Philip B. Rogers will become CEO of a still unnamed engineering firm to be formed from the merger of two fire-protection and safety consultants, Baltimore-based Hughes Associates and The RJA Group, Chicago, the companies said on June 2.
Rogers is an operating partner of private equity firm Huron Capital Partners LLC, which has owned Hughes since 2011. A Hughes board member since then, he also is former president and COO of Consolidated Engineering Services, a Washington, D.C., building-technology services firm, according to two online biographies. Rogers also was president of EMCOR Government Services Inc.
The firms say the transaction and renaming will be completed by year-end; they did not disclose or clarify what roles David Boswell and Martin Reiss, current respective presidents of Hughes and RJA, will have in the new combined company. It will have about 500 employees and more than $100 million in revenue, according to their announcement. RJA, also known as Rolf Jensen & Associates, ranks at No. 286 on ENR’s list of The Top 500 Design Firms, with $39 million in 2013 revenue.
Pat Murphy was elevated to chief operating officer of Terry’s Electric Inc., a Kissimmee, Fla., electrical contractor. He had been vice president of its commercial division. The firm, which has 350 employees, says it anticipates 2014 revenue of between $35 and $40 million.
Stephen M. Redding has joined Sparks, Md.-based KCI Technologies Inc. as vice president and regional practice leader, following its May 29 acquisition of Redding Linden Burr (RLB), a Houston mechanical-electrical-plumbing and energy services engineer, KCI spokeswoman Amy Lambert confirms to ENR. He was that firm’s president and co-founder and will remain in Houston.
Redding also is a past president of the Houston chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and is a member of the Rice University Design Alliance. KCI ranks at No. 74 on ENR's list of the Top 500 Design Firms, with $160 million in 2013 revenue. The purchase "marks the 12th acquisition of a Texas-based firm in 2014, making Texas the most active state for architect-engineer firm dealmaking so far this year," says Boston-based M&A consulting firm Morrissey-Goodale.
Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, named Hisham E. Hegab dean of the College of Engineering and Science, effective July 1. Formerly interim dean and professor of mechanical, nanosystems and cyber engineering, he replaces Stan Napper who now is a university vice president. The college is completing a 60,000-sq-ft expansion.
The Society of American Military Engineers has elected as president through May 2015, John Mogge, director of technology practice and design for CH2M Hill’s environment and nuclear business unit. A retired U.S. Air Force colonel, Mogge says his priorities for the 27,000-member group include insuring that its programs stay “vibrant” despite federal budget cuts.
Eddy Rojas is named dean of the University of Dayton-Ohio’s School of Engineering, replacing Tony Saliba who will return to the engineering faculty on July 1 after five years running the school. Rojas, a civil engineer, had been director of the Charles W. Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 2010, with oversight of programs in architectural engineering, construction engineering and construction management. He also was executive director at the Pacific Northwest Center for Construction Research and Education and graduate program coordinator at the University of Washington.
