James Kelly has joined Choate Construction Co.’s recently launched Nashville office as director of business development. Kelly joins Choate after having most recently served in a similar business development capacity with McCrory Construction in South Carolina. Prior to that, he provided real estate consulting services while representing a private family trust, for which he closed over $100 million worth of acquisitions and divestitures. Kelly’s experience also includes market analysis, having recently served as a market lead at CoStar Group and a research analyst at Grubb & Ellis Co.

Matt Morris has joined 1898 & Co., a business, technology and security solutions consultancy that is part of Burns & McDonnell. Based in Atlanta, he will lead the consultancy’s critical infrastructure cybersecurity practice. Morris has 25 years of cybersecurity and digitalization experience, having served in leadership roles at startups, multinationals and global organizations. He previously created and led the world’s first managed industrial cybersecurity service at a global technology conglomerate.

For its west Florida region, HNTB Corp. added Jonathan Watson as  geographic information systems team leader; Chris Piazza as planning and project development and environment team leader; and Alex Brum as transportation systems management and operations program manager.

 Watson, based in Tallahassee, has 20 years of experience in the technology field, including experience with GIS products with an emphasis on enterprise data management and web mapping applications.

Piazza, based in Tampa, has 17 years of industry experience. He previously worked as project development engineer in the Florida Dept. of Transportation’s District One.

Brum has 13 years of experience, including design, management and operations of ITS, maintenance, construction and tolling projects.

Syska Hennessy appointed Leigh Ann Vogel as associate partner and supervising engineer in its Atlanta office. Vogel, with 25 years of experience in engineering, will manage multi-disciplinary projects, lead business development and provide technical leadership. Previously, Vogel served as a senior electrical engineer and electrical department manager at Charlotte-based McVeigh & Magnum Engineering.

Michael O’Hare was promoted to executive vice president at Orlando-based Comprehensive Energy Services Inc. In this role, O’Hare will continue to report directly to Todd S. Morgan, president and CEO. O’Hare joined the firm in 2003 and previously served as director of service operations.

Alston Construction hired Tim Germaine as business development manager for the Atlanta market. A 30-year construction veteran, Germaine will focus on the Southeast’s industrial, commercial and health care markets.

Ryan Mapp joined TranSystems as a bridge engineer in the Tampa office. He has more than 10 years of experience, including the research, analysis, design, inspection and load rating of transportation structures for both highway and high-speed rail applications.

Soraya Saffouri joined SchenkelShultz Architecture, Orlando, as a project architect. Saffouri has five years of professional design experience.