Mark Lawrence has been promoted to senior associate at Jacobs Associates in San Francisco. He has 30 years of experience in engineering and construction. For the last 14 years, he has specialized in the design of permanent and temporary excavation support systems. Lawrence has a background in preparing design drawings, specifications and calculations for falsework, excavation shoring and temporary structural supports and for coordinating such projects. Lawrence recently provided design oversight on the final lining falsework on the Devil's Slide tunnel project and design oversight on the Bay Tunnel project's launching and receiving shafts.

Austin Pan has been named technical director of bridges for Samsung C&T, Engineering & Construction Americas, based in Long Beach. He has 25 years of civil engineering experience in the U.S., Asia and the Middle East. His work has focused primarily on structural, bridge and earthquake engineering. His background includes design, consulting, construction engineering, project management, research, teaching and government service. Pan has published a number of industry papers and is an acknowledged expert in his field, the firm says.

Ken Harms has joined Kitchell as business development executive, based in Sacramento. With more than 25 years of construction industry experience, Harms has led sales teams through every level of the business-development process—from identifying prospects to contract award and post-contract client relations. Harms' experience includes partnering with programs in the state of California to assist with incorporating delivery techniques. He has worked on K-12, higher education, criminal justice, transportation and municipal projects.

Lloyd Guss has been appointed a principal consultant (PC) for PSI's remediation design and construction service line. Guss will be the primary PC for the firm's Cypress, Oakland and Portland, Ore., operations. He is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach, and has a bachelor's degree in geology. Guss also will serve as a senior geologist.

Blach Construction Co., Santa Clara, has hired Tony Matulich as senior project manager. Matulich brings to Blach 17 years of experience in the construction industry. Before moving to Blach, Matulich spent 15 years at Vance Brown Construction, managing multiple projects at Stanford University as well as the construction of a 38,000-sq-ft Elks Lodge in Palo Alto. Matulich holds a bachelor's degree in construction management from the California State University, Chico. In addition, James Woodbury has joined Blach as senior project manager. Woodbury spent the first 11 years of his career with Devcon Construction, where his work included high-technology campus construction, including multiple projects for Apple. At the Cisco campus in Milpitas, he built five, two-story office buildings for a total of $73 million that are designed to meet LEED-Gold certification. Woodbury earned a bachelor's degree in architectural engineering and has a minor in construction management from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Grace Li has been hired by Skanska USA in Oakland as a project engineer, joining recent hire Mike Smithson as project executive. Li will be joining Skanska's Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority/Bay Area Rapid Transit team.

Paul Pluguez has joined Skanska as a project engineer. He holds degrees in architecture and civil engineering. Mike Smithson, project executive; Stephen Carpenter, environmental, health and safety manager; Alfred Arabejo, project accountant; and John Chavez, visualization specialist, also have joined the firm.

Brian Chartrand has been named executive vice president of Driver URBAN, an independent company formed by general contractor C.W. Driver that specializes in construction of multifamily apartments, mixed-use developments, affordable housing, student and senior housing and hospitality projects. Joining Chartrand at Driver URBAN are David Pintar, director of business development, and Nathan Deal, senior estimator.

John Griffiths was promoted to principal at Mazzetti Nash Lipsey Burch, San Francisco. Griffith is a licensed electrical engineer and chartered engineer with more than 20 years of electrical engineering and project management experience. His background spans varying building types locally and internationally, including commercial, labs, museums, health care and low-energy sustainable projects. He is currently the principal in charge of the multidisciplinary replacement facilities of the new 436,000-sq-ft, 234-bed Kaiser Permanente San Leandro template hospital and campus, which includes a 275,000-sq-ft hospital support building and central utility plant.