Equipment manufacturer The Manitowoc Co. Inc. on Jan. 6 said it elevated Larry Weyers to president of its cranes unit. He will succeed Eric Etchart, who was in the role for eight years and becomes corporate senior vice president for business development. Weyers, who joined the Wisconsin company in 1998, was global executive vice president for Manitowoc Cranes. The corporation also makes food-service equipment. Manitowoc also elevated Josef Matosevic to senior vice president of global operational excellence. Mark Beffel, vice president of operational excellence, retires on Feb. 2.

The changes follow a Dec. 26 Manitowoc securities filing, noting that activist investor Carl Icahn has acquired a 7.77% ownership stake in Manitowoc and plans to influence a split of its crane and food-services units into two companies. Another investor with an 8.5% stake disclosed last June, had also urged the split.

“The crane business may be too cyclical to stand alone,” said Credit Suisse construction equipment analyst Jamie Cook in a research note. She said the unit would not interest Caterpillar or Komatsu, but “Asian peers like Sany, Zoomlion and XCMG could make sense [as owners] long term, assuming they can finance it,” which would provide entry into U.S. energy and infrastructure markets. Industry publication Rental Equipment Register said crane manufacture made up nearly 62% of Manitowoc’s 2013 revenue of about $4 billion, but that weak demand has slowed sales. It added that the firm's purchase of the food service unit was meant to offset cyclicality in the crane business.

Lomedico

Nataline Lomedico has been promoted to CEO of Giroux Glass Inc., Los Angeles. In that role at the woman-owned glazing subcontractor, she succeeds Anne-Merelie Murrell, who continues as chair. Lomedico was the firm’s chief financial officer. Giroux ranks at No. 490 on ENR’s list of the Top 600 Specialty Contractors, with 2013 revenue of $25.3 million, and is No. 11 among top glazing and curtain-wall firms. Murrell had been CEO since her purchase of the company from its founder, Louis Giroux, in 1991.

Granite Construction, Watsonville, Calif., has named Mathew C. Tyler as senior vice president of its federal division. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and director of design-build services for CH2M Hill Constructors Inc. Granite ranks at No. 25 on ENR’s list of the Top 400 Contractors, with $2.2 billion in 2013 revenue.

Investment banking firm D.A. Davidson & Co. has named Tim Sznewajs and Steven Gilbertson as Denver-based managing directors, focused on the engineering-construction and energy sectors, respectively. Sznewajs was co-head and senior managing director for FMI Capital Advisors. Gilbertson had been an executive director in Oppenheimer & Co.’s energy investment banking group.

Eric Robinson has joined Atlanta architect-engineer Rosser International Inc. as president. Most recently, he led the federal department of Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood Inc., but Robinson also was a Rosser manager from 2007 to 2012.

Donohoe Construction Co., Washington, D.C., has elevated Robert Wilson and Mark B. Barry to senior vice president. Wilson manages operations, and Barry is business unit leader for the firm’s specialty contracting division.

Richter

David L. Richter, president of construction manager Hill International Inc., has been elevated to the additional role of CEO, succeeding his father and firm founder Irvin E. Richter, who continues as chairman. A firm spokesman says a successor to David Richter as chief operating officer will be announced at the end of January, along with details of a corporate realignment. The firm also is moving its global corporate headquarters from Marlton, N.J., to Philadelphia in May.

James Littlejohn has joined Raleigh, N.C., engineer and environmental consultant S&ME as director of its Littlejohn business unit, following the North Carolina company’s Dec. 31 acquisition of Nashville-based design firm Littlejohn. He was president of Littlejohn, founded in 1989. S&ME now has more than 1,100 employees and has been employee-owned since 1992.