Related Links: See who else has moved up, or moved on, in the AEC sector Fred Perpall, 38, has been elevated to CEO of The Beck Group, the Dallas building contractor and professional services firm. In that role, he replaces Henry C. "Peter" Beck III, who becomes executive chairman. Perpall had been Beck managing director and head of its eastern division operations, based in Atlanta. He now returns to Dallas.  PERPALLThe firm ranks at No. 130 on ENR's list of the Top 400 Contractors, with $448 million in 2011 revenue. Perpall said on Feb. 7 that the firm, which marked

Related Links: Obituary archives of industry leaders and innovators Guy F. Tozzoli, who as director of the world-trade department of the Port of New York Authority, helped push construction of the city's World Trade Center complex in the 1960s, died on Feb. 4 in Myrtle Beach, S.C. His death at 90 was announced by the World Trade Centers Association. He founded the group in 1970 and was president emeritus.The WTC's 110-story Twin Towers were the first such structures the agency, predecessor of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, had ever built. But Tozzoli told ENR in 1971

Related Links: Archives of ENR obituaries of AEC sector leaders, innovators and achievers   JohnstonJames F. "Floyd" Johnston, 72, founder-owner of Floyd Johnston Construction Co., a Clovis, Calif., pipeline contractor, died in a Jan. 6 plane crash near Porterville, Calif. He was flying a single-engine Beechcraft on a private outing.An online obituary said the plane broke up in flight. An employee, Jacob Curiel, age 28, was also killed.According to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the debris path was more than a half-mile long, with "the cabin separated into several sections that were scattered throughout the center"

Related Links: See who else has moved up, or moved on, in the AEC sector Will Michael Baker Opt to Go Private? Spanish Exec Becoming Hochtief CEO May Tighten Hold on U.S. Unit John DiCiurcio, who had been, since 2011, the Chicago-based chief operating officer of building contractor Turner Construction Co., New York City, has been elevated to CEO of Flatiron Construction, the Longmont, Colo., infrastructure builder.Previously named as Flatiron's COO in December and a member of its executive board since 2007, he now replaces Tom Rademacher, who has left the company, a Flatiron spokeswoman confirms.DICIURCIOBoth Flatiron and Turner are

JonesMatthew L. Jones, a civil engineer and a 38-year veteran of the Illinois Dept. of Transportation, died on Jan. 9 of heart failure at age 82.Jones also was a member of the Aurora, Ill., Planning Commission from 1971 to 2007, and served as well on the Naperville Planning Commission.A 1956 engineering graduate of the Indiana Institute of Technology, he had a role in building the extension of I-355 and in Aurora's becoming the state's second-largest city, according to the Chicago Tribune.

  HopkinsJohn Hopkins, a visionary landscape architect who directed the team that created the 250-acre green space for the 2012 London Olympics from a former brownfield site, died on Jan. 21 in West Philadelphia after a heart attack at age 59.Hopkins led the design as project lead for the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). The nearly $400-million park is reopening in phases, beginning this summer, as the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park.Hopkins, also an urban designer and environmental planner, is a former partner in LDA Design, London, and a Fellow of the U.K.'s Landscape Institute. His awards include the institute's Peter

Related Links: See who else has moved up, or moved on, in the AEC sector Thomas F. Fortier has joined design firm HOK, St. Louis, as vice president and director of science and technology. Based in San Francisco, he is formerly a principal and managing director at Bay Area architect KlingStubbins, which was acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif., in 2011. Fortier also was a principal at ZGF Architects. FORTIERWest Yost Associates Inc., a Davis, Calif.-based engineer, has elevated Charles Duncan to president. Formerly chief operating officer, he joined the firm in 1997 as a project manager. The firm,

The largest chunk of construction in the $14.6-billion ring of storm-surge defenses built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers around post-Katrina New Orleans is a $1-billion concrete wall across a marshy bay on the eastern flank of the city.

Mitchell Collins, chief surveyor with Alberici Constructors, St. Louis, helped take laser scanning and precision fabrication and concrete placement to new heights in 2012 on the Seabrook Floodgate Complex for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans. C

The daughter of a bridge engineer in Iowa, Avery Bang spent a lot of her childhood accompanying her father on bridge inspections—"even on holidays," she recalls. Now, Bang builds bridges in developing countries around the world.Bang's globe-trotting tendencies started in college, where she earned a civil engineering degree from the University of Iowa.