BISSONETTE Leah Bissonette has joined New York City-based global engineer Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in a new position as managing partner for its North America power-sector work. She is based in Irvine, Calif. Bissonette is formerly an energy practice director for Navigant Consulting Inc. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Phil McBride has been named New South Wales divisional manager of U.K.-based design firm Mott MacDonald Group Ltd., following its Aug. 12 acquisition of consultant Hughes Trueman Pty. Ltd., of which he had been managing director. The move is part of Mott MacDonald’s strategy to set up a base in

Starbucks would be the last place one would expect to find the man New York City prosecutors tried to portray as “Wild Bill Rapetti.” Photo: Renee Rapetti Rapetti embraces a coworker during an event honoring crane-accident victims. Related Links: Full text of interview and reader comments Rapetti Wants His Licenses Back Rapetti, the master rigger recently acquitted on manslaughter charges stemming from the deadly 2008 collapse of a Manhattan tower crane, was called “reckless” by the prosecution and vilified as the “killer crane rigger” in the tabloids. But during an interview with ENR, Rapetti sat in the coffee shop, sipping

XU Minda Xu has been named vice president and regional director for business and strategic development in China for AECOM Technology Corp., Los Angeles. She had been vice president for China with New York City-based McGraw-Hill Construction (which also publishes Engineering News-Record). Xu, based in Shanghai, formerly worked for Standard & Poor’s, also a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. KBR, the Houston-based engineer-contractor, has named Dennis S. Baldwin vice president and chief accounting officer. Prior to joining the company, he served in a similar role at engineer-contractor McDermott International. Granite Construction Inc., Watsonville, Calif., has promoted Terry Eller to vice president,

Black & Veatch, Overland Park, Kan., has elevated Jim Lewis to chief administrative officer and president of the company’s administrative division. He had been executive vice president and director of project support for the company’s energy unit. As CAO, Lewis replaces Howard Withey, who has retired after 22 years at the firm. Lewis will lead firm operations and manage IT, enterprise risk and facilities, among other duties. LEWIS The American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Va., has recognized five individuals with its 2011 Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Award for lifetime achievement and impact. The winners are Kris R. Nielsen,

POOLE Flatiron, a Longmont, Colo., transportation and infrastructure contractor has promoted Terry Poole to president of its heavy civil division. He had been that unit’s vice president of operations and is a 13-year company veteran. The firm also named Allan Sylvester vice president and manager of its new Leesburg, Va.-based tunneling group, which it says will pursue large-scale tunneling projects across North America. He previously served as a senior vice president and division manager for Clark Construction. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Samuel Jeyanayagam has joined CH2M Hill Cos., Denver, as a vice president and senior principal technologist in

ROGERS John B. Rogers, a founder of what became RNL, a major Denver-based architect, died July 12 of complications of lung disease, in Denver. He was 88. A practice that Rogers founded in 1956 merged ten years later with two other firms to become RNL. Rogers, considered a pioneer in the profession, served as president for 30 years until the mid-1980s, and as chairman until 1995. With 250 employees and $29.1 million in 2009 revenue, the firm is No. 355 on ENR’s list of The Top 500 Design Firms. Rogers was an early advocate of integrated project delivery, the charrette

Lea+Elliott Inc., Grand Prairie, Texas, has appointed Diane Woodend-Jones as chairwoman. With the transit architect-engineer since 1989, Woodend-Jones had been a principal managing Midwest operations as well as a board member. She succeeds Philip Castellana, chairman for the past three years, who will remain with the firm as a principal. WOODEND-JONES Walter E. Geiger and Ted E. Redmond have joined Omaha-based architect-engineer Leo A Daly. Geiger, who will be vice president and design principal in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office, was previously a principal and director of design for Morris Architects in Orlando. Redmond, formerly president of BKV Group, is

COVERT Chris E. Covert has been named president and CEO of Houston-based Foster Wheeler USA, a unit of Foster Wheeler AG, Zug, Switzerland. He is a 35-year veteran of Fluor Corp., most recently in Houston, as a senior vice president and project director. He also served Fluor in Saudi Arabia, Holland, Venezuela and Japan. Covert succeeds Robert Flexon, who became the parent firm’s CEO on June 1. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Sean Ragain has joined Geosyntec Consultants, Portland, Ore., as a principal. Formerly a principal at Seattle-based GeoEngineers Inc., he specializes in managing environmental contaminant investigations and remediation

WOODMAN Lorrin E. Woodman, co-founder and former CEO of transportation and environmental infrastructure engineer Baxter & Woodman Inc., Crystal Lake, Ill., died on June 13 in Woodstock, Ill., of an undisclosed cause. He was 94. Woodman, who started the firm with fellow civil engineer Richard M. Baxter in 1946, retired in 1975. Baxter & Woodman, now owned by its 200 employees, ranks 352nd on ENR’s list of the Top 500 Design Firms, with $29.2 million in 2009 revenue. MATZZIE Donald E. Matzzie, 69, a transportation engineering executive and researcher for 44 years, died on July 5 in Mt. Lebanon, Pa.,

BOSSCHEM The European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA), Brussels, Belgium, has elected Jan Bosschem as president-elect. He is CEO of Grontmij Belgium, a unit of Grontmij N.V., an engineering firm in The Netherlands that says it is Europe’s fourth largest. EFCA represents 26 member groups in Europe and Turkey. Bosschem will succeed Panos Panagopoulos in May 2011. EFCA elected José Luis Gonz�lez Vallvé as president of Tecniberia, a Spain-based engineers’ group, and Victor Carneiro as president of APPC, a similar group in Portugal; both will serve three-year terms as board members. EFCA signed on May 27 a cooperation pact