Related Links: Industry Executives Weigh In On What's Happening Around the Table Six "Myths" of AEC Firm Corporate Boards When Florida engineering firm PBSJ Corp. added the first outsiders to its board of directors in 2005, forced to do so by new Sarbanes-Oxley regulations for employee-owned firms with a certain amount of shareholders, the unease was palpable."It was a culture change for the firm, and it took a while for the board and employees to accept non-employees being involved in its governance," says William D. Pruitt, a retired CPA who was named to head the PBSJ board's audit committee. "The
Related Links: ENR cover story on BE&K-1993 Theodore C. "Ted" Kennedy, who pushed non-union contracting to new arenas as CEO of BE&K Inc., but worked with organized labor and owners to boost construction safety, productivity, ethics and image, died May 8 in Birmingham, Ala. He was 81.The cause of death was post-surgery complications, says a spokesman for Kennedy.Kennedy was the son of a union ironworker and accompanied him to jobsites as the teenage "water boy," later earning an engineering degree from Duke University.He then espoused the open or "merit shop" labor approach in co-founding BE&K in 1972. After his co-founders
Related Links: Transcript of GAO Decision on CH2M Hill Bid Protest In its first public airing of an April 18 decision to deny a bid protest by CH2M Hill Cos. regarding its loss of a nearly $2-billion federal contract for Antarctica research support, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has upheld the award to Lockheed Martin Corp., despite a higher price.GAO explains its ruling in a redacted decision posted online on May 1.CH2M Hill and a team led by KBR Inc. were both short-listed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the potential 13-year contract. Lockheed won on Dec. 28, 2011,
Turner Construction Co. Related Links: Turner Construction Co. obituary of Howard S. Turner Howard S. Turner, a noted research chemist and industrial manager who left a 29-year corporate career to join the family-run Turner Construction Co., New York City, as president, died on April 25 in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He was 100. As CEO and chairman, he was the last Turner family member to lead the firm.Turner was tapped by his cousin—the son of H.C. Turner, who founded the contractor in 1902—to succeed him in 1965.While he had been a board member since the 1950s, Turner noted in a 2002
Lend Lease (U.S.) Construction LMB Inc., formerly Bovis Lend Lease, and its former top New York City executive on April 24 settled charges of decade-long overbilling on some of the city's biggest public and private projects.
Richard Korman/ENR Maria Leo, right, mother of crane operator Donald Leo, who died in the 2008 tower crane accident, and attorney Bernadette Panzella, criticize acquittal of crane owner James Lomma outside Manhattan courtroom. Richard Korman/ENR James Lomma, left, leaving the defense table minutes after his acquittal in state court in Manhattan on manslaughter charges. Related Links: Acquittals in Ground Zero Fire Trial Acquitted Master Rigger Seeks Return of License Lomma Employee Plea Deal 2010 Tudor Van Hampton Blog on Lomma Case In six terse sentences following two months of testimony and technical detail, a state court judge in Manhattan cleared
In the story "As Fluor Turns 100, CEO Seaton Notes Successes, Challenges," the Q&A with Fluor Corp. Chairman and CEO David Seaton requires the following clarifications.A reference to "greenhouse gas" should have instead read "greenhouse-gas regulation."The sentence "The [Obama] administration said it wants to drive gas prices up to push renewables" refers to a 2008 statement by Energy Secretary Steven Chu.The sentence "Fluor has perfected the public-private approach [to infrastructure finance]" should have stated "sort of perfected."A quotation used should have been stated as "You don't earn a penny unless you sell something."
As the construction industry pulls out of the global recession and AEC firms search for a new generation of talent, finding the right path forward to new opportunities is critical, said speakers at ENR's Global Construction Summit, held in New York on April 11.
Courtesy of AFL-CIO McGarvey, BCTD secretary-treasurer since 2005, was Governing Board of Presidents' unanimous choice as new president. Related Links: BCTD announcement of Sean McGarvey's election as president ENR obituary for Mark Ayers The AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Dept. has elected Sean McGarvey, its secretary-treasurer, as its new president. The BCTD said the April 16 vote of its Governing Board of Presidents was unanimous.McGarvey, who is about 50, succeeds Mark Ayers, who died suddenly on April 8 at age 63. Ayers had led the building trades group since 2007. The organization’s board also voted unanimously to give Ayers the
