Following his graduation with honors from North Carolina State University, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mr. Neely joined Union Carbide where he spent his entire professional career, prior to joining Becht Engineering. Over the next 50 years, Mr. Neely served in a variety of engineering capacities with a focus on pressure vessel engineering for the wide range of process vessel equipment that comprise large chemical plant projects and operations. Mr. Neely was recognized for his skills and promoted to Corporate Engineering Fellow in 1976, and had responsibilities for influencing and providing the design methodologies, standards, and practices that were used Corporate-wide for new construction, repair/alteration, and troubleshooting activities.