MidAtlantic People: Construction business updates for April 2019
Stephen Ayers joined the MOCA Systems’ board of directors four months after stepping down as Architect of the Capitol in November 2018. MOCA says Ayers will work on strategic growth of the firm’s services and software products division. Ayers is also working as a consultant in the design and construction industry. As Architect of the Capitol, Ayers led an agency with a $730-million annual budget and 2,300 employees. He oversaw high-profile projects such as the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, restoration of the U.S. Capitol Dome, renovation of the Cannon House Office Building and a new co-generation system at the Capitol Power Plant.
Karen Biondolillo was named chief financial officer for the High companies, a group of family-owned businesses in central Pennsylvania. She is responsible for the corporate finance, accounting, tax and information technology departments. Biondolillo, who joined the company in 2006, also serves on the executive committee, which provides strategic leadership to the High companies. She succeeds Mike Van Belle, who recently retired after serving as CFO since 2005. Biondolillo previously was vice president and controller of High Industries Inc., which includes affiliates High Steel Structures LLC, High Concrete Group LLC, High Steel Service Center LLC, High Transit LLC, High Structural Erectors LLC, High Construction Co. and Greenfield Architects Ltd.
Urban Engineers has elected Erika L. Rush to its board of directors. Rush is a vice president and practice leader for planning services. She has worked with suburban and urban communities on integrated land use, transportation and environmental and economic planning. Rush oversees Urban Engineers’ multimodal circulation planning, bicycle and pedestrian planning, streetscape master plans and public engagement projects.
Thomas Mangold has joined HNTB Corp. as rail program manager in the firm’s King of Prussia, Pa., office. Mangold was chief engineering officer for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, where he oversaw the power department’s engineering, maintenance and construction groups as well as its capital construction programs.
Herbert, Rowland & Grubic Inc. has promoted Jeffrey A. Mikesic to practice area leader for the firm’s transportation group. His new responsibilities include strategy, professional development, project delivery and business development.
Gary Reed has been named executive director for the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s Mid-Atlantic region. Formerly a senior project manager with Parking Garage Preservations, Reed also has held positions with High Concrete Group, Universal Concrete Products and Nitterhouse Concrete Products.
Obituary
Tom Leidigh, last surviving founder of Philadelphia-based structural engineer Keast & Hood, died in Southampton, Pa., on Feb. 3. He was 94. Leidigh’s notable work included projects for Louis Kahn on the Richards Medical Research Laboratories, the National Assembly Building in Dacca (Dhaka) and the Philips Exeter Library. The U.S. Army veteran, who served in the 102nd Infantry Division during World War II, died six months after his co-founding partner Nick Gianopulos. Leidigh and Gianopulos, along with Sheldon Keast, Raymond Hood Jr. and Daniel DiBona, founded Keast & Hood in 1953. A past president of the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia, Leidigh also served as an architectural department structural critic and lecturer at Temple University’s College of Engineering Technology from 1975 until 1991.
