The National Association of County Engineers recently presented the 2026 Urban County Engineer of the Year Award to DeKalb County Engineer Nathan Schwartz.

The award was presented at the association’s annual conference in Arlington, Texas.

“Nathan has exemplified the very best of our association for many years, I can think of no more deserving candidate to receive this honor,” association president and Lancaster County, Nebraska County Engineer Pam Dingman said in a news release.

“Nathan’s thirty-year career has earned him a well-deserved reputation of being a national authority on pavement maintenance. Additionally, his stewardship of over $25 million in state and federal grants is a testament to his leadership and expertise he has exhibited throughout his career,” she said.

Schwartz graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996.

He was appointed the DeKalb County Highway Department’s county engineer in 2011. Schwartz also began to work as the DeKalb-Sycamore Metropolitan Planning Organization director in 2019. He is a member of several local, state and national organizations. Schwartz has presented various topics at state and national conferences.

The National Association of County Engineers is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association representing more than 3,000 county engineers, public works directors, highway commissioners, road managers and related professionals in the U.S. and Canada.