Global design firm W.S. Atkins plc, London, has named German physicist and former construction executive Uwe Krüge as CEO. Effective on Aug. 1, he replaces Keith Clarke, who is retiring from the post. Clarke will remain sustainability director and play a role in Middle East business development. Krüge has been president of Cleantech Switzerland, a Swiss government export support group, and a senior adviser at Texas Pacific Group, an international private equity firm. He was also the CEO of Swiss high-tech firm Oerlikon Management AG but was replaced in 2009 after it recorded a 40% fall in sales. The former CEO of the central and Eastern Europe region for German contractor Hochtief A.G., Krüge was also the senior vice president and chairman of its subsidiary, Turner International, then based in Dallas.
In other news, Atkins says L. Dean Fox has been promoted to president and CEO of its Tampa, Fla.-based North American unit. He replaces Robert J. Paulsen, who was its president and managing director; Paulsen is now executive director of client engagement. Fox, who had headed the unit's design, federal, water, environmental and infrastructure groups, is a retired U.S. Air Force major general and formerly the service's chief civil engineer. Clarke is credited with returning Atkins to profit during eight years as CEO and spearheading its 2010 acquisition of PBSJ Corp., Tampa.