Alejandro Angel
2025 Greater Tucson Leadership Tucson Man of the Year
By Rodney Campbell
After growing up and graduating from college in Colombia, Alejandro Angel left in 2000 to continue his education in a more stable place. Colombians were besieged by violence stemming from the cartel wars, guerilla kidnappings and government corruption.
“I grew up in Medellin,” he said. “It’s an amazing place, and we travel to visit our families every year, but the ’80s and ’90s were difficult years.”
With little thought of staying long-term, Angel moved to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona where he earned a master’s degree in civil engineering and doctorate in traffic engineering.
After getting married and taking a job at McGovern, MacVittie, Lodge & Associates, a Tucson-based engineering firm, he started feeling more at home in Southern Arizona.
“I developed great friends,” Angel said. “My coworkers were amazing. The quality of life is outstanding here. There are a lot of great things in Colombia, but security and job opportunities weren’t as good as in Tucson.”
Now in his 24th year at Psomas, a national engineering firm that merged with MMLA in 2004, Angel is deeply connected to the community. He serves as director of engineering at the firm. His work and volunteer contributions earned him the Greater Tucson Leadership Man of the Year Award for 2025.
Early in his career, Angel was inspired by MMLA co-founder Tom McGovern and his pursuits in the community. McGovern, now a principal emeritus with Psomas, has been in leadership roles for The Chamber of Southern Arizona, Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Pima Association of Governments and University of Arizona College of Engineering, to name just a few.
“When I got (to Psomas), I was able to see Tom McGovern in action,” Angel said. “He participated in everything and encouraged employees to get engaged in things that mattered to them.”
McGovern’s influence still resonates at Psomas. The company supports employee volunteerism by allowing the use of its resources to design pro bono projects, covering the cost of memberships in community or professional organizations, and arranging volunteer opportunities for employees and families.
“That’s what’s unique about Psomas,” Angel said. “You feel like you have permission and encouragement to do things outside your job.”
Angel’s work passions quickly became his volunteer pursuits. He’s part of the Living Streets Alliance, El Tour de Tucson, UA Civil Engineering Alumni Industry Council, the American Council of Engineering Companies and other infrastructure-related groups.
“I figured I would try to combine things I was interested in,” he said. “I love engineering, bicycling and Tucson. If this was going to be home for our family, I wanted to make it a better place.”
Angel has worked with Living Streets Alliance on numerous projects, including a traffic lane that the group made into a colorful asphalt mural running from the Children’s Museum Tucson to Armory Park along Sixth Avenue downtown.
More than 300 community members turned out to paint the lane in October 2022. Angel and other Psomas engineers designed and helped shepherd the project through the many approval processes it required, including new crosswalks and curb extensions.
“What I appreciate about Alejandro is that he has an engineer’s brain and a big heart,” said Emily Yetman, founder and former executive director of Living Streets. “He always helps us get to yes. He can hear what the challenge is and work with us to find creative solutions that have backing from the technical side.”
Angel feels at home in Tucson because it offers him the opportunity to make connections, whether at work, in his neighborhood, or by volunteering.
“Tucson is unique because it knows what it doesn’t want to be,” he said. “It doesn’t want to be a huge city. It’s a city where you can do everything and still have a small-town feel where you can get to know people.”
