Age 33 | Senior partner, landscape architect, RDG Planning & Design

Life for Scott Crawford is all about work and family.

His commitment to both has caught the attention of colleagues at RDG Planning & Design, where he is a senior partner and a landscape architect.

“Scott does this work out of dedication to community and family,” RDG stewardship director Pat Boddy wrote in a nominating letter.

Crawford’s work takes him all over the country, and most of the time, he is designing the kinds of projects that are dear to him and his family: city parks, recreation facilities, sports complexes.

“Family is an important thing to me,” he said. “Being scattered and spread thin on a lot of things can be a balancing act.”

Some of those things, such as a rebuild of Des Moines Water Works Park, will provide plenty space for recreational activities for Crawford, his wife, Nicole, and daughter, Campbell, 3. A second child, a boy, is due in about a month. It will be a significant event for the Crawford clan.

“He will be the first grandson in the family,” Crawford said. And now that all of the grandparents are retired, “we’re getting to spend more time with them.”

His community involvement focuses on things that bring people together – think parks here.

“I have a personal interest in trails and parks and having people come together and engage in activities and with nature,” he said. “I also focus on that in my professional career. For me, that has been the most meaningful.”

Five reasons he’s a 40:

• Serves on Clive Parks and Recreation Board, served on similar board while a resident of Waukee.

• Member of design team that won Des Moines Water Works’ parkitecture competition.

• Member of design team for Iowa State University’s Cyclone Sports Complex.

• Led the design team on the University of Florida’s women’s lacrosse stadium.

• He was an Eagle Scout.

Fun fact:

“Everything in my life revolves around getting tasks done so I can come home and spend time with my family.”