New York City-based construction and development services firm CNY Group has hired Luis Gutierrez as project executive. Previously, he was vice president of construction at Hollister Construction Services.

Allison McLeod has joined the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters as public policy director. McLeod was previously director of personnel and strategic operations for Holmdel Township and is currently a member of the Aberdeen Township Zoning Board.

Rochester, N.Y.-based LeChase Construction Services has named four new vice presidents who will continue in their prior roles. They are: Cheryl Schmidt, director of people and culture; Adam Green and Kevin Hoffman, regional operations managers in Binghamton; and Paul Cundiff, regional operations manager in New Jersey.

EW Howell has promoted several executives to C-suite positions. Howard Rowland, who was president and chief operating officer, will become the firm’s new CEO. Daniel Williams is elevated to president from vice president and continues as chief financial officer. John K. Hagen is elevated to interim chief operating officer from executive vice president.

Patrick Chan has joined HNTB Corp. as associate vice president and technical director of tunnels and complex underground structures, based in the firm’s New York City office. He had been WSP senior director, structures, and principal, security and blast design.

New York City-based Lilker Associates Consulting Engineers has made several appointments. Armis Ales has been promoted to associate principal and director-electrical department from assistant head. Santiago Cabo-Freixedas is named associate principal and director of its mechanical department. Alex Akselrod is elevated to associate principal from senior associate.

AECOM has hired Robert Yori as digital solutions studio leader for the firm’s buildings and places business unit in metropolitan New York City. He served previously as director of virtual design and construction operations at EnTech Engineering PC.

Dattner Architects has promoted former senior associate Shefali Sanghvi to the newly created position of director of sustainability. She has worked on affordable housing with an emphasis on resilience and energy efficiency and is an expert on urban passive house projects.

Turner Construction Co. has made several promotions in New York City. Lawrence J. Costello Jr. and Peter G. Marzec are now vice presidents and operations managers of its interiors group. Beth K. DiBattista also is a vice president and an operations manager.

Ann Chu has joined SBLM Architects as director of the firm’s health care and wellness studio in New York City. She had been senior project manager at Victor Famulari Architect PC, based in Manhasset, N.Y.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu appointed James Arthur Jemison II as the city’s inaugural chief of planning and as director of the Boston Planning & Development Agency, whose director Brian Golden said he is concluding an eight-year tenure. In charge during the biggest building boom in Boston history, Golden led a multi-year reform effort of the former Boston Redevelopment Authority. The longest serving agency leader in its 65-year history, he oversaw more than 90 million sq ft of development approvals. These included about 46,000 new housing units. Golden also required new development and retrofits to account for sea-level rise in areas identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  

Jamison most recently served as principal deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. He also was deputy undersecretary and deputy director of the Massachusetts Dept. of Housing and Community Development. Wu appointed Devin Quirk as deputy chief of operations and organizational transformation. He was director of real estate for the agency, also set to have its first deputy chief of urban design. 

Providence, R.I.-based Gilbane Building Co. has elevated Adam Jelen to chief operating officer from executive vice president. Heidi DeBenedetti is named chief administrative officer and regional president. She also will oversee  Gilbane federal and Southeast operations. Chris Budris is promoted to senior vice president and chief financial officer. Previously corporate controller, he succeeds John Ruggieri, who retired in April. Ryan Hutchins is named regional president, leading operations in New England, the Midwest, Texas and Mexico. Paul Choquette III, a fifth-generation Gilbane family member, is regional president, leading operations in the MidAtlantic, New Jersey and West divisions and specialty services. Dan Gilbane, also a fifth-generation Gilbane family member, is named managing director and president, leading its firm disaster and reconstruction services unit and other businesses.  Gilbane also promoted to executive vice president Brad Gordon, the company’s general counsel and secretary, and Katherine Johnson, its chief human resources officer, as well as Don Naber, who oversees corporate safety, risk and insurance.

PC Construction, South Burlington, Vt., has promoted four employee-owners to new positions.  Eve Norris and Dan Nawrocki now are senior vice presidents over their respective units—the firm’s buildings practice and estimating department for Norris, and the water-wastewater business for Nawrocki. Ian MacDougall and Waymon Pardue are new vice presidents.

Skanska USA’s building operations promoted Michael Zeppieri to vice president and Danielle O’Connell to senior director of emerging technology, both based in Boston. Zeppieri continues to oversee the firm’s emerging technologies team. O’Connell has served as a BIM/VDC manager and project manager. Prior to joining the firm, she worked for Massport to enable technology and BIM adoption across its projects. 

Architecture, art and advisory firm Svigals + Partners has made several appointments. The New Haven, Conn.-based firm promoted WELL-accredited interior designer Katherine Berger to associate principal. She had been director of interior design. The firm also hired four new team members: architects John Schenck and Bryan Moore, architectural designer Eric Cantar and marketing coordinator Alex Tow.

Kitchen & Associates, a Collingswood, N.J., design firm, has elevated Matthew Bartner to managing principal. Formerly company principal and director of operations, he succeeds Stephen L. Schoch, who remains a principal.

Obituaries

Edward Plotkin, a former vice president at tunneling contractor MacLean Grove, assistant director of engineer DeLeuw Cather, now part of Parsons Transportation, and one-time Westchester County Commissioner of Public Works, died April 21 in Silver Spring, Md., at age 89, says an online obituary. He also co-chaired the NY State Society of Professional Engineers’ Tappan Zee Bridge replacement study and was a university adjunct professor.  Plotkin was a former president of The Municipal Engineers of New York City and of the state professional engineers group’s Westchester chapter, as well as a member of heavy construction group The Moles since 1975. Plotkin’s numerous recognitions include an honorary doctor of science degree in 2019 from CCNY, his alma mater. 

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. Schmeltz worked on large marine projects and authored many technical publications, said the American Society of Civil Engineers, of which he was a Distinguished Member. He was a past president of the New York City post of the Society of American Military Engineers and a Moles member.