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Chair's Message
Mr Wright was recently elected by the Board to serve as Chair, effective July 1, 2025. He was first appointed to the Board by Governor Brian Sandoval in July 2017, reappointed by Governor Steve Sisolak in 2020, and again reappointed by Governor Joe Lombardo in 2023.
I’m honored to serve as Chair of the Nevada Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (NVBPELS), effective July 1, 2025. It’s a privilege to continue working alongside my fellow Board members and dedicated Board staff to advance our mission of protecting the public and supporting the professional engineering and land surveying community in Nevada.
My sincere thanks to outgoing Chair, Angelo Spata, PE, whose term concluded on June 30, 2025. Over the past two years, Angelo guided the Board through key transitions—including onboarding a new Executive Director—and led us through an active and challenging legislative session (summarized in our March newsletter).
Congratulations to our new Vice Chair, Matt Gingerich, PLS, who recently led the major initiative to update the Board’s Professional Land Surveyor Standards of Practice Regulations. His leadership, collaboration, and dedication ensured that these regulatory updates reflect current best practices and align with the needs of Nevada’s surveying profession. The successful completion of this effort represents a significant milestone in maintaining the integrity and modernization of our professional standards.
Improving Communication and Outreach
In addition to our policy and regulatory work, the Board remains focused on improving how we serve both licensees and the public. Based on feedback from licensees, we recently produced a Digital Signature Demonstration Video, designed to complement our Electronic Submittal and Digital Signature Guide published in 2020. The video provides a step-by-step tutorial and is now available on our website.
We also heard from many in the public and industry who want Board representatives to speak at meetings, conferences, and educational events. To make it easier to request a presentation, we’ve added a simple online speaker request page on our website. This initiative helps us expand outreach, increase transparency, and connect directly with our professional community. You can learn more about it in the article below.
Continuing Momentum and Modernization
As I begin my term as Chair, the Board’s priority is to continue the momentum established by previous board chairs and to support Board staff in implementing important modernization initiatives such as:
- Public Firm Registration Database with enhanced search and verification features to help agencies, clients, and the public confirm status and identify firms qualified to offer professional engineering and land surveying services in Nevada.
- Licensing Platform Upgrade featuring a user dashboard, automated workflows, and expanded database capabilities to reduce processing time and administrative costs—positioning the Board to explore future fee reductions.
Looking Ahead
I’m grateful to my fellow Board members for entrusting me with this role, and I look forward to working collaboratively with them to serve the people of Nevada and our licensed professionals.
In alignment with Governor Lombardo’s priorities to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers and accelerate pathways to employment, the Board will continue to review our processes and policies to ensure they are efficient, fair, and focused on helping qualified professionals enter the workforce more quickly.
Thank you for the trust you place in this Board. I look forward to building on our strong foundation of integrity, transparency, and
service—together.
Onward!
NEW CHAIR, VICE-CHAIR Appointments, AND BOARD MEMBER ReAPPOINTMENTS
Brent Wright, PE/SE
Board Chair
Governor Joe Lombardo reappointed L Brent Wright, PE, SE to the Board effective July 1, 2023. Brent was elected by the Board to serve as Chair effective July 1, 2025, succeeding outgoing Chair, Angelo Spata, PE.
Brent is a Nevada-licensed civil and structural engineer and is also licensed in all 49 other states. He is the founder and CEO of Wright Engineers, which has offices in Las Vegas, Orange County, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Denver, Dallas, and Atlanta He served as lead structural engineer for the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas and has overseen structural engineering for thousands of projects nationwide.
Brent earned both his BS and MS degrees in civil engineering from Brigham Young University. He also previously held a Nevada unlimited general contractor’s license.
Brent has served on numerous volunteer boards, including 12 years as chairman of the City of Las Vegas Department of Building and Safety Board of Appeals. He was a founder and the first president of the Structural Engineers Association of Southern Nevada (SEASoN).
Brent is the cartoonist and creative mind behind the Right Brain cartoons (rightbrain.wrightengineers.com), where he pokes fun at the quirks and craziness of engineers, architects, builders and the construction industry. He and his wife, Peggy, have six children and seventeen grandchildren. Outside work, he enjoys woodworking, gardening, motorcycle riding, archery, mountain climbing, and other outdoor adventures.
Matt Gingerich, PLS
Board Vice-Chair
Governor Steve Sisolak reappointed Matt Gingerich, PLS to the Board effective July 1, 2022 to serve a second three-year term. Matt was also elected by the Board to serve as Vice-Chair effective July 1, 2025. He takes over the position previously held by Tom Matter.
Matt is a licensed professional land surveyor in Nevada. His surveying career began with the Bureau of Land Management and he later worked in the private sector. Currently, Matt leads the Land Resources department for NV Energy. Over the last twenty years he has been involved with a wide range of responsibilities in surveying and land rights related to the construction and operation of the expanding gas and electric utility infrastructure in Northern Nevada.
Matt graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a Bachelor of Arts in History and the Oregon Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Land Surveying. He has served as President of the Nevada Association of Land Surveyors, Chair of the Western Federation of Professional Surveyors, and Chair of the Bureau of Land Management Sierra Front-Northern Great Basin Resource Advisory Council. Matt and his wife Laura live in Sparks and have two sons, Chad and Troy.
Angelo Spata, PE
Governor Lombardo reappointed past Board Chair Angelo Spata, PE to the Board effective July 1, 2024.
Angelo is a licensed professional engineer in Nevada and four other western states. He’s the Engineering Operations Director for Kiewit Engineering Group, Inc working from their Las Vegas, Nevada, office overseeing their design program in the West. Before joining Kiewit in 2019, Angelo delivered complex projects here in Nevada for nearly 30-years, including projects such as McCarran Satellite D, and the Project Neon Design-Build.
Angelo has lived in Nevada since 1976, graduating from Chaparral High School, attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and obtaining his PE in 2002.
Karen Purcell, PE
Governor Lombardo reappointed Board member Karen Purcell, PE to the Board effective July 1, 2024.
Karen Purcell, PE, CEng, is the founder, owner, and president of PK Electrical, Inc., an approximately fifty person electrical engineering and design firm headquartered in Reno, NV, with additional locations in Denver, CO and St. Louis, MO. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Widener University and has more than 35 years of experience in the industry. Karen is a passionate advocate for women in STEM, author of Unlocking Your Brilliance: Smart Strategies for Women to Thrive in STEM, and an active board member of both The Discovery and Sage Ridge School. Her leadership has guided projects such as Project Neon, the University of Nevada Engineering Building, Marce Herz Middle School, and the Denver Concourse B and C expansion.
Greg DeSart, PE
Governor Lombardo reappointed Board member, Gregory DeSart, PE to the Board effective July 1, 2024.
Greg is the Principal/President of Geotechnical & Environmental Services, Inc (GES), and is the owner of Eagle Drilling Services, LLC in Las Vegas. Since founding GES in 1992, Greg has managed and performed materials testing and inspection, geotechnical, and environmental engineering services for over 4,000 projects throughout Nevada and California. Greg is a licensed civil engineer in both Nevada and California. He is a native Nevadan, having been born in Henderson. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in geological engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Greg has been very involved in the engineering community throughout his 33 years of owning and operating GES and Eagle Drilling Services. He has served as President and National Director for the American Council of Engineering Companies of Nevada, Chairman for the Air and Waste Management Association, and Past Chairman for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Civil and Environmental Engineering Advisory Board. Greg’s current affiliations include the Nevada Alliance for Quality Transportation Construction, National Society of Professional Engineers, American Public Works Association, and the American Council of Engineering Companies of Nevada.
Robert Fyda, PE
Governor Lombardo reappointed Robert Fyda, PE, REHS, to the Board effective July 1, 2024.
Robert is a licensed professional engineer in environmental engineering and serves as the division director for Northern Nevada Public Health’s Environmental Health Services division overseeing food safety, septics/wells, Safe Drinking Water, and solid waste management authority in Washoe County. Robert’s engineering passion is for solid waste management and decentralized wastewater and water system design and operation. By working with local jurisdictions and other state agencies, Robert works to protect Nevada’s groundwater supply through sustainable development, proper engineering design, and good operational and maintenance practices.
He studied at the University of Nevada, Reno and received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. He went on to receive his Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University in New York City. As a Bloomberg Fellow, Robert is now working towards earning his doctorate in Public Health as a part time student attending the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where he is working on addressing environmental challenges in America today through the Bloomberg American Health Initiative.
Legislative Update
2025 Updates to Statutes and Regulations That Could Impact You as a Professional
2025 has been a busy and productive year for updates to both the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) and the Nevada Administrative Code (NAC) Chapter 625. These changes reflect the Board’s ongoing commitment to keeping Nevada’s
professional standards up to date, practical, and aligned with best practices.
Updates to Regulations
Over the past 24 months, the proposed updates to the Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) Standards of Practice have moved through the required public review and approval process. This process included a 12-month pause related to Nevada’s 83rd Legislative Session. Because the Legislative Counsel Bureau focuses entirely on preparing bill drafts during the six-month session (January through June), no regulation changes can be submitted at that time. In addition, submittals are paused during the six months before the session begins (July through December) to allow staff to prepare for the upcoming legislative workload. Once the session concluded in early June 2025, the revised PLS regulations advanced to the Nevada Legislative Commission for final review and were officially ratified on August 20, 2025.
The updated PLS regulations are designed to simplify requirements and reflect modern surveying practices. Key updates include:
• Removing duplicative requirements to make compliance clearer and more efficient.
• Revising positional certainty standards for surveys and proposed fixed works.
• Updating survey practices to reflect current technology and industry standards.
• Clarifying scaled drawing requirements for greater consistency.
• Revising land boundary survey classifications to align with national standards.
These changes ensure Nevada’s regulations keep pace with advancements in technology and align with current professional practices.
You can view the adopted regulations on the Board’s website under Statutes & Regulations. Please note that the official Nevada Law Library has not yet been updated with these revisions.
Updates to Statutes
The 2025 Legislative Session also brought important statutory changes. The Board successfully advanced Assembly Bill 270 (AB 270), which was signed into law by Governor Lombardo on June 3, 2025, and took effect October 1, 2025.
The most notable updates are to NRS 625.193 and NRS 625.280, reducing the required years of experience for applicants seeking a waiver of the Fundamentals Exam (for engineering or land surveying). The requirement has been reduced
from 15 years to 10 years, recognizing the evolving pathways to professional competence and balancing experience with demonstrated skill and education.
To view all the statute revisions, visit Statutes & Regulations → NRS Chapter 625 section on the Board’s website. You can also access the updated statutes directly through the online Nevada Law Library.
Staying Informed
The Board appreciates the continued engagement of Nevada’s licensed professionals throughout the process of updating both statutes and regulations. Your attention to these changes—and to how they may affect your professional practice—helps ensure that Nevada’s engineering and surveying community remains engaged, informed, and proactive.
By keeping our laws and regulations current, we uphold the high standards that protect the public while reflecting the evolving realities of modern professional practice. We encourage you to stay connected through our website for future updates, announcements, and opportunities to share your feedback.
Language Access Plan
Help Improve the Nevada Board’s Language Access Plan
Although English is considered the international language of engineering, the Nevada Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (NVBPELS) recognizes that not everyone in Nevada speaks English fluently. To make its services easier to access, the Board’s website offers an option to view information in other languages — a helpful feature for members of the public who prefer to read in their native language.
In 2021, the Nevada Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 318, which requires state agencies to make sure Nevadans with limited English proficiency (LEP) can access important public services. In response, the Board created its first version of a Language Access Plan. This plan outlines how the Board will help non-English speakers understand and use its services — such as licensing, renewals, and compliance processes.
The Board is now asking for public feedback to help improve this first version of the plan. Your input will help make sure the plan truly meets the needs of Nevadans who want to engage with the Board in their preferred language.
According to data from the Office of New Americans (ONA) and state census information, a large number of Nevada residents may benefit from having access to the Board’s services in other languages. While the Board has not yet received any formal requests for translation or interpretation, that does not mean there isn’t a need — people may simply not know that help is available or how to request it.
The Board wants to hear from you. If you have ideas, comments, or suggestions on how the Board can make its services more accessible for non-English speakers, please share your feedback by emailing board@nvbpels.nv.gov.
Your input will help shape a more inclusive and effective Language Access Plan for everyone in Nevada.
Nevada Law and Professional Ethics Webinars
Join us for two webinars that will satisfy the requirement for 1 hour to review NRS and NAC Chapter 625 and 2 hours of professional ethics.
Nevada Chapter 625 Statutes and Regulations Webinar
Wednesday November 12, 2025 – 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm PST
Professional Ethics Webinar
Thursday November 13, 2025 – 11:30 am to 1:30 pm PST
The link to join both webinars is https://zoom.us/j/8286438008
For those unable to participate live, the sessions will be recorded and will be available on the
Continuing Education page of the website after the live events.
Digital Signature Video
In 2020, the Board organized a task force to create an Electronic Submittal and Digital Signature Guide. The task force was comprised of members from public agencies, private companies and Board staff members. The information gathered by the task force resulted in a written guide that still resides on our website.
Over the past few years, we’ve heard that the guide is helpful and widely used. But explaining the process in words can be confusing to those not familiar with the software referenced. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so we created a video as a companion to the written guide to demonstrate the process of creating and applying a digital signature.
We enlisted the help of two professionals to demonstrate the most commonly used software. Jonathan Browning, PE of Tectonics Design Group demonstrates Adobe Acrobat, and Joey Ganser, PE of PK Electrical demonstrates BlueBeam Revu. The engineers walk viewers through the process of creating an electronic stamp and digital signature and then applying them to a single discipline plan. Professionals who are new to digital signatures are encouraged to follow along on their own computers.
Click the image above and give it a try!
Nevada By The Numbers
Request a Speaker
Over the past few years, several of our staff and Board members have been asked to deliver presentations for organizations such as, APWA, ACEC, ASCE, CLSA, and NALS. The presentations have been very well received and some have become annual events.
We considered this and listened to input from industry and the public, and we created a simple Request a Speaker page on our website. Now requests can be made via email.
We will review the requests and match them with speaker availability. For now, we will coordinate other details by phone or email separately.
BOARD GUESTS
If you are interested in attending a board meeting in person (either at the Reno or Las Vegas office), please email Mark Fakler mfakler@nvbpels.nv.gov. We’ll provide meeting instructions and materials in advance.