HAGERTY Oates Associates, an engineer-architect in Collinsville, Ill., has named new officers. Joe Hagerty, formerly vice president, is now CEO. Bruce Schopp, previously chief structural engineer, has been promoted to president and chief operating officer. Founder David Oates was appointed chairman. Doosan Infracore Construction Equipment, a global alliance of the construction equipment businesses of Doosan Infracore Co. Ltd. and its affiliates, has appointed Anthony C. Helsham as CEO. Helsham joins the Seoul-based manufacturer after 30 years with the Volvo Group, where he was CEO of its construction equipment unit from 2000 to 2008 and head of its Korean operations from
HANSON Walter E. Hanson, a foundations expert and founder of the firm that became Hanson Professional Services Inc., a Springfield, Ill., engineer that ranks 174th on ENR’s list of The Top 500 Design Firms, died on April 4 in that city. He was 93. Hanson, who was the firm’s president for more than 30 years since its founding in 1954, specialized in foundation engineering and soil mechanics. A former engineering faculty member of the University of Illnois, Urbana-Champaign, he co-authored with noted experts Ralph Peck and Tom Thornburn “Foundation Engineering,” a textbook in those fields still widely used by students
Christine McEntee, executive vice president and CEO since 2006 of the American Institute of Architects, will leave her post July 23, the professional and lobbying group for 83,000 international architects, said April 19. No successor was named for McEntee, who is set to become executive director of the American Geophysical Union, a non-profit organization of 50,000 international geophysicists. MCENTEE AIA said that McEntee and the group’s “staff of seasoned professionals” will continue to run the group during the transition, and that a national search for a successor is under way. McEntee, the 153-year-old group’s first woman CEO, formerly served in
SKOG Architect-engineer Harley Ellis Devereaux, Southfield, Mich., has promoted Gary L. Skog from chief marketing officer to CEO. In that role, he replaces Dennis M. King, who remains chairman. King also becomes interim managing principal of the Detroit office, replacing James W. Page, who retired. Enrique Suarez has been named managing principal in Chicago. Formerly corporate and commercial studio leader, he replaces John H. Nelson, who is retiring. Lawrence H. “Larry” Roth, executive vice president and deputy executive director of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Va., will join ARCADIS U.S. Inc., the Highlands Ranch, Colo., engineering and services
Photo: AP/Wideworld A photo of the daring rescue last June of a stranded boater in Des Moines, Iowa, by construction worker Jason Oglesbee won a Pulitzer Prize on April 12 for photographer Mary Chind of the Des Moines Register. She captured Oglesbee, part of a bridge construction crew for contractor Cramer & Associates, Grimes, Iowa, as he reached for Patricia Ralph-Neely. Oglesbee was named a 2009 ENR Newsmaker for his effort and on behalf of Cramer’s quick-thinking crew.
Hillman’s master’s thesis at Virginia Tech focused on lightweight floor systems for steel-framed buildings. Hillman worked with Prof. Thomas Murray in a research assistantship funded by the American Institute of Steel Construction. Diagrams: John Hillman Work on floor systems led to interest in composites. Related Links: Award of Excellence Winner 2010: John Hillman Hillman’s design used a 7.5-in.-thick steel deck atop a 5/8-in. deck perpendicular to each other and screwed together. The screws became shear connectors. The deck is topped by a layer of concrete. In his concept, the system could span 30 ft with flooring that was only 9.5
When John Hillman’s cell phone rings, out comes the tune of “Tom Sawyer,” released by the rock band Rush in 1981. The song is not just a favorite of Hillman’s—it comes as close to summing up his philosophy and personality as any one song could.
STONE Dewberry, an engineer-architect based in Fairfax, Va., has named Donald E. Stone Jr. as its new CEO. He had been chief operating officer and infrastructure engineering services practice-area leader. Additionally, Dan M. Pleasant, president of Dewberry’s Southeast division, has been promoted to replace him. Environmental engineer Tetra Tech, Pasadena, Calif., has appointed Daniel L. Johnson as vice president, based in its Golden, Colo., office. He is previously vice president and principal with GEI Consultants. David LaFrance has been named executive director of the Denver-based American Water Works Association, effective on May 3. He had been the finance director for
Grace Lai’s interest in construction began right where the bus would drop her off hours before class at Chicago’s American Academy of Art. Starting out as a sidewalk sketcher, Lai was soon invited inside the project gate to become a celebrated “on-site” artist, earning commissions from contractors and building developers, as well as tradespeople’s nods of approval. As an artist, Lai was a late bloomer, going to art school and taking up painting in her late 50s after her husband, Harry, died in 1985. Previously, she was an assistant in his art studio. Lai’s art was her personal therapy, but
WILTON James L. Wilton, former chairman and president of San Francisco engineering firm Jacobs Associates and an expert in excavation design of deep cut-and-cover structures, died on March 16 in Woodside, Calif., of lung cancer. He was 83. Wilton, who joined the firm in 1957, was named president in 1974 and chairman in 1985. He served in those posts until his 1992 retirement. Wilton worked on numerous large global projects, including rapid transit systems in San Francisco, New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C., Venezuela’s Yacambu irrigation tunnel, the Arenal power tunnel in Costa Rica and the Victoria Arts Center