Maike Rodriguez was elevated to vice president of operations in New York and New Jersey for Infrastructure Engineering Inc., a multidisciplinary consultant in design engineering, program management and construction engineering and inspection services and a DBE-MBE certified firm. He has led the firm’s New York City-based region since 2017.

Ware Malcomb has made two appointments. The firm promoted Ed Wilkes to director of civil engineering in Newark, N.J. He joined the company in 2019 to launch its civil engineering practice in the Northeast. Julio Braga joined the firm as regional design director in New York City. He was previously managing director at IA Interior Architects.

AECOM has hired Wahid Albert as lead of its New York metro area surface transportation group. He had been chief engineer at the New York State Dept. of Transportation.

Zach Sawyer has been named vice president of construction operations at PTS Contracting, based in Armonk, N.Y. Previously, he was a regional director at LeChase Construction.

Providence, R.I.-based Gilbane Building Co. made several appointments at its New York City locations. John LaRow was appointed to a new role as senior vice president to advance company growth in the state and oversee its more than 440 employees statewide. He also is a member of Gilbane’s corporate task force for its new environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiative, which includes the firm’s commitment announced March 9 to generate $4 billion in awards over five years to certified minority and women-owned businesses and to disadvantaged and veteran-owned business enterprises. The firm also elevated Ed Bigley to construction executive director for field operations and safety; Brennan Gilbane Koch to director of business development; Ryan Molitor to health care sector area manager; and John Rooney to area director for economic inclusion. Alaina Gilligo joined the firm as senior project executive. She was first deputy comptroller at the New York City Office of the Comptroller.

Boston-based Nitsch Engineering has named Vice President Aaron Gallagher to the added role of chief operating officer. Most recently director of civil engineering, he has been a firm shareholder since 2014 and a board director since 2018. Nitsch specializes in civil, transportation and structural engineering; land surveying; green infrastructure; planning; and GIS services.

Bill Seery has joined Consigli Construction Co., Milford, Mass., as director of prefabrication to expand its capabilities in modular construction and prefabrication in the Northeast and MidAtlantic regions. He helped found SurePods/Eggrock, which Consigli says is the first U.S. firm to integrate construction and manufacturing processes to produce custom prefabricated bathroom units for commercial projects. 

TranSystems has elevated Scott Darling to principal and senior vice president in Boston. Office director since October 2020, he also is a leader in the company’s national bridge and tunnel inspection and evaluation practice and has been a project manager for key bridge and tunnel contracts with the Massachusetts DOT, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Massport and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Darling also has been active in many firm emergency and disaster responses.

Nixon Peabody LLP partner Jeffrey Brenner now leads the Boston-based global law firm’s new nationwide construction and real estate litigation practice. Litigation in that area was previously part of Nixon Peabody’s complex disputes practice. The new practice group “reflects increased and distinct client demand, particularly with respect to challenges facing the construction and real estate development industries in the pandemic,” the firm says.

Hassan Hamdan has joined Arup’s Boston office as its Americas power consulting unit leader. His experience involves providing technical and financial advisory services for global power projects, including offshore wind development and transmission and generation planning. Prior to joining Arup, Hassan was a principal in power consulting at Mott MacDonald. 

Chelsea, Mass.-based The Architectural Team Inc. (TAT) has promoted three senior employees, Philip Renzi, Andrew Stebbins and Anthony Vivirito, to associate. Renzi’s experience includes construction, adaptive reuse and moderate rehabilitation in sectors including multifamily, commercial, mixed-use and senior and assisted living facilities. Stebbins has worked on building projects that include mixed-use, market-rate and affordable housing, senior living communities, adaptive reuse and waterfront development. Vivirito’s expertise is in design and project management of multifamily housing, senior living communities and comprehensive care facilities for independent, assisted and memory care residents.

Laura Kennedy is business development leader for the private sector at Portland, Maine-based environmental engineering firm Woodard & Curran. She most recently worked as a senior client service manager at Kennedy/Jenks Consulting.  

Civil and environmental engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill hired Jamie Brätt as an associate business line manager for community development, based in the Hartford, Conn., area. Her experience includes working with zoning regulations, urban planning and community and economic development. Brätt had been an engagement manager at information and technology company Infosys. The companyuy  also hired Mike Nelson as an associate and as water and natural resources business line manager in Boston. He was a client relations manager for municipal clients at CDMSmith.  In addition, Justin Dechen  has been named as a project manager in its water and natural resources business line based in Manchester, Conn.

Danvers, Mass.-based Hancock Associates hired Andrew Baum as engineering and senior project manager in its Palmer, Mass. office. Before joining the land surveying, civil engineering and wetland science services firm, he was a project manager for Summit Engineering & Survey Inc. 

 

Obituaries

Edward J. "Ed" Schmeltz, a 45-year coastal and marine engineer and a former senior vice president and director of maritime and special projects at AECOM, died March 9 in Greenwich, Conn., at age 72, according to an online obituary. The cause of death was not disclosed. Most recently, he was president of EJS Consulting LLC. "He has worked on some of the world's largest marine projects and authored over 25 technical publications related to maritime projects and issues," said the American Society of Civil Engineers, of which he was a Distinguished Member and recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award. Schmeltz also was a Fellow of the Society of American Military Engineers and past President of the New York City post. He also was a founding member of the Coastal, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute, a member of the Moles and a former board director of his alma mater, the New Jersey Institute of Technlogy, Schmeltz received its Lifetime Alumni Leadership and Alumni of the Year awards. His family encourages donations to a scholarship held in his name to support engineering education. Donations can be made to: SAME, NYC Post Scholarship Fund, Inc., and mailed to: SAME, NYC Post Scholarship Fund, c/o Judy Cooper, President, 999 Grant Avenue, Pelham Manor, NY 10803.

 

A celebration of life will be held this spring for architect Robert D. Mitchell, who led Newtown, Conn., through the emotional process of rebuilding Sandy Hook Elementary School following the murder of 20 children and six adults there in 2012. He died in October at age 74 ater a "short but complicated illness," says an online obituary  The town’s volunteer public building and site commission chairman, he also owned Mitchell Architectural Group and helped deliver the $50-million state-funded project that was fast-tracked in time for the 2016 school year (see related story on page NY/NE 23). Mitchell pushed for a qualification-based bidding process that bucked the state’s typical process, which preferred the low bidder, and helped state and federal officials write new guidelines for school security. His firm also specialized in high-tech research and hospital facility design.