This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
ENR logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
ENR logo
  • News
  • Projects
    • Buildings
    • Construction Methods
    • Design
    • Sustainability
    • Transportation
    • Environment
    • Power & Industrial
    • Water & Dams
    • Best Projects
  • Business
    • Safety & Health
    • Workforce
    • Finance
    • Companies
    • Project Delivery
    • Ethics & Corruption
    • Government
    • Risk
    • Pulse
    • Contractor Business Strategy
  • Talent
    • Awards
      • Top 25 Newsmakers
      • Award of Excellence
      • Legacy Award
      • Top Young Professionals
    • Promotions & New Hires
    • Obituaries
    • Annual Photo Contest
  • Regions
    • ENR California
    • ENR MidAtlantic
    • ENR Midwest
    • ENR Mountain States
    • ENR New York
    • ENR New England
    • ENR Northwest
    • ENR Southeast
    • ENR Southwest
    • ENR Texas & Louisiana
    • Regional Contests and Surveys
  • Tech
    • Information Technology
    • Construction Technology
    • BIM
  • Products
    • Equipment
    • Materials
    • Product Snapshot
  • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Editorials
    • Viewpoints
    • Letters
    • Book Reviews
  • Costs
    • Construction Economics Archive
    • Construction Cost Index
    • Building Cost Index
    • Historical Indices
    • Quarterly Cost Reports
    • FAQs
  • Lists
    • ENR Top Lists
    • ENR Sourcebooks
    • Survey Schedule
  • CE Center
  • InfoCenters
    • Disrupt or Be Disrupted
    • Innovations in Waterproofing
    • Planning for Project Perfection
    • Revolutionizing Productivity Safety
    • The Business of Projects
  • Events
    • AEC BuildTech
    • Award of Excellence
    • Best of the Best Project Awards
    • FutureTech
    • Groundbreaking Women in Construction
    • Global Best Projects Awards
    • Port Authority of NY & NJ
    • Regional Best Projects
    • Top 25 Newsmakers
    • Upcoming Events
    • Webinars
  • More
    • Subscription
    • Proposals & Bids
    • Industry Jobs
    • Special Reports
    • Sponsor Insights
    • Store
    • Videos
    • Interactive Spotlights
    • Digital Editions
    • Year In Construction Photo Contest
    • Special Advertising Sections
  • About
    • Contact
    • Advertise
Home » Will A New AECOM Board Director Be Its Next CEO?
Promotions & New Hires

Will A New AECOM Board Director Be Its Next CEO?

ENR Executive News
November 27, 2019
Debra K. Rubin
KEYWORDS AECOM / Executive News
Reprints
No Comments
Card
Hinman

In a Nov. 22 “governance agreement” between AECOM and its activist investor, Starboard Value LLP, the engineering giant has named three new outside board members recommended by the investment firm and says that Michael S. Burke, CEO since 2014 and chairman since 2015, will retire when a CEO successor is named.

AECOM will also hire a separate chairman.

Immediately joining as directors are industry veteran Robert G. Card, a management consultant who previously led Montreal design-build company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. as CEO for three years after prior top executives were ousted when an alleged contract bribery scheme surfaced; and Peter A. Feld, a Starboard executive. Joining on Dec. 16 is Jacqueline C. Hinman, former chairman, president and CEO of CH2M before its sale to Jacobs in 2017.

The firm says Burke is set to continue his roles until the CEO successor is named or by the firm annual meeting in March.

Both Hinman or Card “are likely candidates for the CEO position after the … internal and external search,” said Andrew Wittman, industry research analyst at investment firm R.W. Baird & Co. in a Nov. 22 research note, adding that, with its exit from “risky construction” and the nearly completed sale of its government services unit, “the company is at a point of major change.” AECOM says fiscal 2019 revenue now is $20.2 billion with its stock “trading near its all-time high.”

 

Gina McCarthy, former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator under President Barack Obama, joins environmental advocacy giant Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) as president and CEO on Jan. 6, the group announced last month.  She led the agency from 2014 to 2017, and also served previously as an assistant administrator for air and radiation. McCarthy, now a professor of public health at Harvard University, was named last year as director of its new climate science and health center, C-CHANGE. NRDC board chair Alan Horn says she "has a 35-year track record of developing solutions that are grounded in sound science, the public interest and the rule of law." NRDC says it has 3 million members and assets of more than $400 million.

 

Pierre Shoiry, deputy chairman of Montreal-based global designer WSP, has agreed to give up his engineering license in a disciplinary pact last month with the provincial professional engineers' licensing board, related to lack of oversight of former employees involved in pre-2010 public-works contracting improprieties while he was CEO of WSP predecessor firm Genivar. He led Genivar’s purchase of WSP in 2012 and changed its name.

Shoiry himself “never participated in any action of bid rigging, bribery or illegal political contributions,” and was not criminally charged, a WSP spokeswoman says. “He was not aware of these acts at the time … but he personally accepts responsibility.”

She says WSP already has “repaid sums illegally received” in settling with affected municipalities and has beefed up internal ethics. Contract and ethics breaches on provincial public works by WSP and other firms. as well as by municipal officials and politicians, were later probed by a provincial commission.

 

Davis

The Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science in Syracuse, N.Y., has named Karen Davis permanent assistant dean of its office of inclusive excellence, which was created in 2018 following release of a video by campus engineering fraternity Theta Tau with content deemed racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and derogatory to those with disabilities.

TT was suspended, but there have been other bias incidents on campus, say news reports.

Davis, who was interim in the role, is also the engineering school’s former career services director.

 

Jacobs Engineering Group has elevate Bob Pragada and Kevin Berryman. chief operating officer and chief financial officer, respectively, to added roles as corporate co-presidents, as of Dec. 1. Pragada will manage global operations and continue to oversee Jacobs’ buildings, infrastructure and advanced facilities group along with Dawne Hickton, the unit executive vice president and COO. Berryman will lead Jacobs’ digital and information technology business while continuing its financial management.

The firm also announced Nov. 27 that it plans to add up to 2,400 new staff by 2021 to its existing 9,000-person U.K. workforce. It recently opened a new European headquarters in London, with roles on several multi-billion-dollar projects, including Crossrail and HS2 rail transportation jobs and the renovation of the Palace of Westminster.  "Britain is a critical market for Jacobs," said Pragada. "This investment is an indication of our ongoing confidence in the U.K. economy and its long-term infrastructure plans."

 

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which manages bus and rail operations in Philadelphia and suburbs, has named Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Leslie S. Richards as general manager, to start in January. In the role since 2015, she also is current chair of the Active Transportation Council for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and is a former SEPTA board member. Gov. Tom Wolf has nominated PennDOT Chief Operating Officer Yassmin Gramian as secretary; she will take over in an acting role on Dec. 6 while awaiting state Senate confirmation. Gramian, a P.E., is a former senior vice president at design firm WSP USA.

 

Sonia Finucane has joined engineer CDMSmith as Principal Environmental Scientist, following its Nov. 11 acquisition of Bioscope Environmental, a  Perth, Australia-based environmental firm, of which she was founder and director. The firm specializes in environmental services for the mining sector, which is resurging in Australia, and also works for industrial and infrastructure clients, says CDMSmith.  The U.S. parent has a 5,000-person global workforce in 125 offices, including five in Australia.T

 

GLY Construction, an employee-owned building contractor in Washington state, has elevated President Ted Herb to CEO.  In that added role, he succeeds Jim Karambelas, who is retiring. Herb joined GLY in 1987 as a project engineer. The firm ranks at No. 172 on ENR's Top 400 Contractors list, with reported 2018 revenue of $516 million.

 

Toledo, Ohio-based design firm SSOE Group has elevated Executive Vice President Vincent DePofi to president and CEO, effective on Dec. 4. A 19-year firm veteran, he will succeed Bob Howell, who was in the role for five years and will retire after 38 years at the company. The firm ranks at No.116 on ENR's Top 500 Design Firms list, with $142 million in 2018 revenue, and is No. 5 on the list of top firms in the manufacturing sector. Click here to read an internal interview with DePofi related to his goals as CEO.

 

Brune

Fred Brune, former president and CEO of design firm Lockwood Greene, who led its global expansion and eventual purchase in 2003 by CH2M Hill, now CH2M, where he held multiple executive roles before retiring in 2014, died on Aug. 29 at age 68 in Jacksonville, Fla.

The cause of death was cancer, says obituary information ENR confirmed last month.

Brune led Lockwood Greene through previous ownership difficulties, including bankruptcy of a former parent, contractor J. A. Jones Inc. ENR reported that the design firm’s sale to CH2M followed a “whirlwind auction,” with the new parent eager to acquire the firm's significant private-sector engineering client base and expertise.

ENR Subscribe

Recent Articles by Debra Rubin

More C-Suite Ins and Outs at AECOM, Jacobs

STO Building Group Adds Big Western Builder

Debra-k-rubin1

As ENR Editor-at-Large for Management, Business and Workforce, Debra K. Rubin has a broad vantage for news, issues and trends in global engineering, architecture and construction—from corporate finance and executive management to regulation and risk, next-generation workforce and developing markets such as offshore wind energy.

Debra also launched and manages ENR's Top 200 Environmental Firms ranking, which defines a $51-billion global market; is editor of ENR WorkforceToday e-newsletter on industry talent management; and supervises content for the Industry Buzz page, which leads ENR’s monthly Contractor Business Strategy report. She also is an organizer of ENR's annual Groundbreaking Women in Construction conference, a major AEC industry forum for talent management and women's career advancement.

Click here for more detail on the 2019 conference in May in San Francisco and plans in formation for the 2020 event.

Debra's reporting for ENR on the 2001 Ground Zero attack damage, response and recovery earned a Jesse B. Neal award from B2B media giant Connectiv and is featured in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City.

Related Articles

Fluors John Hopkins To Be CEO of Its Nuclear Power Unit; MWH Chairman Bob Uhler Steps Down

After Eight-Month Search, Jacobs Taps Manufacturing Executive as its Next CEO

AECOM Exec Is Atkins Unit CEO; Quake Expert Ray Clough Dies

Related Events

Upward Bound: Successfully Bringing Disadvantaged New Hires Into Construction

Post a comment to this article

Report Abusive Comment

Subscription Center
  • Subscribe
  • Renew Your Subscription
  • eNewsletter Subscriptions
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service
  • Connect with ENR

More Videos

Popular Stories

NTSB final Report

Final Collapse Report Details Miami Bridge Team's Failures

The Claw

Famous Concert Stage Structure Becomes New Landmark for Utah Aquarium Expansion

1125MortMortensonobit.jpg

Mortenson Construction's M.A. "Mort" Mortenson is Dead at 82

Damaged tower cranes

Tricky Takedown of Tower Cranes Readied Collapsed New Orleans Hotel for Demolition

Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway

Fixing Construction's Fixed-Price Conundrum

Industry Jobs



Products

2020 BNi Green Building Square Foot Costbook

2020 BNi Green Building Square Foot Costbook

See More Products

Special Ad Section

Spotlight on Service Providers
 Spotlight on Service Providers
 View all Special Ad Sections
 Archives

 


ENR

ENR Digital Edition Cover

Dec 9, 2019

A joint venture of Skanska, Corman Kokosing Construction Co. and McLean Contracting Co. is moving toward an early 2020 construction start for a $463-million replacement for a 79-year-old bridge across the Potomac River, south of Washington, D.C.

View More Create Account
  • Resources
    • advertise
    • contact us
    • about us
    • photo submissions
    • customer service
    • digital edition
    • Survey And Sample
  • Subscription Center
    • Subscribe
    • Website Registration
    • Privacy Policy
    • eNewsletters
    • FAQ
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Slideshows
    • Photo Contest

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing