WUESTNECK

John Wuestneck has been promoted to the new position of chief operating officer of engineering firm Birdsall Services Group, Sea Girt, N.J. Formerly president, he has been with the firm since 1987 and is based in its Lakewood, N.J., office.

Alain Bentéjac and Jacques Gaillard have been named co-chairmen of ARTELIA, a new engineering firm formed by the merger of Paris-based Coteba and Sogreah, based in Grenoble, France. Bentéjac had been chairman of Coteba, and Gaillard was in the same role at Sogreah. The merger creates a design and project management firm with about $378 million in total 2009 revenue and 2,540 employees, according to the companies. The new company, based in Lyon, France, will have a total of 30 offices in country and 40 internationally, it says. Sogreah ranks 139th on ENR’s list of the Top 150 Global Design Firms, with about two-thirds of its revenue in the water-supply and transportation markets.

BAREND

Samara Barend has joined AECOM Technology Corp., Los Angeles, as vice president of strategic development and director of public-private partnerships (P3) in North America. She was executive director of the New York State Commission on State Asset Maximization, responsible for setting guidelines for its P3 ventures. Barend also is former vice president and government-affairs director at design firm STV Inc. She is based in New York City.

John Hafner has joined Ramaker & Associates Inc., a Sauk City, Wis., engineer specializing in water parks and aquatic design, as vice president of architecture. The position follows the firm’s acquisition of Willmar, Minn.-based Cities Edge Architects Inc., of which he had been president. It specializes in hospitality design.

RATCLIFF

Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), a Chicago architect, has elevated Christine L. Carlyle o principal and director of planning. She founded the SCB planning studio in 2002 and had been an associate principal.

Richard Ratcliff has been named water-sector director for Europe and Africa at MWH, the Broomfield, Colo., global engineering and project management firm. Based in Warrington, U.K., he was the firm’s global wastewater technology leader since 2007, directing projects in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. Ratcliff joined MWh in 2000.

XL Insurance, the insurance arm of XL Capital Ltd., New York City, has named Gary S. Kaplan to the newly created position of executive vice president and North America construction leader. He had been president of the construction business unit at Zurich North America Commercial.

HAGAN

James J. Hagan has joined Arcadis U.S. Inc., Highlands Ranch, Colo., as federal business development manager. He previoused served as federal programs director at Michael Baker Corp.

Parsons Corp., Pasadena, Calif., has named William Bodie senior vice president and manager of the energy, systems and security division in its infrastructure and technology group. Based in Washington, D.C., he was president of the North America government and defense business unit of KBR Inc. John D. Wright joins as east division proposal manager for the water and infrastructure group, based in Norcross, Ga. He was managing partner of his own consulting firm.

Bevlee Watford has been named interim head for the 2010-11 academic year of the engineering education department at Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg. She replaces O. Hayden Griffin Jr., who has left the university to head the engineering program at East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C. Watford had been associate dean of academic affairs for Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering. A search for a permanent replacement is under way.

CERUTI

WATFORD

Cupertino Electric Inc., a San Jose, Calif., electrical contractor has elevated Tom Schott to chief operating officer. He is formerly the northern California regional operations manager.

Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, a Waltham, Mass.-based engineering firm, has promoted three executives to senior principal: Jeffry Ceruti, Vince Cammalleri and Milan Vatovec. Ceruti, based in Waltham, specializes in building enclosure technology. Cammalleri, based in New York City, leads the firm’s building science practice group, and Vatovec, also based there, heads the structural engineering division and is engineer of record for slurry-wall strengthening on the World Trade Center Memorial Museum project in Manhattan. Also, Kevin Poulin is promoted to associate principal.