COVERT

Chris E. Covert has been named president and CEO of Houston-based Foster Wheeler USA, a unit of Foster Wheeler AG, Zug, Switzerland. He is a 35-year veteran of Fluor Corp., most recently in Houston, as a senior vice president and project director. He also served Fluor in Saudi Arabia, Holland, Venezuela and Japan. Covert succeeds Robert Flexon, who became the parent firm’s CEO on June 1.

Sean Ragain has joined Geosyntec Consultants, Portland, Ore., as a principal. Formerly a principal at Seattle-based GeoEngineers Inc., he specializes in managing environmental contaminant investigations and remediation projects.

SALONTAI

MONCRIEF

CDI Corp., the Philadelphia engineering and IT staffing firm, has named Philip Moncrief senior vice president and general manager of its process and industrial division in Houston. He was principal of Long International Inc., a Littleton, Colo., project management firm, as well as a vice president of Technip USA, Houston. CDI also named Jeff Kimball senior vice president of its engineering solutions division, following the June 28 purchase of L. Robert Kimball & Associates Inc., an Ebensburg, Pa., engineering firm, of which he was president and CEO. That firm ranks at 155 on ENR’s list of the Top 500 Design Firms. L. Robert Kimball, company chairman and founder, becomes senior executive adviser of CDI.

Gerald J. Salontai has been elected president of the Engineers Leadership Foundation, a not-for-profit educational organization, based in Silver Spring, Md., that is dedicated to helping professional engineers take leadership roles in their profession and in society. He is president of Salontai Consulting Group, a San Diego-based management advisory firm. Salontai is also fomer president and CEO of the Kleinfelder Group Inc., a San Diego engineering firm that ranks 42nd on ENR’s list of the Top 500 Design Firms, with $326.8 million in 2009 revenue. He served in that role for 11 years.

JEAKLE

David L. Jeakle, formerly a senior structural engineer at URS Corp., is set to join, in August, Infinity Engineering Group Ltd., North Vancouver, B.C., as a principal. He is a leading expert in the design of long-span bridges, serving as engineer-of-record on major spans in Ohio, Virginia and Minnesota, among others. Jeakle was at URS since 1992.

Parsons Corp., Pasadena, Calif., announces two executive hires. Rick Henderson has rejoined the firm as vice president and corporate controller. He was vice president and implementation manager for WorleyParsons, a separate firm, but previously worked for Parsons Corp. as vice president and international finance manager, overseeing its Middle East financial activities. Henderson is based in Pasadena. Mark A. Halleman is named vice president of business development in the water and infrastructure group. A former vice president of Infrastructure Management Group Inc., a Bethesda, Md., project delivery consultant, he is based in Washington, D.C.

ANIOL

Thornton Tomasetti Inc., the New York City-based engineer, has named R. John Aniol vice president of its Dallas-based operations in Texas and the Southwest. Previously, he was a principal and operations manager in Dallas for design firm Walter P. Moore. Among projects on which he had a lead role were the $850-million Dallas Cowboys football stadium and the $698-million Terminal D at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Sam L. Claassen has been elevated to president of Short Elliott Hendrickson, a St. Paul, Minn., engineer-architect-planner. He was the firm’s wastewater lead and previously served as its COO and vice president. Claassen is also former president of design firm RCM. He was also named to succeed Mike Kraemer as CEO next July 1, 2011. The firm did not specify what role Kraemer would take at that time.

Tetra Tech Inc., Pasadena, Calif., has named Dean White president of Tetra Tech ENE, a new unit in the engineer’s technical support services group. The role is a result of Tetra Tech’s July 7 definitive agreement to acquire Arlington, Va.-based PA Government Services Inc. from PA Consulting Group, London, says a spokeswoman. He was president and CEO of the unit, which does global energy and infrastruc-ture consulting. Set to close in the fall, the deal would add 125 employees. Half of the unit’s work is for the U.S. Agency for International Development, focused on energy reform in emerging economies.