MMR founder and president/CEO, James B. “Pepper” Rutland, was selected as the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report’s 2022 Hall of Fame Laureate. The award recognizes leading professionals and companies in the Capital Region, distinguished by their success in business and significant impact on the community.

Turner Industries, Baton Rouge, has named Stephen Toups as its new president and CEO. Toups has served in multiple roles since he joined the company in 1997. Most recently, he was named the company’s president in 2019.

Jeffrey Nielsen has joined the Associated Builders and Contractors of Greater Houston as Houston chapter president. The position was previously held for 26 years by Russell Hamley. Hamley will be retiring on June 30. Nielsen comes into this role after serving the Houston Contractors Association for 20 years as executive vice president.

Jay Allen has been promoted to CEO of Allen Engineering Corp. (AEC), Paragould, Ark. Allen has been president of the company since 2007. Allen has worked for the company in various sales, marketing and leadership roles for more than 25 years.

Keyan Zandy has been named CEO of Skiles Group, Richardson, Texas, effective May 1. Current CEO Clay Harrison will remain with Skiles Group as chairman, and Dwayne Hodges will remain as president. Zandy joined Skiles Group in 2014.

Cade Rowley has been promoted to president of Sundt Construction’s Industrial Group-West, based out of San Antonio. Sundt has also promoted Kristen Bejarano to project director in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Billd, Austin, has hired Devon Choo as the company’s chief operating officer (COO). Choo was most recently COO of With Clarity.

Hunter Buildings, Houston, has promoted Michael Draper to chief operating officer. A seven-year veteran of Hunter Buildings, Draper previously served as chief financial officer.

Coffman Engineers Inc. has opened a new office in The Woodlands, Texas. It is managed by Eric Apolenis, vice president of the Southeast region, and led locally by Mike Crowley, principal adviser.

D&S Engineering Labs LLC, Collinsville, Texas, has announced several executive promotions within its North Texas operation. Mark Thomas has been promoted to vice president of engineering, Chase Brossett has been promoted to vice president of finance and Jennifer King was promoted to vice president of marketing. Additionally, four employees were promoted to directors: Bret Fischer, director of CMET engineering; Ibrahim Baayeh, director of geotechnical engineering; Brad King, director of technical operations; and Jason Middleton, director of operations.

KWA Construction, Addison, Texas, has promoted Corey Pruitt to director of operations. Pruitt joined KWA in 2013 as a project manager. 

LPA Design Studios has hired Dallas-based life sciences veteran Isabel Mandujano as director of laboratory planning to support LPA’s growing work in life science facilities. LPA also announced the promotion of Austin, Texas-based Kate Mraw to director of K-12. Mraw succeeds Jim Kisel, who is retiring after 28 years leading LPA’s education practice. Mraw joined LPA in 2004.

Theodore “Theo” Gargagliano has rejoined HNTB as senior program manager and vice president, based in the firm’s Houston office. Gargagliano previously served as project manager to deliver design and installation for security systems across the Houston Airport System. Mark Lobel has rejoined HNTB as senior project manager for aviation architecture. Prior to rejoining HNTB, he worked for another architecture and engineering firm, providing counsel on revenue enhancement and aviation customer experience.

RS&H has appointed two vice presidents in Texas: Nick Arnio, who serves as Austin area leader and has been with the firm for 20 years, and Nixon Exantus, who serves as south central corporate market leader from Dallas and has been with RS&H for 20 years.

Carmen Houston Ryan has been named vice president of marketing and communications for Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc., Houston. Ryan has more than 20 years of experience and previously served as director of marketing and business development for Pape-Dawson Engineers.

Jeff Plymale has joined Stantec as vice president and Texas growth leader, based in Dallas.  A civil engineer by trade, his background includes serving municipal clients worldwide for more than 40 years.

TDIndustries Inc., Dallas, has added four new members to its executive leadership team: David Fultz, who will continue to lead Fort Worth and West Texas as executive vice president; Nikki Morgan, who will continue to lead Houston and add San Antonio as executive vice president; Matt Terry, who will continue to lead Dallas construction and special projects as executive vice president; and Lauren Turner, who will continue to lead Dallas service and add Austin as executive vice president. 

Andres Fernandez has been promoted to vice president at WSP USA to lead the firm’s national hydrogen energy business. Fernandez, who joined the firm in 2017, previously served as a vice president for major energy projects.

Jayna Duke has been promoted to principal at O’Connell Robertson, based in Austin. She joined the firm 14 years ago as a summer intern, working her way up to interiors practice leader.

Perkins&Will has promoted Matt Taylor to corporate interiors practice leader and Joe Gowing to director of business development for interiors, both for the firm’s Austin studio. Gowing and Taylor also serve as principals and senior project managers.

Harold Thompson has joined Perkins Eastman as managing principal in Dallas. Most recently, he served as chief operating officer at CallisonRTKL.

TBG Partners has hired two new principals: Samantha Whitney, who was previously principal, director of urban design at Overland Partners in San Antonio, and Russell Larsen, who previously worked for Walt Disney Imagineering. Whitney is based in San Antonio and Larsen in Austin.

PBK, Houston, has promoted Jorge Tiscareno, Juan Lopez, Lorin Pargoud, Manny Torres and Michael Hessert from principals to partners.

Jean Leier joined Cintra’s U.S. corporate headquarters in Austin as U.S. community affairs director. Leier previously served as corporate affairs and communications director at I-77 Mobility Partners in Charlotte, N.C.

Joel Ross has joined Woodward Design+Build, New Orleans, as director of strategic partnerships. He previously served as the director of architecture at Concordia.

Jeffrey Roberts has joined Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc., Dallas, as senior project manager, responsible for managing the firm’s municipal infrastructure practice in North Texas. Roberts was previously with Halff Associates.

Manhard Consulting has opened a new office in Fort Worth. This is the firm’s 10th office nationwide and third office in Texas, and it is managed by new hire Jonathan Russell, operations manager. He was previously engagement manager at Dunaway Associates.

McKim & Creed, Houston, has hired Brian Pearce as a project engineer who will lead expansion of electrical engineering and instrumentation/controls services in Texas.

APTIM has hired Cris Weber as a program manager for the coastal, ports and marine team, based in the Austin office. Weber was previously the senior managing coastal engineer and Gulf of Mexico coastal engineering business unit leader at Anchor QEA.

Allan Moore has joined Bridgefarmer & Associates as a professional engineer, based in the Dallas office. Moore previously served as district director of construction at the Texas Dept. of Transportation (TxDOT) in Wichita Falls.

Ryan Gootee General Contractors LLC, Metairie, La., has hired William Philips as a project engineer and Lee Cooper as a project manager.

Baker Gulf Coast Industrial, Prairieville, La., announced two promotions. Madeline Lato was recently promoted to business development manager and Chase Hannaman was recently promoted to project manager.

Marco Estrada, roadway designer, recently joined Hanson Professional Services Inc.’s Corpus Christi office to provide design services for local road developments and maintenance. He previously was an intern for TxDOT.

Four individuals joined Smith Seckman Reid Inc. (SSR) in January and February. Rylen Maniego is an electrical intern in Houston; Hannah Mey is a technology CRM in Baton Rouge; Tyree Jackson is a technology consultant in Houston; and Clayton English is a mechanical EIT in Houston.

Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing announced a series of promotions. In Austin, Tim Shaw was promoted to roofing manager, Tim Rosenberg to director of preconstruction and Jared Britton to project manager. In San Antonio, Chip Goode was promoted to operations manager, Brett Schropp to senior project manager, Vince Patterson to senior operations manager and Nick Flory to estimating manager. In Oklahoma, Jason Moxley was promoted to superintendent I. In Houston, Nelson Duran was promoted to operations manager, and Ulises Perez was promoted to waterproofing foreman. John Ellis, Roberto Santiago, Oscar Palacio and Losand Quinn were promoted to superintendent I. In Dallas, Michael Brau was promoted to senior project manager, Jason Castleman to project estimator II and Chandler Sinn to project estimator II.