Blair Metzger, president of DGR Engineering (DGR), received the Wayne E. Knabach Excellence in Power Award at the Center for Power Systems Studies banquet Oct. 3 at McCrory Gardens Education and Visitor Center.

The annual award is presented to an engineer whose lifetime contributions have advanced the power industry in the Upper Midwest.

Metzger, a Rock Rapids, IA native, graduated from the electrical engineering program at South Dakota State University in 1986 and joined DGR as a design engineer. He rose through the ranks and served as DGR’s electrical power group department head from 2002 to 2010, when he was appointed company president.

Metzger was nominated for the Knabach Award by Chad Rasmussen, assistant electrical power group department head at DGR.

He wrote, “Over the course of his career, Blair’s focus has been on providing services to municipal utilities … Blair’s commitment to municipal electrical engineering was instrumental in expanding DGR’s service territory to include many Minnesota municipal utility clients. He is an expert in power supply and rate making issues in the Upper Midwest, assisting many clients with his rate development expertise.”

Through his 36-year career at DGR, Metzger has worked with scores of communities, mostly smaller ones, in Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska.

DGR, founded in 1952, has 150 employees with offices in Rock Rapids, Sioux Falls and Sioux City, Iowa, and specializes in aviation, civil, electrical power, survey, wastewater and water engineering. Since 2014, it has received the Circle of Excellence for overall engineering performance by PSMJ Resources, a leading management consulting firm for architecture and engineering firms.

The Center for Power Systems Studies is housed within the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering at South Dakota State and has been an advocate for the power industry and a supporter of future power engineers since its formation in 1968.