{"id":18085,"date":"2024-01-23T16:25:51","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T22:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/?p=18085"},"modified":"2026-04-15T17:29:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T22:29:24","slug":"engineering-firm-graef-promotes-two-uwm-alums-to-leadership-roles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/engineering-firm-graef-promotes-two-uwm-alums-to-leadership-roles\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineering firm GRAEF promotes two UWM alums to leadership roles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Two alumni from the college have been promoted to leadership roles at GRAEF \u2013 a Milwaukee-based engineering, planning&nbsp;and design firm \u2013 in the company&#8217;s structural engineering arm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Steve Rech<\/strong> (\u201900 MS and \u201998 BS, Civil Engineering) serves as the firm\u2019s director of structural engineering. <strong>Kyle Poklar<\/strong> (\u201915 MS Civil Engineering) was named as structural practice area leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After nearly 25 years of contributions as an exceptional engineer, Rech leads the development of structural technical and quality standards and processes and oversee structural projects firm-wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rech brings a visionary approach to this new position. He started at GRAEF in 2000 and began to lead the Milwaukee structural group in 2017. A principal of the firm, he has worked on some of GRAEF\u2019s top projects, including the Baird Center expansion, Komatsu South Harbor Campus, Fincantieri Marinette Marine and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Poklar has exhibited technical expertise and a keen understanding of the industry&#8217;s landscape. As GRAEF\u2019s structural practice area leader, Poklar oversees the Milwaukee structural group and continues to provide expertise to our clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Poklar has worked on GRAEF projects, such as the Milwaukee School of Engineering Viets Tower, Marquette University College of Business Administration, Komatsu South Harbor Campus and more. He also is leading the structural team on Milwaukee\u2019s Iron District Development, coming soon to downtown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Poklar, an associate of the firm, began his career at GRAEF as a college intern in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>GRAEF is led by another alum, president and CEO John Kissinger (\u201979 BS Civil Engineering). With a legacy of more than 60 years in structural expertise, GRAEF designs across a spectrum of dynamic markets, such as industrial, healthcare, commercial, residential, retail and sports centers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two alumni from the college have been promoted to leadership roles at GRAEF \u2013 a Milwaukee-based engineering, planning&nbsp;and design firm \u2013 in the company&#8217;s structural engineering arm. Steve Rech (\u201900 MS and \u201998 BS, Civil Engineering) serves as the firm\u2019s &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":836,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[61,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two UWM College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science alumni promoted to leadership roles at GRAEF engineering firm.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/engineering-firm-graef-promotes-two-uwm-alums-to-leadership-roles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Engineering firm GRAEF promotes two UWM alums to leadership roles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two UWM College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science alumni promoted to leadership roles at GRAEF engineering firm.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/engineering-firm-graef-promotes-two-uwm-alums-to-leadership-roles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-23T22:25:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T22:29:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura L Otto\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura L Otto\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/engineering-firm-graef-promotes-two-uwm-alums-to-leadership-roles\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/engineering-firm-graef-promotes-two-uwm-alums-to-leadership-roles\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laura L Otto\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565\"},\"headline\":\"Engineering firm GRAEF promotes two UWM alums to leadership roles\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-23T22:25:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-15T22:29:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/engineering-firm-graef-promotes-two-uwm-alums-to-leadership-roles\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":281,\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni News\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/engineering-firm-graef-promotes-two-uwm-alums-to-leadership-roles\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/engineering-firm-graef-promotes-two-uwm-alums-to-leadership-roles\\\/\",\"name\":\"Engineering firm GRAEF promotes two UWM alums to leadership roles - College of Engineering &amp; 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