Will Hodges has joined Cadence McShane Construction Co., the Dallas general contractor and CM, as president. Formerly senior vice president of Adolfson & Peterson Construction, he succeeds Neal L. Harper, who has retired. Cadence McShane is a unit of The McShane Cos., Rosemont, Ill., which is ranked at no. 94 on ENR's list of the Top 400 Contractors.  HODGESAustin Industries, also a Dallas-based contractor, announces key succession-related executive promotions, to take effect on Nov. 29. The firm elevated David B. Walls to president and CEO, to succeed Ronald J. Gafford, who will remain chairman. Walls has been president of corporate

Photo Courtesy of Roadway Worker Training Inc. Plane piloted by Crisafi (right) crashed Oct. 3, killing him and construction business associate Vaccarello in Gary, Ind. Related Links: Website of All-Railroad Services Corp. (Vaccarello) Website of Roadway Worker Training Inc. (Crisafi) Online obituary for Patsy Crisafi Federal investigators are continuing a probe into the crash of a private plane on Oct. 3 near Gary, Ind., that killed two Florida-based veteran rail construction executives, one of them the pilot. But a preliminary report offers few clues to the cause of the accident.Killed were Patsy J. "PJ" Crisafi, 48, co-founder and executive vice

Related Links: Website of All-Railroad Services Corp. (Vaccarello) Website of Roadway Worker Training (Crisafi) Online obituary for Patsy Crisafi Federal investigators are continuing a probe into the crash of a private plane on Oct. 3 near Gary, Ind., that killed two Florida-based veteran rail construction executives, one of them the pilot. But a preliminary report offers few clues as to the cause.Killed were Patsy J. “PJ” Crisafi, 48, co-founder and executive vice president of Roadway Worker Training Inc. and Vincent “Vinnie” Vaccarello, 45, co-founder and co-president of All Railroad Services Corp., both in St. Augustine.Crisafi was piloting the plane, a

Related Links: People Promotions: See who else in industry has moved up, or moved on. David Kane has joined professional services and construction management firm McKissack & McKissack, New York City, as executive vice president and as its first chief operating officer. He is formerly executive vice president of the capital program division in New York City's Economic Development Corp. The firm, which says it is the oldest minority-owned contractor in the U.S., is a separate organization from Washington, D.C.-based McKissack & McKissack, which ranks at No. 57 on ENR’s list of the Top 100 Construction Management-for-Fee firms.  KANEF. Dave

Related Links: Website of the American Concrete Institute Eugene H. "Gene" Boeke Jr., a onetime jobsite water boy at Beers Construction Co., Atlanta, who became vice president of the firm and its successor, Beers Skanska, as well as a nationally recognized expert in reinforced-concrete construction, died on Sept. 29 in Roswell, Ga. He was 86.Boeke supervised construction of numerous major high-rise buildings in Atlanta and the Southeast. He also co-authored a 1980 book on advances in construction methods for the American Concrete Institute (ACI), a key concrete technology advocacy group based in Farmington Hills, Mich.Boeke was a vice president of

Related Links: Read More People on the Move in ENR In a unanimous vote on Sept. 24, the Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation board appointed Beverly A. Scott as general manager of both the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and of the DOT's rail-and-transit division. Set to start in late 2012 or early 2013, she is currently CEO and general manager of the Metropolitan Atlanta Transit Authority (MARTA); she will be the first woman to serve in her upcoming roles in Massachusetts. Scott also has been chief of the Sacramento Regional Transit District and general manager of the Rhode Island Public

Related Links: Read more People on the Move MOTEC.D. "Dan" Mote, the former chairman of the University of California's mechanical engineering department who also served for 12 years as president of the 35,000-student University of Maryland, College Park, is set to become the next president of the National Academy of Engineering. NAE members are set to elect him, the group's only candidate for the position, in March. His six-year term would begin on July 1, when he will succeed Charles M. Vest. Under Mote, the University of Maryland boosted research funding by more than 150% and attained the fourth-highest graduation

Related Links: Expanded obituary of John Lamberson   LambersonJohn R. Lamberson, 79, former president of New York Stock Exchange-listed insurance broker Corroon & Black, founder of its construction practice and a 40-year industry insurance and surety veteran, died on Sept. 12 in Palo Alto, Calif.The cause was complications of cancer, says the National Academy of Construction, into which he was inducted in 2004.Lamberson left the firm in 1992, after its acquisition two years earlier by U.K.-based Willis, Faber & Dumas PLC. According to previous ENR coverage, the departure resulted in bitter litigation between Lamberson and the successor firm, Willis Corroon,

  FRANKSANY America Inc., a Peachtree City, Ga.-based construction equipment manufacturer and distributor, has named Tim Frank as chairman. In this newly created position, Frank is responsible for the firm's products in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Central America. He was, most recently, a consultant to the firm's parent, SANY Group Co. Ltd., based in China. Frank also had been senior vice president of operations strategy at Volvo Construction Equipment.Gina Coelho has joined engineering firm HDR Inc., Omaha, as principal professional associate and marine environmental practice leader. The new role follows the firm's Sept. 4 acquisition of Ecosystem Management &

  TORCIVIABenedict J. Torcivia Sr., an architectural engineer who grew contractor Torcon Inc., Red Bank, N.J., into one of the state's largest building firms and a major East Coast presence, died on Aug. 27 in Rumson.A firm spokesman says he died of natural causes but had been treated for lung cancer.Torcivia, 82, founded Torcon in 1965 and was succeeded as president by two sons in 2003.The firm, a major drug-industry builder, ranks at No. 151 on ENR's list of the Top 400 Contractors, with $376 million in 2011 revenue, including $62 million overseas. It also is No. 80 on the