Mountain States & Southwest People News for June/July 2026
Saunders Construction announced that Justin Cooper will move into the role of president and chief executive officer on July 1. After more than a decade of leadership, Greg Schmidt will transition out of the CEO role and will continue to serve as Saunders’ chairman of the board. Cooper joined Saunders in 2016, became president in 2020 and has more than 27 years of construction experience in the Rocky Mountain region. Ryan Balakas will assume the role of senior vice president on July 1 and will oversee the Saunders Norwood and Mountain operations business units in addition to the Denver-based commercial business unit.
PCL Construction Enterprises Inc. has promoted Tyler Kautz to regional vice president. He will oversee the company’s mission critical and data center portfolio and its Phoenix buildings operations. Kautz began his PCL career in 2005 as an intern while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and joined the company’s Seattle office full time in 2006. Over the past two decades, he has advanced from leading operations in the Seattle region to guiding PCL’s expanding data center and mission critical business. Josh Hinckley was recently named senior construction manager for PCL’s civil division operations in Utah. He brings more than 20 years of civil construction experience, with deep expertise delivering water and wastewater infrastructure projects. Prior to joining PCL, Hinckley was director of operations for Alder Construction.
Mark Beal has been named vice president of Brinkman Construction. In his new role, Beal will support ongoing business growth while helping guide operational strategy, team development and project execution throughout the region. Beal most recently served as vice president of operations at Ryan Cos. Prior to that, he served as Ryan’s director of construction and played a key role in growing Ryan Cos.’ operations while establishing and expanding a new office in the Rocky Mountain region.
Design firm CSHQA recently named Jim Marsh president and chief executive officer. Marsh joined CSHQA in 1998 and has led the firm’s work in the hospitality, adaptive reuse, workplace, retail and civic markets. His portfolio includes the Inn at 500, the Warehouse Food Hall, Treefort Music Hall, Hotel Renegade, and the Sparrow Hotel. Before his appointment as CEO, Marsh served as a principal architect and market leader and as a member of CSHQA’s board of directors.
Commercial real estate developer and investment firm Trammell Crow Co. (TCC) has appointed Megan Kranichfeld to the role of market leader in its Denver office. In this role, she is responsible for the day-to-day operations and strategic oversight of new development and investment activity for TCC and High Street Residential, the firm’s residential subsidiary, throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Kranichfeld joined TCC in 2023.
Jarrett Andrés Hardy has joined global architecture and design firm HKS as a designer in its sports and commercial mixed-use practices. Before joining HKS, Hardy worked with several multidisciplinary practices, including Studio NYL and the Beck Group as well as residential studios in Denver. He is an associate director on the AIA Colorado Board.
The Idaho Transportation Dept. has appointed Todd Hubbard as its chief operations officer. In this role, Hubbard will oversee ITD’s six statewide districts and their respective district engineers. Hubbard has been serving since 2019 as the district engineer in Pocatello, where he has led numerous major infra-
structure improvements, including the replacement of the I-86/I-15 System Interchange, the I-15 Northgate to Fort Hall expansion and the Inkom Corridor bridge projects.
