Mike Applegate served as a Northern Water Board of Director from 1991 to 2023, serving 35 years total and 25 of those years as President of the Board. He was appointed Director Emeritus in fall 2023 and sworn in on Jan. 11, 2024. 

Applegate has a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Colorado State University. Applegate is the CEO, president and major shareholder in the Applegate Group, Inc., a consulting engineering firm specializing in water resource services in the Western United States. He is a water resources engineer working on planning, water rights evaluation, river basin modeling and design. 

He is a member of these professional organizations: 

• CSU Professional Learning Institute 
• CSU Morgan Library Water Tables Committee 
• CSU Civil Engineering Industrial Advisory Committee 
• American Council of Engineering Companies 

Applegate has served as: 

• Northern Water and Municipal Subdistrict Board of Director from 1991 to 2023. 
• Northern Water Board President from 1998 to 2023. 
• A CSU advisory board member and guest lecturer on ethics to the College of Engineering since 2008 
• A member of a CSU organizing committee to raise funds for the Water Resources Archives since 2005 
• A CSU advisor to the Civil Engineering Department for strategic direction since 2004 

In 2005, Applegate received the George Washington Award for Community Service from the American Council of Engineering Companies. He was named Engineer of the Year by the Professional Engineers of Colorado in 1993. 

Applegate grew up on a ranch in the mountains west of Fort Collins and learned irrigation via manual labor. In 1972, he filed a water court application for the family ranch and decided to pursue a water resources engineering degree. Applegate worked as a consulting engineer his entire 36-year career. 

Applegate enjoys stained glass window design and construction, hunting, fishing and woodworking. He and his wife, Chris, live on the Stove Prairie, Colo. ranch where he grew up. They have two daughters, Samantha and Paige.