"Grueling ... terribly complicated ... demanding ... a burn-out kind of project." Michael Adlerstein, leader of the $2.1-billion renovation of the 17-acre United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, minces no words when describing the 2.5-million-sq-ft multi-building overhaul, headed for completion this summer after six years of reconstruction within an active U.N. campus.

Digging tunnels, design-build delivery and diversity—Louis P. Brais, project executive for Bouygues Construction, is drawn to all three.

The Construction Industry Institute considers productivity to be such a complex challenge that the group allotted six years, rather than the usual two, for its research team to study the issue.

When he first met U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Paul E. Owen, Roland Lewis was quite impressed. "He was, literally, a rocket scientist," says Lewis, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance.

Jim Crites has a Zen-like philosophy of balance that informs all he does. It led him to leave the Marine Corps to spend more time with family and landed him at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), where he has influenced expansion, sustainability, maintenance and every other aspect as executive vice president of operations.

When he was a 19-year-old aspiring musician, Mike Current decided he needed a better way to make a living, so he went to coal-mining school.

Ronald F. Dellaria, the inspiration behind a guide to help eliminate "BIM babble," is passionate about paperless deliverables.

The U.S. is using up natural resources "as if it had five planets to work with," says engineer William A. Wallace, whose commitment to sustainable design and construction spans a 40-year career.

Public-private partnerships—such as Florida's nearly complete $1.8-billion Interstate 595 Express contract or its next, upcoming monster project, the $2.1-billion I-4 Ultimate in Orlando—have become nearly standard procedure in recent years in the Sunshine State's Dept. of Transportation.

Related Links: See who else is moving up, or moving on, in the AEC sector Lee Lennard has been elevated to president and CEO of Brown & Gay Engineers Inc., Houston. He succeeds Ronald Mullinax, who becomes chairman. Lennard, a 14-year company veteran, had been executive vice president; he also is immediate past president of the American Council of Engineering Companies in Houston.LENNARDAlso, Kerry R. Gilbert has joined Brown & Gay as director of land planning services, the firm tells ENR. The change follows the company's Jan. 8 acquisition of planning firm Kerry R. Gilbert & Associates, of which he