Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., has named David E. Simonelli to the new position of president of dredging operations. He had been senior vice president of operations. The promotion comes as part of a restructuring at the company. As a result, Great Lakes has eliminated the position of chief operating officer, held by Richard M. Lowry since 1991. Lowry has left the company, which says it is the largest U.S. dredging contractor. Simonelli joined Great Lakes in 1978.
John G. Voeller , senior vice president of the federal division at Black & Veatch, Overland Park, Kan., has received the 2009 James B. Porter Jr. Award for Technology Leadership from FIATECH, a consortium that promotes technology implementation and innovation in engineering and construction. Voeller, a former FIA- TECH board member and winner of ENR’s 1998 Award of Excellence, was cited for developing, in 1979, POWRTRAK, a pioneering engineering, design and modeling application for powerplant construction. He is also a former White House fellow nominated by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The award is named for the former chief engineer and vice president of engineering and operations at DuPont.