Texas & Louisiana People: May 2024
PBK, a Houston-based architectural planning and design firm that also works nationally, has named Eric Dinges as CEO. Most recently he was senior vice president and regional business line leader at AECOM, where he also led its East region for the buildings and places practice. Dan Boggio, PBK founder and executive chairman, remains on its board of directors and serves as an adviser. Dinges also is a board trustee of the National Building Museum. PBK says it has more than 900 employees in 27 offices.
Atlas Technical Consultants Inc., Austin, has named Sarah Kinnick Hilty as chief legal officer. She had been in the same role at Skillsoft Corp., an NYSE-listed educational technology company, and also was executive vice president and general counsel of National CineMedia Inc., a cinema advertising firm. Hilty also served as deputy general counsel role for corporate enterprise matters at CH2M, now part of Jacobs.
B.J. Kerstiens was promoted to senior vice president of services at Vortex Cos., a Houston-based provider of trenchless infrastructure rehabilitation products and services supporting water and sewer infrastructure. He joined the firm in 2019 as regional vice president of its Vortex Lining Systems unit.
Marisabel Ramthun has joined HNTB Corp. as business development leader for transportation design projects and clients in Texas. Based in Austin, she is a 20-year veteran of the Texas Dept. of Transportation, where she last served as design division director, overseeing statewide project development. Also joining the firm as central division business development officer and vice president is Stroud Evans. Based in Austin, he covers Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas and Mississippi, according to the firm. Evans was president and COO of SurvWest, also based in Austin.
Jason Caldwell rejoins WSP in Houston as its U.S. water resources market lead. He was a water management lead and senior hydraulic engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His previous WSP role was not disclosed. The firm also hired Scott Savage as senior vice president for advanced facilities and multisite programs in its U.S. property and buildings business. He is a former vice president at Jacobs.
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority has elevated T.J. Dill to deputy director based in Oklahoma City. He was chief engineer, overseeing engineering, construction, maintenance, right-of-way and utilities along state turnpikes. Dill joined the agency in 2020 as director of construction.
John Dibala has joined Hanson Professional Services Inc. as associate project manager in Corpus Christi, Texas. He had been a construction project manager for the Corpus Christi Independent School District.
Contractor JT Magen has named Bud Norris as a business development representative in Austin. He joins the firm following a 14-year career in Major League Baseball as a pitcher, most recently for the St. Louis Cardinals and previously for the Baltimore Orioles.
Structure Tone Southwest has elevated Ben Martin to vice president of operations and Michael Chavan to vice president of business development. Both are based in San Antonio.
Garver has announced three recent hires. Jason Reynolds joined the firm as survey team leader in Austin. He had been vice president of SurvWest and formerly a principal at Bowman Consulting. Based in Dallas, Lauren Collins now is the company’s safety and total rewards director. She had been senior business partner for human resources at Kiewit. Brian Ratliff has also joined Garver as its construction services team leader based in Ridgeland, Miss. A veteran of nearly 30 years at the Mississippi Dept. of Transportation, he served most recently as its deputy executive director and chief engineer.
