Peter Oosterveer

Peter Oosterveer will step down as Fluor Corp. chief operating officer on March 31, after a 28-year career at the contractor, to return to his native Holland as CEO of global engineering giant Arcadis, the two firms announced on March 8 and 9. Oosterveer will fill a permanent slot left vacant since last October, when Neil McArthur left Arcadis because of undisclosed differences with the board. Chief Financial Officer Renier Vree has been interim CEO since then.

Arcadis said that, at its April 26 annual shareholders meeting, Oosterveer, 58, will be confirmed as CEO, serving “for a period of four years.” He is “a seasoned international leader who understands our sector,” said Chairman Niek Hoek in a statement. Oosterveer became Fluor COO in 2014, after leading its energy-and-chemicals business. At Arcadis, he will be tasked with beefing up the firm’s bottom line. It reported on Feb. 17 a 5% drop in net revenue, to $2.64 billion, for 2016. The firm noted Brazil’s deep recession, as well as declines in the North America and Asia markets, but predicts improvements in the Americas in the second half of 2017.

Fluor did not name a COO successor, stating that Chairman and CEO David T. Seaton, 55, would take the additional role. Fluor also said that Chief Financial Officer Biggs Porter, 64, will retire by year-end, when his successor is named. He joined the firm in 2012.

Fluor was named in February as one of Fortune magazine’s most admired corporations, ranking highest among engineering and construction firms for the sixth year in a row, the company noted. The list is based on a tally of queries to thousands of executives, board directors and analysts and measures corporate reputation and performance against nine criteria.

In announcing its latest quarter and year-end results last month, the firm noted “a very weak bookings quarter, the lowest since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009,” said Andrew Wittmann, Baird Equity Research senior research analyst. “Positively, management sees opportunity in infrastructure and mining and possibly energy, though near-term prospects are lacking.” Wittmann noted an increase in the firm’s domestic nuclear construction backlog from projects in Georgia and South Carolina. While the projects “remain challenged,” he said, Fluor’s cost-reimbursable contract is “insulating it from further cost escalation.”

AECOM has elevated Paul W. Praylo to chief operating officer of its construction services unit. He had been chief financial officer of Tishman Construction Corp., which he joined in 1999 and which AECOM acquired in 2010. Through organic growth and the more recent purchase of Hunt Construction Group, the unit has grown tin revenue to nearly $7 billion from under $2 billion since 2011, according to AECOM. The firm also said that the two acquired construction firms now will be co-branded with their parent.

Doug Dreyer has joined Parsons Corp. as executive vice president of business development for its Centreville, Va.-based federal business unit. He had been senior vice president and general manager of health-care analytics at defense contractor Vencore Inc. The federal unit also elevated Joseph J. “Joe” Cudney to senior vice president, international. He was business development vice president.

Cerami & Associates Inc., a New York City-based acoustical and integrated technology consultant, has named Michael Ferrara chief operating officer. He had been in that same role at DOAR, which Cerami describes as a litigation and trial consulting firm. Cerami is a woman-owned firm with 100 employees.

McCownGordon Construction, Kansas City, Mo., announces a management succession, as of Jan. 1. Cofounder and President Brett Gordon will become chairman, and Chief Operating Officer Ramin Cherafat will become CEO. Cherafat, who joined the firm in 2000, projects revenue of more than $525 million this year. The firm has been 100% employee-owned since 2015.