Ryan McMaster, Principal, Kimley-Horn

Ryan McMaster, principal at engineering planning and design consultancy Kimley-Horn, sat down with Invest: to discuss the role the company has played in Nashville’s infrastructure development initiatives, how it is implementing new technologies into its operations, and what are the most pressing needs for Nashville as its infrastructure continues to grow. “It takes effort, focus, and dollars to stay ahead of that growth curve and I believe every community deals with those issues on some level,” McMaster said.

How has this year been for the company and your team, and what developments stand out the most?

2025 has been a good, steady year. The past five years have been a bit chaotic for everyone but our ability to operate as one firm allowed us to be nimble and shift our resources and horsepower nationally to serve our clients at the pace they needed, while a lot of the market struggled to keep up. This year has been much more steady than past years, which can be attributed to a few different things. There has been a flattening of sectors, and we have continued to hire and relocate staff from other parts of the country that are slower right now to have the volume of resources needed for the market’s continued growth needs across sectors here locally.

How do you attract and retain talent? 

One of our growth models is targeted at a robust internship program and hiring students out of college. We hired over 1,000 new graduates this summer, as well as having over 1,000 interns. We have many empowered young professionals and spend a lot of time on culture. Taking care of our employees and clients goes hand in hand, as happy employees make happy clients. We are all here to take care of one another, and the partnerships that we have with one another run very deep. Our culture and compensation model have enabled us to both attract and retain talent quite well. Being privately owned contributes to this as well.

As Nashville’s infrastructure continues to evolve rapidly, what are some of the most pressing needs you see emerging as the city grows?

Like any large metro, there are many pressing needs throughout the community. Mobility and public utilities are two that come to my mind right off the bat. Metro’s Choose How You Move (CHYM) funding program will be a good funding source and a step in the right direction for improving mobility in the County. Nashville experienced mass migration from other states due to quality of life. This influx of new residents, particularly in Middle Tennessee, has highlighted the absolute necessity for mobility to keep quality of life top priority. The CHYM funding is multimodal focused which will introduce bus rapid transit (BRT) to our region along with improvements for sidewalks, signals, and everyday bus service. Water/Wastewater has been another huge challenge, especially in our suburbs. Growth has outpaced the expansion of those systems. It takes effort, focus, and dollars to stay ahead of that growth curve and I believe every community deals with those issues on some level. 

How is Kimley-Horn helping clients balance the pace of urban development with the need for infrastructure that is both resilient and inclusive?

Our balance of being able to work on both sides of the fence is key. We work with the cities and public municipalities that we develop in, but we also understand the client side of things on the private side. This gives us the lens necessary to be professional problem solvers and really get creative in finding that common ground to get things moving forward in our communities. When you approach an opportunity with that mindset, it allows you to bring value to the project and the community. Our knowledge of the development community has allowed us to help our municipal clients with future infrastructure (transportation and utility) planning and Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) development.

What are some ways recent projects have helped set new standards for accessibility or community impact?

I am very proud of the East Bank master plan that we worked on a couple of years ago. Infrastructure, transportation, affordability, inclusivity — all of these community needs were addressed in this master plan. Being able to implement pieces of that plan as this new community is developed on the East Bank of the Cumberland River is exciting and I have found this project very rewarding.

Everybody knows about the East Bank, but we have many other projects that we have completed for neighboring Middle Tennessee communities. Our transportation partners have helped local agencies develop Safe Streets for All (SS4A) action plans, which is a federally funded grant program. These SS4A programs identify safety improvements for an agency’s transportation network and get them in line for future funding for the design and construction of those infrastructure improvements.

How do you see technologies like integrated mobility solutions, smart city planning, or data analytics changing the way infrastructure is being designed and operated?

Technology has a huge impact, especially as we start to implement some of these projects that we have been working on. We have been able to improve the overall traffic flow on our freeway network through the use of variable speed limit signs that change throughout the day based upon traffic conditions. Locally, the TDOT I-24 Smart Corridor between Nashville and Murfreesboro is a recent example of this technology being deployed here in Middle Tennessee — a project our local traffic engineers helped plan. Chattanooga has a goal to be a smart city over the next several years to help minimize the commute wherever you want to go. Our current Citywide Signal Timing Synchronization Program in Chattanooga will look to deploy advanced signal performance measures so that City staff can see historic data on the signal’s performance to allow staff to make real-time adjustments to signal operations. Implementing technology to improve people’s quality of life day in and day out is a huge goal of ours. 

Sustainability is top of mind for many communities. How is Kimley-Horn helping clients approach sustainability from both a design and consulting perspective?

Kimley-Horn maintains a strong focus on energy, renewable energy included. Our portfolio includes projects such as solar farms, agrivoltaic facilities, wind energy developments, and biomass energy initiatives across the country. Our Nashville-based national Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEV) practice partners are committed to integrating sustainability into the built environment through an interdisciplinary design approach. Prioritizing sustainability from the earliest stages of design is fundamental to maximizing opportunities and achieving optimal outcomes in final project delivery. There is always a balancing act, and today’s economy is pushing the market to prioritize immediate costs over future savings from sustainable features. Helping to champion projects that design with the future generation in mind, leaving the environment better than we found it — that is the goal. 

From your experience, what best practices are proving most effective in navigating funding mechanisms and regulatory approvals for major infrastructure projects?

The availability of grants today is much higher than it has been in the past. We have an entire group of planners and engineers that does nothing but write and administer grants on behalf of our clients. Once we help fund that project, we are sitting in a favorable position to continue delivering on that project. We try to serve our clients in different ways by bringing more value to the table than they are used to or expecting. Our goal with that approach is to help align available grant money with capital improvement projects that have been sitting on the shelf. Helping our clients create those funding systems to go work on those capital improvement projects is important to us. 

What are the next big opportunities for Kimley-Horn in Nashville and across the Southeast?

With over a dozen practice areas represented in our Nashville office, we’re able to pursue a wide range of opportunities across both the public and private sectors. Locally, we have an extremely long list of opportunities. The BNA airport has been expanding for a decade and has another decade ahead of them. Choose How You Move is another big opportunity for us, whether that be the transit centers, BRT, more sidewalks, or enhanced technology for Metro’s signal system. Additionally, we have a huge presence out in the suburbs surrounding Nashville, working on mixed use developments and single-family homes. Having so many practice areas has allowed us to dip our toes in many different projects and shift resources when one project type slows down and another speeds up.

Looking ahead, what are Kimley-Horn’s top priorities and goals for the Tennessee market in the next two to three years?

When I think of goals for Kimley-Horn locally, my mind goes to 10 different buckets because each practice area has different goals. The transit referendum is going to be important and continuing to grow how we help implement that program is going to be key. Another goal is to continue to diversify our practice areas, whether through specialized consulting services or geographic growth. I see more suburban offices in other municipalities here in Middle Tennessee in our near future. This isn’t just about growth — it’s about being embedded in the communities we’re helping to plan, design, and grow thoughtfully.