Academy of Distinguished Alumni
Douglas R. Fahl,
B.S. 1967
Vice President, Dewberry & Davis, LLC

As an executive vice president of Dewberry & Davis, LLC, Mr. Fahl is responsible for leading and directing the operations of the firm’s land development design offices throughout the greater northern Virginia area. His staff provides design and consulting services in planning, civil engineering, land surveying and landscape architecture.



Mr. Fahl has been active in all phases of the firm’s land development practice — applying over three decades of experience in the design and land use regulatory approval process for a variety of high profile residential communities, office and industrial parks, commercial retail centers and urban mixed-use and revitalization projects.



Mr. Fahl believes he owes his career and success to his cooperative work experience with Fairfax County while pursuing his civil engineering degree at Virginia Tech which he received in 1967. Upon completion of his studies, he returned to the Fairfax County Planning office where he remained for five years prior to joining Dewberry & Davis. While at the county, his career progressed

rapidly. He was responsible for writing the original Fairfax County Historic District Zoning Ordinance and developed programs for historic preservation and open space protection.



His primary interest was Transportation Planning. In 1968 he was promoted to chief of transportation planning in the Fairfax Planning Office. As the county’s technical and planning representative during the planning of the Washington METRO system, he learned that politics can have a dramatic influence on what we do as engineers. “Politics shapes so much of what we do as a society and what we do in the building and development of our communities,” he says.



In 1970, Fahl joined Dewberry & Davis, one of the largest civil engineering and land surveying firms in the Washington, DC area. During the 1970s and 80s, Mr. Fahl was responsible for the land planning and rezoning service provided by Dewberry for literally thousands of homes in scores of communities throughout northern Virginia. In 1989, he was promoted to managing principal to lead and direct the entire Land Development Engineering and Surveying as well Planning practice in the Washington DC area.



For 35 years, Mr. Fahl has served the building industry as well as the Commonwealth, both as a volunteer and with gubernatorial appointments to boards and commissions. His commitment to affordable shelter and the real estate development industry has resulted in his involvement in the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association (NVBIA), the Home Builders Association of Virginia (HBAV), the Virginia Association of Commercial Real Estate (VACRE), the Northern Virginia Chapter of the National Association of Industrial & Office Properties (NAIOP), and the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance (NVTA).



He has numerous current and past leadership positions with these organizations. At the NVBIA he served as secretary, as president of the Fairfax Chapter, and as a senior life director. During much of the 70’s and 80’s, Mr. Fahl served as chairman of the NVBIA’s Planning and Land Use Committee and Technical Advisory Committee. The HBAV has elected Mr. Fahl to the office of associate vice president representing the non-builder members throughout the state. In 2001, he was elected a life director of HBAV. He was selected chairman of the association’s Political Action Committee (Build-PAC), and currently serves as chairman of the HBAV Education Foundation. He was elected life director of the board of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NOVA/NAIOP) and currently serves as a vice president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance.



Mr. Fahl has been recognized with numerous awards and honors. In 2004, the State Builders Association selected him to the HBAV Hall of Fame. Only 25 members of HBAV have been selected and he is the only associate (non-builder) member to be so honored. In 1996, NVBIA presented Mr. Fahl the “Meritorious Service Award” for “over two decades of consistent dedication and commitment in leadership in the building industry at the state and local level.” In 1991, NVBIA selected him as “Associate of the Year” for “his years of dedication and outstanding service to the association and to the building industry, and was selected “Man of the Year” in 1980. HBAV selected Mr. Fahl Associate of the Year for 1990.



Four of Virginia’s governors have called upon Mr. Fahl to serve the Commonwealth on various boards and commissions. Governor Mark Warner appointed him to his current position on the Board of Commissioners of the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA). In July 2004, he was elected chairman of the board of Commissioners and re-elected to the position in July 2005. In 1990, Governor Wilder named him to a four year term on the Industrial Development Services Advisory Board. In 1982, Governor Robb placed him on the Board of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and he was reappointed by Governor Balilies in 1986. He served as chairman of the HCD Board his last three years, retiring in 1990 after serving the maximum of two successive four year terms as permitted by statute.



Mr. Fahl’s service to Virginia Tech began later in his career. His advocacy of Virginia Tech’s importance to northern Virginia lead to his selection as a founding member and first chairman of the Virginia Tech Northern Virginia Center Advisory Board. In addition, Mr. Fahl is a former member and past chairman of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Advisory Board. He is currently a member of the Engineering College Committee of 100. In 2005, he was elected for a three year term on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association which represents the 185,000 alumni around the world.



Mr. Fahl and his wife, Laurie Aden, a 1974 graduate of Virginia Tech with a BS in biology, live in Leesburg, Va. His daughter, Julie, also a “Hokie,” earned her BS in animal and poultry sciences from Virginia Tech in 1998.