Two international firms, Odebrecht and OHL, teamed to build the 2.4-mile-long Metrorail extension to Miami International Airport's new intermodal center.

Related Links: See who else has moved up, or moved on, in the AEC sector LawsonDave Lawson has joined Foster Wheeler AG as president and global leader of metals and mining, a newly created role. He previously served as president of minerals and metals for Australia-based Ausenco Ltd. and also was in a similar role at Aker Solutions Ltd. He held other senior management positions at Aker Kvaerner Ltd. and Kvaerner Metals Ltd. Lawson now is based in Santiago, Chile.Hanson Professional Services Inc., Springfield, Ill., has named Jeff Bowen a vice president and senior transportation engineer in Jacksonville, Fla. He

Related Links: Engineering News-Record  GrumskiJ.T. Grumski has joined TAS Energy, a Houston-based energy technology company, as president and CEO. He had been a senior vice president of Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) as well as president of its Benham Cos. LLC unit and chairman of its R.W. Beck subsidiary.As CEO, he succeeds Craig Hurlbert, who will remain chairman. As president, he suceeds Mike Brady, who remains chief operating officer.NelsonURS Corp. has named Leisa Nelson as vice president and manager in Houston of its 200-employee infrastructure-and-environment division there.She had been national water-market director for KBR, focusing on the Southeast. Nelson also

Related Links: SMPS Ron Garikes Student Scholarship website Obituaries of other industry leaders and innovators GarikesRon W. Garikes, 54, former chief operating officer of the now-closed architecture firm Karlsberger Cos. and a longtime professional services marketing advocate, died on April 28 in Birmingham, Ala., of complications of ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.Garikes, who was based in Birmingham, also led Karlsberger's national laboratory and technology group before the Columbus, Ohio, firm closed in 2011.He was a former national president and distinguished life member of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) as well as a founding member and past president of

Even while gaining book smarts—a civil engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from Stanford University—Thomas W. Traylor stayed close to the core of his family-owned contractor, Traylor Bros. Inc., working summers in its welding shop building tunnel shields and the firm’s first rotary tunnel excavator, says one biography.

Related Links: See who else has moved up, or moved on, in the AEC sector Balfour Beatty Construction Services US, Dallas, has promoted President Mark Layman to the added roles of chairman and CEO at the end of 2013, says the firm. He will succeed Robert Van Cleave, who has served in those positions since 2003; previously, Cleave was CEO of building firm Centex before its 1996 sale to Balfour Beatty. John Tarpey remains COO. Kurt R. Fraese was elected president of ASFE: The Geoprofessional Business Association, a  Fraesegeotechnical professionals group. He is CEO of GeoEngineers Inc., a 300-person earth-science

Graham Downes Architecture Inc. Hard Rock hotel in San Diego was a signature design project for the firm founded by Graham Downes. Related Links: Website of Graham Downes Architecture Obituaries of other industry leaders and innovators DownesSan Diego architect Graham T. Downes died on April 21 from injuries following a late-night fight two days before with an employee outside his San Diego home. He was 55.Downes suffered blunt force head and neck trauma, including numerous skull fractures, from the altercation with Higinio Soriano Salgado, according to the San Diego County coroner's report.Salgado was a development manager since 2008 with Blokhaus,

Accurate pipe-pile placement was confirmed by a Jones-designed device that has a conical nose to self-center in piles, an inclinometer to plumb and two GPS units for location.

Related Links: With Engineering Savvy, Abreu Pilots Airport Plan In a planned succession, Black & Veatch has elevated Steve L. Edwards to chairman, president and CEO, effective in January. Named immediately to what the firm tells ENR is a first-time company role as chief operating officer, he will succeed Leonard C. Rodman, who has been president and CEO since 1998 and chairman since 2000. Edwards, who had been executive vice president, also is executive director of global EPC for the Overland Park, Kan., firm's global energy business. Rodman, 64, who the company says will retire in 2014, is a 42-year