Cleighton Smith, P.E., CFM, has dedicated nearly five decades to advancing floodplain management, water resources engineering, and public service, building a career that reflects both exceptional professional accomplishment and a genuine commitment to helping communities and fellow practitioners. His experience spans consulting engineering, federal service as a FEMA Floodplain Management Specialist, and hands-on municipal floodplain administration in Manville, one of New Jersey’s most flood-prone communities. Through these roles, Cleighton has experienced floodplain management from virtually every perspective—from engineering and regulation to disaster recovery and the difficult conversations with residents and local officials that follow major floods. Just as important as his technical accomplishments, however, has been his commitment to sharing what he has learned. A longtime Certified Floodplain Manager and NJAFM member since the Association’s early years, Cleighton has spent decades teaching, mentoring, answering questions, leading training sessions, participating in conferences, and encouraging others to become more knowledgeable and effective floodplain managers.
His efforts helped increase the number of CFMs in New Jersey from just five to approximately 80 within four years, earning him NJAFM’s Floodplain Management Leadership Award in 2008, while his longstanding dedication to the Association was recognized with its Founders Award in 2021. Generations of New Jersey floodplain managers have benefited not only from Cleighton’s technical knowledge, but also from his willingness to make that knowledge accessible and to give his time to others. His legacy can therefore be measured not simply by the projects he has completed or positions he has held, but by the professionals he has helped educate, the communities he has assisted, and the floodplain management profession he helped build in New Jersey.
For his decades of service, leadership, mentorship, and unwavering commitment to better floodplain management, Cleighton Smith is exceptionally deserving of the NJAFM Lifetime Floodplain Management Achievement Award.