and Louisiana.
