VAUGHAN

Clive Vaughan has been named by Foster Wheeler Corp., Zug, Switzerland, to the newly created position of CEO of the upstream oil and gas group of its global engineering and construction unit. He was director of facilities engineering and new development for Endeavor International and, prior to that, a managing director for Granherne Ltd., a division of KBR.

Stephen M. Johnson has been named CEO of J. Ray McDermott S.A., the Houston-based engineering and construction unit of McDermott International Inc. that will become the corporate operating unit, effective on Jan. 1. He had been president and chief operating officer of the parent firm since April and will replace Robert Deason, who is retiring at year’s end. Johnson also was senior executive vice president at Washington Group International before its sale to URS Corp. in 2007 and is a 28-year veteran of Fluor Corp. Separately, McDermott announced on Dec. 8 that it will spin off its Babcock & Wilcox Co. unit and rename the parent firm J. Ray McDermott. Johnson also joins its board of directors.

FRIDSTEIN

BURCKLE

FKP Architects, Houston, has promoted Nann Pierce, the firm’s chief financial officer, to principal. An 18-year company veteran, she previously was an executive at accounting firm Ernst & Young and corporate accounting manager at McDermott International Inc.

Sandra P. Burckle has been elevated to vice president and chief financial officer at Commonwealth Engineering and Construction LLC, a Houston engineer-contractor. Prior to joining the firm in 2006, she was a finance and accounting consultant to Agrifos Fertilizer Inc. and an executive with American Ref-Fuel Co. a waste-to-energy company.

Thomas K. Fridstein has joined design firm AECOM, Los Angeles, as executive vice president and head of global architecture, based in Chicago. He had been executive director and managing principal in Chicago at architect Perkins Eastman.