Nancy Hamilton has joined design firm HOK as global director of its engineering services. Based in Chicago, she also is a senior vice president, the firm confirms. Hamilton had been principal and aviation business leader at Arup and was at that firm since 1987. She now leads HOK's firm-wide mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) and structural engineering group. HOK also has elected Carl Gallioto to its executive committee. With the firm since 2009, he is managing principal of its New York City office. HOK Chairman and CEO Patrick MacLeamy also was elected to be chairman of the Construction Industry Round Table, an industry group of 105 design and construction firm CEOs.
WEST Consultants Inc., a Salem, Ore., engineering firm, has named David Preusch as a vice president and head of its new office in Laytonsville, Md. He had been water-resources technical services manager for Michael Baker Corp., WEST tells ENR. The firm has 60 employees.
Christopher Hynes, executive vice president of operations at Nicholson Construction Co., Pittsburgh, will become president on July 31 in a planned succession. He will replace Andrew Walker, who is retiring from the role after 12 years. Hynes joined the firm in 1998 as a project engineer. Nicholson ranks at No. 110 on ENR's list of the Top 600 Specialty Contractors, with $129.4 million in 2010 revenue, and is the fourth-largest excavation and foundation specialty firm. Nicholson also is a unit of French contractor VINCI.
McCarthy Building Cos., St. Louis, has announced two executive changes in its San Diego-based Southern California division. Joining the firm in 1994, Robert Betz has been promoted to senior vice president. Formerly vice president of operations, he succeeds Executive Vice President Ron Hall, who retired after 25 years with the firm. McCarthy also named John McRitchie as vice president for commercial services, based in Newport Beach. He was vice president and project executive for Rudolph & Sletten Inc. McCarthy is a unit of McCarthy Holdings Inc., which ranks at No. 21 on ENR's list of the Top 400 Contractors, with $2.37 billion in 2011 revenue.
Dennis Lambert and Donald Lambert have joined design firm Hatch Mott McDonald (HMM) as principal engineer and business development principal, respectively. On May 14, the Millburn, N.J., firm acquired Lambert Engineers, a New Orleans engineer and architect. The Lamberts were fourth-generation owners of the firm, says HMM. The purchase boosts HMM's work in the transportation, environmental, coastal, oil-and-gas and water sectors.
Steven Gifford has joined the New York City office of architecture firm Perkins Eastman as a principal. He formerly led the global science and health design studio at Hillier, also based there, and previously was a partner at Davis Brody.
LeChase Construction Services LLC, Rochester, N.Y., has hired Tom Porter as general counsel. He was executive vice president and general counsel at contractor Barton-Malow. He is a former national Design-Build Institute of America chairman and the immediate past president of the Michigan chapter. LeChase ranks at No. 68 on ENR's list of the Top 400 Contractors.
Day & Zimmermann, Philadelphia, has named Ken Jobe as vice president of process and industrial in the contractor's engineering, construction and maintenance unit. Jobe was owner and principal of Polaris Global Solutions LLC, a consulting firm. Previously, he had been vice president of maintenance and construction at The Shaw Group and vice president of operations and maintenance at URS Corp., ENR has learned.
Stephen Seigal has joined Tighe & Bond Inc., a Westfield, Mass., environmental engineering firm, as a vice president. Based in Worcester, Mass., he had been a vice president at CDM Smith, Cambridge, Mass.
Michael G. Eaves has joined the Boston office of Syska Hennessy Group, New York City, as managing director. Most recently, Eaves was vice president and director of project management at Grubb & Ellis, also based there.
Georgia Tech University's architecture school has named Marc Simmons as the Thomas W. Ventulett III Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design. He is a founding partner of Front, a New York City-based design and façade consultant.
