Many design firms in infrastructure markets are seeking alternative financing sources for projects. Parsons Corp. is taking the next step by creating a new group, Parsons Enterprises, to help create alternative financing plans and, in the right cases, invest in the projects themselves.

“The joke has been that you would go to conferences on alternative financing and discuss the same three projects over and over,” says Ruth McMorrow, new executive vice president at Parsons. McMorrow helped arrange public-private deals on civil works as an investment banker at Scotia Capital, Toronto.