MidAtlantic People: August 2022
Wadud Ahmad was elected chair of the five-member Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Ahmad, a founding partner in the Philadelphia law firm Ahmad Zaffarese LLC, was appointed to the PTC in September 2020. Ahmad previously worked as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia. He also served as vice chair of the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, as an advisory committee member for PhilaPort and as a board member of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority. He is a graduate of Temple University and Widener University School of Law.
PM Consulting Group in Towson, Md., announced that Tom Ferrando has been named executive chair of its board of directors. Ferrando has founded and led multiple companies through and beyond the small business stage. He brings to the role more than three decades of experience in government contracting. Most recently, he was CEO of Salient CRGT, a technology services company providing solutions to the federal government. In this role, he led nearly 2,000 employees who provided critical mission support to health, civilian, defense and national security agencies.
The National Institute of Building Sciences selected AC Powell as its new president and CEO. He most recently served for nearly five years as executive director and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Association for Facilities Engineering. He also has a background in education, working with the Prince William County (Va.) school system. He currently is an adjunct professor with Stratford University, teaching courses on business law, business ethics and competition and innovation. Powell will officially join NIBS on Sept. 12.
Burns & McDonnell tapped John Bothof to be director of operations for the MidAtlantic region. He previously served as operations manager of the firm’s Honolulu office, where he oversaw work in the Pacific region. Bothof, who has more than 15 years of experience, will lead teams to meet the firm’s expanding opportunities in the region for architecture, engineering and construction services.
RMF Engineering in Baltimore has hired Martha Larson as its director of sustainability. She will work alongside leadership at each of RMF’s 11 offices, focusing on climate-driven and carbon reduction efforts across the firm’s utility and energy planning portfolio. Larson was previously manager of campus energy and sustainability at Carleton College for more than a decade. At Carleton, she oversaw the installation of the institution’s second commercial-size wind turbine, development of the campus climate action plan and a campuswide transition from district steam heating to low temperature hot water tied to a geothermal heat pump system.
Obituary
Sidney O. “Sid” Dewberry, co-founder of Fairfax, Va.-based engineer Dewberry and an advocate for higher education who was renowned for his business leadership and civic engagement, died July 16 in Arlington, Va., at age 94.
Dewberry and engineer Jim Nealon founded the firm in 1956, according to the company. The two were joined by Richard Davis in 1958, and the firm grew over the next several years to establish its headquarters in Fairfax in 1965. Dewberry today has more than 2,000 employees in 50 locations nationwide, and is No. 36 on ENR’s 2022 Top 500 Design Firms with $488 million in total revenue.
