Tutor Perini Corp., Sylmar, has formed a Specialty Contractors Group comprised primarily of the firm’s electrical and mechanical contractors.

According to Ken Burk, executive vice president who will be overseeing the new unit as CEO, Tudor Perini will now be made up of four segments: building, civil, management services and specialty contractors.

The Specialty Contractors Group will include Tutor Perini subsidiary companies Five Star Electric and WDF, New York; Fisk Electric, Houston; Desert Mechanical, Las Vegas; Nagelbush Mechanical, Fort Lauderdale; and Superior Gunite, Los Angeles. Burk said the new group had a backlog of $1.4 billion as of July 1, and is expected to generate revenues in excess of $1 billion over the next four quarters.

Burk has been the company’s chief financial officer since 2007 and has been actively involved in completing the acquisitions and the formation of the new group, which will be based at the firm’s Southern California headquarters.

The specialty contractors will contract for projects both internally and externally, Burk said.

“That’s been part of our diversification strategy – develop vertical operating abilities,” he said.

In conjunction with Burk’s appointment, Tudor Perini said it has hired Michael Kershaw to be executive vice president and CFO. Kershaw’s appointment will be effective Sept. 21; he was previously senior vice president and chief accounting officer for The Shaw Group Inc. since 2007 and held financial executive positions with KBR and McDermott earlier in his career.