David Zelenok | Founder and Chief Executive Officer
ZK Engineers

Dave Zelenok is an internationally-recognized civic innovator, speaker, author and licensed civil engineer who founded the nation’s first municipal Innovation Team focusing on emerging telecommunications, transportation and smart cities technologies. Dave is Founder and CEO of ZK Engineers and consults with public sector agencies and the private sector on smart cities technologies, innovation processes, emerging technologies, telecommunications and transportation infrastructure as well as Public-Private Partnerships.  He has more than thirty years of senior management experience at the municipal, state and federal levels as well as a consulting engineer managing the “full spectrum” of transportation service delivery and public works, including Aviation, Mass Transit, Civil Engineering, Toll Highway, Traffic/Transportation Engineering and Public Works operations. While serving the City of Centennial, Colorado (pop 110,000) he served in a number of roles – including Chief Innovation Officer, Interim City Manager and Director of Public Works.  Under his leadership, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recognized Centennial as one of 14 cities internationally to be awarded a multi-million grant to advance their use of innovation and smart cities technologies.    Also while in Centennial, Dave helped lead an unprecedented voter-approved initiative to authorize the deployment of municipal broadband throughout the community in partnership with the private sector, the first city in Colorado to do so.      Dave served fourteen years as Director of Public Works and Transportation for the City of Colorado Springs.  While there, he oversaw Colorado’s longest toll road, the second largest mass transit system and the Colorado Springs Airport.  During that time, the airport was designated the nation’s fastest growing airport for two consecutive years. He has testified before a number of Congressional subcommittees in support of increased funding for multi-modal, surface and air transportation-related issues.  As an Air Force (now Space Force) reservist, he was assigned to two Brigadier General positions, and was heavily involved in operating and managing much of the nation’s $11 billion annual military space program.  He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy and a Masters Degree in Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and is registered as a Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  He is a 2014 graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Senior Executives in Government Program Some of his recent articles on Smart Cities, 5G and telecommunications can be found here: March 2023 | Creating Smarter Cities (partica.online) CS_Fall2022_MR.pdf (cswea.org) November 2020 | International Idea Exchange (partica.online) Member Log In | National Society of Professional Engineers (nspe.org)