Related Links: Fluor JV Wins Giant Canada LNG Project WorleyParsons Investor Announcements April 1 document request letter to KBR from House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Stuart Bradie, the newly named CEO of Houston-based KBR Inc., faces a series of lawsuits, a congressional probe into alleged whistle-blower silencing, reduced defense spending and stiff competition in the North American liquified-natural-gas building market it was once set to dominate.A former top executive at Australian engineer WorleyParsons, Bradie takes over on June 2. He succeeds the now retired William Utt, who was CEO since 2006. CFO Brian Ferraioli, hired last fall from
Daredevil aerialist Nik Wallenda safely crossed 1,250 ft above a Grand Canyon gorge last June, thanks to the cable-rigging design prowess of POWER Engineers Inc.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on April 7 that he is appointing Columbia University civil-environmental engineering and computer science professor Feniosky Peña-Mora, who also had been engineering school dean, as commissioner of the city's Dept. of Design and Construction (DDC). Photo Courtesy of Columbia University Pena-Mora is civil engineering researcher and former Columbia U. engineering dean. Related Links: Columbia Engineering Dean Resigns Under Pressure Columbia U.'s New Engineering Dean Returns to Familiar Campus DDC is the city's capital construction project manager, with a staff of nearly 1,200 and a $10 billion portfolio, says its website.According to a
Related Links: DRBC's Outgoing Director Says Delaware River Basin Needs Strong Regulator Natural Gas Now website blog: DRBC Gets New Leader, Can He Turn It Around? See Who Else is Moving Up, on Moving On, in the AEC sector Steven J. Tambini, vice president of utility Pennsylvania American Water, is named executive director of the Delaware River Basin Commission, an interstate-federal water resource management agency, as of Aug. 1. He will succeed Carol R. Collier, now a Tambinisenior adviser to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Commission chief administrative officer Richard C. Gore is interim head. Tambini is a
Related Links: Delcan website Parsons Corp. aims to boost its role in the growing Canadian transportation market with its April 1 purchase of Delcan, an 800-employee Canadian transportation engineer based near Toronto.No transaction details were disclosed, but AEC sector analyst Maxim Sytchev of Dundee Capital Markets, Toronto, estimates a purchase price of $75 million to $90 million.Delcan is a "strategic addition" to Parsons, says the new parent firm, saying transportation is one of its four key target markets.KerrEmployee-owned Delcan, with $126 million in 2013 revenue, also works in the U.S., the Middle East and Hong Kong, says Parsons, which had
OPAC Engineers Mark Ketchum lectures at site of innovative Third Carquinez Strait Bridge in California, built in 2004. I-80 pedestrian bypass bridge in Berkeley, Calif. is "an enduring example of civic infrastructure that excels in both function and form," says Mayor Tom Bates. Related Links: Structural Engineers of Northern Calif. April 2014 News-Link to Mark Ketchum tribute by engineer Reinhard Ludke Online obituary and link to tributes Advancing Civil Engineering Design, Online Tools for Design, Analysis and Professional Development OPAC Engineers website VIDEO: Mark Ketchum presentation at 2013 ASCE Structures Congress on The Third Carquinez Bridge: A Modern Interpretation of
Related Links: Link to Indictment and California Attorney General announcement Link to PG&E investor site-April 2 filing to SEC San Bruno Fire May Cost California Utility More Than $4 Billion PG&E Pledges To Stay Focused On Safety Despite Federal Charges Fatal NYC Blast Underscores Commonplace Gas Leak Explosions in U.S., Expert Says Officials of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. are set to appear in U.S. district court in San Francisco on April 9 to plead not guilty to the giant utility’s indictment on 12 criminal charges in the 2010 gas line blast that killed eight and destroyed 38 homes in
Related Links: DOE Conditionally Approves $7.7B Oregon LNG Export Facility Platt's: Expedited Federal Export Approvals Don't Mean US LNG into Europe Soon, Panels Say Sterne Agee Highlights Recent Government and Private Sector Moves of U.S. LNG Exports Action on North American liquified-natural-gas export-terminal projects accelerated late last month as regulators advanced projects on the Pacific coast and U.S. politicians debated faster approvals as a "geopolitical tool" to counter Russia's moves in the Ukraine.On March 24, the estimated $7.7-billion Jordan Cove Energy terminal in Coos Bay, Ore., became the first LNG project on the West Coast—and the first greenfield project in
Yahoo Finance and ENR Art Dept. URS has experienced "choppy trading" over the past few years, said one analyst. Related Links: URS Stock Tumbles on Weak Year-End Results, Outlook Seeking Alpha: URS Corp., Undervaluation And Catalysts To Drive The Stock Higher Activist Investor Sends Ripples to Make Waves URS Corp. has agreed to a call from a key investor, activist hedge fund JANA Partners, to reshape the firm's board to allow JANA more input in choosing a successor to Martin M. Koffel, who has run URS for more than 25 years and intends to step down.The moves follow the firm's
Related Links: See who else is moving up, and moving on in the AEC sector Globe and Mail: Genivar Fuelled by Insatiable Appetite for Growth Arranged Marriages: Two Recent Deals Point to Growing Number of Mergers and Acquisitions Among Design Firms N.J. Turnpike Interchange 6-9 Widening David Ackert will join Montreal-based engineer WSP Global Inc. as CEO of its WSP Canada Inc. unit when the parent firm completes its stock and cash purchase of Focus Group Holding Inc., a 1,700-person design and geomatics company in Edmonton, Alberta. The $366-million deal, announced on March 12, is set to close within one