GreenTech Lead

Non-compete restriction with firm Shaw buyer CB&I expires after two years.

Global oil-and-gas services giant Wood Group plc has elevated Michele McNichol to CEO of its Houston engineering unit Wood Group Mustang Inc. Formerly executive vice president and president of its upstream business unit, she succeeds Steve Knowles, who will retire April 1, says the firm. Wood Group Mustang ranks at No. 17 on ENR’s list of the Top 500 Design Firms, with $1.25 billion in global 2013 revenue. The Scotland-based parent also named Bob MacDonald CEO of its Wood Group Kenny unit. Formerly regional director of North Sea operations, he replaces Steve Wayman, who now is corporate head of strategy and development. Dave Stewart also is named CEO, effective in April, of Wood Group PSN, the company’s Scotland-based facility production services unit. Formerly UK regional manager, he will succeed Robin Watson, who was promoted to a  newly-created corporate COO role. Wood Group is a $7-billion firm that operates in more than 50 countries. Corporate CEO Bob Keiller announced 2014 revenue and profit growth in a Feb. 17 earnings call, but he declined to give 2015 earnings guidance because of uncertain market conditions. The firm, which already has cut contractor rates and frozen some employee salaries, also may shed workers, say UK media. Keiller did not speculate on the locations, size or timing of any layoffs.

James Bernhard, former chairman and CEO of power-industrial contracting giant Shaw Group Inc., has formed a new energy services holding company—called Bernhard—that could compete with CB&I, which bought Shaw in a $3-billion deal in 2013. The new venture follows the expiration of Bernhard’s two-year non-compete agreement with CB&I.

Bernhard is chairman of the holding company, whose board members also include Ed Tinsley, CEO of newly formed Bernhard Energy and managing partner of TME, a Little Rock, Ark., MEP and energy services engineer that now is under the Bernhard umbrella; Kenneth Bernhard, brother of Jim Bernhard and CEO of Bernard Mechanical, a Lafayette, La., concontractor; and Philip Breaux, president of EP Breaux Electrical. Other Bernhard directors are Rusty Mullen, executive managing principal and CEO of TME; and Jeff Jenkins, former chief operating officer of Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure. Together, Bernhard operations have about 725 employees in 18 U.S. locations, says the firm.

Also, Bernhard is a key investor in a new pipe fabrication firm, Epic Piping, that is developing a $45-million manufacturing-production facility in Livingston Parish, La. says the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report. Former Shaw Group executives David Chapman Sr., Kent Shepherd and Remi Bonnecaze are named as Epic’s CEO and presidents of domestic and international fabrication, respectively.

Douglas McCormick has joined U.K. professional services firm Sweett Group as CEO. He was group managing director for rail at Atkins. McCormick replaces interim CEO John Dodds, who reverts to executive chairman, and succeeds Dean Webster, who retired early last fall. The firm is underdoing a “strategic review” of operations following its announcement last fall of a 90% drop in profit for the first half of its 2014 financial year, that ended Sept. 30. Sweett also said full-year results, to be announced March 31, would be “materially below market expectations,” according to UK publication Building.

Neil Breen has joined Syracuse, N.Y., design firm O’Brien & Gere as a division manager in its energy unit. The new role follows the firm’s acquisition of Lindenhurst, N.Y.-based Schuyler Engineering, of which he was managing partner. The firm specializes in central utility plant and energy system design.

Christopher A. Provost has joined professional services firm Barge, Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon Inc., Nashville, as executive vice president and chief strategies officer. He was a Nashville-based senior vice president at CDM Smith.

Hanson Professional Services Inc. has named Charles Snowden Jr. principal and senior vice president, based in Jacksonville, Fla. He had been vice president of aviation emerging practices at engineering firm CH2M Hill based there and is the former chief operating officer of the Jacksonville Aviation Authority.
 
Plant Construction Co. L.P., San Francisco, has named Christopher E. Rivielle as president and CEO, succeeding John Wilson who will retire. Rivielle had been first vice president at Tishman Construction, New York City, since 2011. He also is formerly senior managing director at Newmark Knight Frank in New York City and a former vice president of Structure Tone.

Philippe Bonnave has been named chairman and CEO of Paris-based Bouygues Construction. Formerly deputy CEO since 2010, he succeeds Yves Gabriel, who is retiring.

Paul Demit has joined MWH Global, Broomfield, Colo., as senior vice president and Americas region director of program management. He replaces Julie Labonte, who now is MWH manager for the San Diego Pure Water Program. Demit, formerly managing director of the water business of Parsons Brinckerhoff, is based in Atlanta.

Lisa Wong has joined Parsons Corp., Pasadena, Calif., as vice president. The role follows its purchase, announced March 2, of Bakersfield, Calif., oil-and-gas sector specialist TJ Cross Engineers, of which she had been president. The firm, with 200 employees, ranks at No. 298 on ENR’s list of the Top 500 Design Firms. It reported  $37.6 million in 2013 revenue.

UK contractor Kier has reshuffled its C-suite, with chief operating officer Steve Bowcott stepping down in a board restructure. He had been in the role since 2013. Kier elevated three senior executives to new board roles. Nigel Brook, currently executive director of UK building North, joins its board as executive director of construction and infrastructure services. Nigel Turner, executive director of Kier Property, now is executive director of developments and property services. Claudio Veritiero, managing director of the services division, is group strategy and corporate development director. The changes follow the elevation to CEO last year of former finance director Haydn Mursell.

Interiors contractor Structure Tone, New York City, has hired Brian J. Fields as chief ethics and compliance officer. He was counsel on the government and internal investigations team at law firm Alston & Bird and also was senior investigative counsel in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, says Structure Tone. The firm pleaded guilty in April 2014 to fraud charges brought by the D.A.’s office in a client overbilling and falsified recordkeeping arrangement. It agreed to pay $55 million and to institute new purchasing guidelines and other ethics and compliance changes.

Bergmann Associates, a Rochester, N.Y., engineer-architect, has elevated Pietro "Pete"Giovanco to chief operating officer. Formerly, vice president of operations, he is a 26-year veteran of the firm, which ranks at No. 196 on ENR's list of the Top 500 Design Firms, with $57.1 million in 2013 revenue.

Albert Mickalich has joined Hubbell, Roth & Clark Inc. (HRC), a 100-year old Bloomfield, Mich.-based engineer as senior associate. The new role follows its acquisition of Mickalich Engineering Inc. (MEI), Clarkston, Mich., of which he was president. MEI specializes in services to private development projects.

Deborah Zroka has joined Milhouse Engineering & Construction Inc., Chicago, as structural design section manager, following its acquisition of Zroka Engineering PC, also Chicago-based, that was announced last month. She was president and founder of that woman-owned structural engineering firm. Milhouse CEO Wilbur C. Milhouse says that his firm is the largest African American-owned engineer-architect in Chicago.