![Alberto González Lalueza](/ext/resources/Issues/TexasLA_Issues/2021/October/People/ENR1004_TXLA_PEO_1-Gonzales-Lalueza.jpg)
Cintra, a subsidiary of Madrid-based Ferrovial, has appointed Alberto González Lalueza as CEO of its U.S. region. González, who is based in Austin, succeeds Andrés Sacristán, who became global CEO of Cintra. Gonzáles overseas Cintra’s U.S. portfolio of projects totaling more than $11 billion. González, a civil engineer, joined Ferrovial in 2004. Most recently, he was CEO of the LBJ, NTE and NTE 35W contracts in Dallas.
Meanwhile, Alamo NEX Construction, a design-build contractor led by Ferrovial Construction U.S. and Webber, has appointed Felix Martin as CEO. Martin comes to Alamo NEX from Webber, where he most recently served as vice president of alternative delivery for its heavy civil division.
![Kyle Lawson](/ext/resources/Issues/TexasLA_Issues/2021/October/People/ENR1004_TXLA_PEO_Lawson-Kyle.jpg)
Kyle Lawson has been hired as Garver’s new chief financial officer and will be based in the firm’s New Orleans office. He has more than a decade of experience and expertise in the oil and gas industry, most recently serving as CFO at a pipeline engineering, design and consulting firm.
Ian Babcock has joined Garver as facilities design Texas engineering team leader and structural engineer and will be based in the firm’s Dallas office. For more than 15 years, he has served as a team leader, structural engineer and project manager for a wide array of projects across Texas and the U.S.
EMJ Corp., Dallas, has appointed Colby Cox as chief legal officer. Cox will oversee the legal and risk management team as well as provide leadership over construction risk, quality, safety and construction technology. An attorney with decades of legal and construction experience, Cox joined EMJ in 2017.
KDC, Dallas, has hired Eric Hage as executive vice president, development. Hage will be actively involved in bringing on new business, expanding relationships with existing clients, managing new and on-going projects and helping to guide the company’s development team. Prior to joining KDC, Hage briefly ran his own commercial construction firm after spending more than a decade with Structure Tone, where he led the Dallas office as a regional vice president.
Aarica Mims has joined KDC’s Dallas office as senior vice president and director of leasing. She will focus on acquisitions, multi-tenant office leasing and ground-up builds as well as leasing single-tenant corporate build-to-suit developments. Prior to joining KDC, Mims served as leasing manager at Granite Properties.
Manhattan Construction Co., Dallas, has announced the promotion of Jim Cuddihee to senior vice president of field operations. Cuddihee will provide executive oversight of the company’s safety and quality programs, project team performance, project management and craft education programs. Cuddihee previously served as vice president of operations in Texas and has been with the company for 28 years.
Brooke Haneborg has joined Manhattan as director of business development for the Oklahoma City region, based in the Oklahoma City office. Haneborg will be responsible for overseeing new business acquisition and strategic account management. She previously served as director of marketing and business development at Crowe & Dunlevy.
![Russell Poppe](/ext/resources/Issues/TexasLA_Issues/2021/October/People/ENR1004_TXLA_PEO_Poppe-Russ.jpg)
Russell Poppe has joined HNTB Corp. as a federal programs consultant for the firm’s central division. Based in the Houston office, Poppe will be working directly with HNTB office leaders in Texas and throughout the division to provide strategic assistance to clients in developing and implementing local, state and federal flood control programs. Poppe was one of ENR’s Top 25 Newsmakers in 2018. Before joining HNTB, Poppe was executive director of the Harris County Flood Control District.
Kevin Lohr has joined HNTB as a national practice consultant and vice president for the firm’s aviation practice. Lohr is a 30-year veteran of the aviation industry and joins HNTB from another consulting firm. He is based in Houston.
Carlos Swonke, former director of environmental affairs for TxDOT, has joined HNTB as a national practice consultant based in the Austin office. With more than 34 years of experience, Swonke is responsible for providing support and technical assistance to the environmental planning team and lending his expertise in project pursuits and client interaction.
Robert Goode has been hired at Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. as vice president and senior program manager, based in the Austin office. Goode is a veteran executive with 37 years of experience. Previously, Goode served as the deputy executive director for the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority.
![Grant Mendeljian](/ext/resources/Issues/TexasLA_Issues/2021/October/People/ENR1004_TXLA_PEO_Grant-Mendeljian.jpg)
Grant Mendeljian has been promoted to vice president of preconstruction at Moss Construction, based in the firm’s Dallas office. With more than 23 years of construction industry experience, he began his career as a laborer, superintendent and then project manager, which developed into multiple preconstruction leadership roles including manager of conceptual estimating, purchasing manager and chief estimator.
In Austin, O’Connell Robertson promoted Becky Winovitch to associate principal, hired Kristina Abrams as a senior associate and promoted both Trent Topham and Jessica Bazan to associate. In Houston, Cindy Villarreal was promoted to senior associate. In San Antonio, O’Connell Robertson promoted Davis Eubanks to associate.
![Shaina Pherigo](/ext/resources/Issues/TexasLA_Issues/2021/October/People/ENR1004_TXLA_PEO_Shaina-Pherigo.jpg)
TBG Partners has hired Shaina Pherigo as the firm’s first director of public relations. Pherigo, based in Houston, joins the firm after leading PR efforts for eight years at the Texas offices of global design firm Gensler.
Ernestine (Ernie) Mbroh has joined Mbroh Engineering as director of transportation, expanding the firm’s service offering and geographic presence in Oklahoma City. Mbroh brings 30 years of experience from her career at the Oklahoma Dept. of Transportation.
Denotria Davis has joined the firm’s Oklahoma office as transportation manager, responsible for transit planning, budget control, training and the implementation of policies and procedures relevant to FTA and state-funded programs.
![Brad Urhahn](/ext/resources/Issues/TexasLA_Issues/2021/October/People/ENR1004_TXLA_PEO_Urhahn-Brad.jpg)
Terracon, Rogers, Ark., has named Brad Urhahn as director of major accounts, logistics. Urhahn joins Terracon with more than 30 years of experience in commercial and industrial development experience in design and construction management. Prior to joining Terracon, Urhahn served in several roles for Walmart Inc., most recently as director of civil engineering and quality assurance.
Jeffrey Brown has joined CEC Facilities Group’s Dallas office as a business development manager to support its MEP business development efforts. Brown brings more than eight years of general-contracting and office-broker experience. He was the director of business development and market lead for the industrial and corporate interiors market at his last position.
![Travis Kelly](/ext/resources/Issues/TexasLA_Issues/2021/October/People/ENR1004_TXLA_PEO_7-Travis-Kelly.jpg)
Freese and Nichols hired Travis Kelly as account director of government affairs, based in the firm’s Dallas office. He spent the last 10 years with Texas Central as vice president, supporting the Dallas to Houston high-speed rail project.
Freese and Nichols vice president and principal Alfred Vidaurri, based in Fort Worth, was installed as the new president of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), the first Latino president in the organization’s history.
Freese and Nichols executive vice president Tricia Hatley was appointed to the Oklahoma City Board of Appeals. Hatley is the first woman to serve on the seven-member board, which determines variances from the building code and hears appeals of decisions and orders of city building inspectors.
Adam Conner, a hydrologist in Freese and Nichols’ W/WW Planning Management Consulting group, received Water for People’s Robert W. Hite Award for his leadership in advancing the group’s vision of a world where everyone has access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities. Conner, based in Austin, anchors Water for People’s fundraising in Texas.
Edward Sewell has joined AECOM’s Dallas-Fort Worth offices as the North Texas construction engineering and inspection (CEI) leader. He brings more than 20 years of experience to AECOM.
Howard Lyons was hired at AECOM’s Austin office as CEI leader. Howard has more than 30 years of construction management expertise.
Dan Harrington has recently taken on the role of office manager for Merrick & Co.’s San Antonio office. Harrington’s new role is in addition to his position as the electrical technical lead for the high performance facilities and life sciences business units. He has been with Merrick full-time since 2004.
Rick Lopez has joined Merrick’s high performance facilities team as a project manager. Based out of the firm’s San Antonio office, Lopez will focus primarily on maintaining strong client relationships with CPS Energy, San Antonio’s municipally owned utility company and one of Merrick’s largest clients. After more than 30 years of electric distribution experience, Lopez retired from CPS Energy, most recently serving as director of distribution engineering.
Gabriel Diaz has joined Gensler Austin as a design manager. He brings more than 14 years of experience covering hospitality, residential, mixed-use projects and commercial developments. He has worked in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
![Nick Wickersham](/ext/resources/Issues/TexasLA_Issues/2021/October/People/ENR1004_TXLA_PEO_8-Nick-Wickersham.jpg)
Nick Wickersham has joined general contractor Flintco’s San Antonio office as the local preconstruction manager serving multiple markets.
Sundt Construction hired senior project manager Chris Leintz, construction manager Juan Miranda, project engineer Tyler Stewart and field engineer Brandon Merecka to its transportation group. They will all join the 183 North Mobility project in Austin.
Omar Fernandez has joined Sundt Construction as a project scheduler for its transportation group in its Dallas office.
E.E. Reed Construction announced a series of promotions at its Houston office. Dean Diaz has been promoted to project manager, and Krystal Preston was promoted to accounting manager. Jennifer Dufour has been promoted to marketing manager, and Roger Graham was promoted to project director.
Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing made several promotions. In the waterproofing and caulking group in Oklahoma City, Ryne Frank was promoted to assistant project manager, Kyle Murray was promoted to superintendent and Kraig Murray was promoted to operations manager. Jorge Hermosillo was promoted to safety manager in Houston, and James Miller was promoted to senior superintendent in Austin.