Despite the challenges of a turbulent 2020, construction companies of all sizes continue to plan for the future and assemble the best executive teams they can.
Looking toward next year, as the industry continues to operate under COVID-19 restrictions and market uncertainty, an adept management team will be invaluable.
AECOM
AECOM has selected Jeannette Lenear Peruchini to lead its Building + Places division in Chicago as managing director and director of interiors.
Peruchini, who has almost two decades of architecture and design experience, comes to AECOM from architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. She has worked with such high-profile clients as Google, Motorola, The Baltimore Sun and the American College of Surgeons during the course of her career.
Peruchini has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business and a bachelor's of landscape architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Adolfson & Peterson Construction
General contractor Adolfson & Peterson Construction announced that it has named Rob Sepanek as director of scheduling operations in the company's Dallas office. As part of his new position, Sepanek will be responsible for project scheduling for Texas, Arizona and Minnesota operations and will help establish scheduling standards, work products, project timelines, performance indicators and risk management.
Prior to joining AP Construction, Sepanek spent five years at the Beck Group as director of centralized planning and scheduling for Beck's six regional offices. Sepanek has also for worked for construction companies like Austin Commercial and Hunt Construction Group, where he held various positions related to project scheduling.
Black & Veatch
Engineering and construction firm Black & Veatch has appointed Christoper Murphy, most recently a global IT leader for solutions architecture at the Coca-Cola Co., as its chief technology officer.
Murphy's first priority at Black & Veatch will be the integration of hardware and software in the interest of client support. As CTO, Murphy will also drive new technology initiatives for the company while ensuring their alignment with business strategies and services.
The Boldt Co.
The Boldt Co. healthcare construction firm made two major executive changes. The company has named Dave Kievet company president and COO. Kievet started with Boldt as a field engineer in 1990 and worked his way up through the ranks. Boldt said he played a significant role in establishing the company’s Integrated Lean Project Delivery platform.
Boldt also promoted Stacy Robben to executive vice president and chief marketing officer from her previous position as vice president of healthcare business development.
Before working at Boldt, Robben held business development and marketing roles at several large construction firms including McCarthy Building Cos. And Turner Construction Co.
Clune Construction
Clune Construction has established an office in Dallas and has named Brian O'Shea to lead operations there as executive managing director.
O'Shea has been with Clune for 23 years and has managed a wide variety of projects for the company including interior buildouts, corporate headquarter campuses, multi-site national program projects and building renovations. O'Shea has a bachelor’s degree in engineering construction economics from the Waterford Institute of Technology in Waterford, Ireland.
Gilbane Building Co.
Gilbane Building Co. has appointed Mark Zamrowski as senior project executive, now leading its special projects group in Philadelphia. The group handles projects that must be fast-tracked and executed with a high degree of precision, and Zamrowski has more than two decades of experience delivering such projects.
Before joining Gilbane, Zamrowski worked for HSC Builders & Construction Managers, Skanska and Florkowski Builders in the Philadelphia area where he was involved in healthcare, commercial, higher education and life sciences projects.
Gilbane also announced that it has named Tom Thrasher as senior vice president of its Florida business unit. Thrasher will oversee the company's Florida strategy, operations and sales growth and help build long-term relationships with both public and private-sector clients.
Thrasher, who has a degree from Purdue University in construction engineering and management, has 27 years of industry experience in design, construction, project management and executive leadership and has spent the last seven years working in the Florida market.
Gray Construction
Gray Construction announced two major recent promotions. The company appointed former COO Brian Jones as its new president and CEO and promoted Patrick McCowan to chief operating officer from vice president of its southeast region.
Jones started with Gray in 1999 while still an engineering student at the University of Kentucky. In his new role, he will concentrate on building and maintaining customer relationships and oversee the company's growth strategies. Jones is the first person outside the Gray family to hold the position of president.
Patrick McCowan has been with the company for 20 years and graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a degree in construction management. His new duties as COO of Gray will include oversight of daily operations, recruitment, improving the quality and efficiency of operations and introducing new technology.
Knutson Construction
Knutson Construction has appointed Vince Ellison as the new vice president and general manager of its Iowa operations. Ellison's duties include overseeing the company's projects in the state from preconstruction through substantial completion.
Ellison, who has both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Iowa, came to Knutson from business consultancy BerganKDV.
Lendlease
Lendlease has promoted 30-year company veteran Steven Sommer to the position of executive general manager and president of its New York construction business. Sommer replaces the vacancy left by Ralph Esposito, who left Lendlease to join Suffolk.
Sommer's previous roles with Lendlease had him working in the company's London and Munich offices, as well as overseeing multi-use, public and higher education projects in New York. Sommer will now focus on expanding Lendlease's market share of the residential sector in New York and building its design-build, affordable housing, healthcare, life sciences, commercial office, education and hospitality presence.
Manhattan Road and Bridge Co.
Manhattan Road & Bridge Co., the infrastructure arm of Manhattan Construction Group, has promoted two of its employees to executive positions within the company.
Ryan Haney, currently vice president of fleet management, will take over as vice president of Manhattan Road and Bridge's Oklahoma operations and will take responsibility for business development, project management, field operations and strategic planning. Haney has been with the company since 2012, working his way up from the position of superintendent.
Tom Cramer will serve as vice president of the company's Arkansas operations with the same duties as Haney. He joined Manhattan in 2018 and served as project lead on the widening of a portion of Interstate 630 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Mycon General Contractors
Mycon General Contractors has announced the promotion of Ryan Stoll to company vice president.
Stoll started with Mycon as an intern and will now be responsible for developing and maintaining client relationships and managing preconstruction. He will also be involved in project execution and mentoring. Since joining Mycon, Stoll, who earned an MBA from West Texas A&M University, has had experience with retail, commercial, hospitality, institutional, office, manufacturing and industrial projects.
Suffolk
Former Lendlease executive Ralph Esposito has joined Suffolk as president of the company's northeast and mid-Atlantic region where he will help the company grow its operations in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Esposito spent almost 25 years at Lendlease, where he was in charge of the company’s East Coast projects. At Suffolk, Esposito will oversee operations, lead regional business planning and development and recruit talent.
Suffolk also announced that Sam Sleiman has joined the company as executive vice president of national transportation. Sleiman will oversee operations for Suffolk's port, airport and rail projects across the country. For 27 years, Sleiman was in charge of operations, administration and capital programming at the Massachusetts Port Authority, where he directed major airport and other projects.