As onshore oil yields decline and near-shore fields are tapped out, oil development is pushing into ever-deeper waters. The engineering challenges of deepwater production demand innovative thinking and vastly increase the risks of opening new fields.
Rear Adm. Christopher J. Mossey was named commander of the U.S. Navy's Naval Facilities Engineering Command and chief of civil engineers, based in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Defense Dept. said Dec. 28, 2009. He will take over next May from Adm. Wayne "Greg" Shear, who is retiring after serving in those roles since 2006 and in the Navy since receiving his commission in 1979. Mossey, who does not need U.S. Senate confirmation for the post, is currently director of the Ashore Readiness Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and vice commander for the Navy Installations Command.
VAUGHAN Clive Vaughan has been named by Foster Wheeler Corp., Zug, Switzerland, to the newly created position of CEO of the upstream oil and gas group of its global engineering and construction unit. He was director of facilities engineering and new development for Endeavor International and, prior to that, a managing director for Granherne Ltd., a division of KBR. Stephen M. Johnson has been named CEO of J. Ray McDermott S.A., the Houston-based engineering and construction unit of McDermott International Inc. that will become the corporate operating unit, effective on Jan. 1. He had been president and chief operating officer
MALONEY STACY David L. Stacy , a civil engineer and co-founder of transportation contractor Stacy & Witbeck Inc., Alameda, Calif., died on Nov. 12 in San Jose, Calif. He was 77. Witbeck founded the company, now No. 212 on ENR’s list of The Top 400 Contractors, in 1981, along with partner Robert Witbeck. Major projects of the firm, which reported $351.2 million in 2008 revenue, include renovation of San Francisco’s cable cars and muncipal trolley system and modifications to California’s Calaveras Dam. Witbeck retired from the firm in 1998 and also was president of the Association of Engineering Construction Employers.
As President Obama prepares to unveil a proposed jobs bill, a follow-up to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D), who, with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger [R] and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg(I), co-chairs the pro-infrastructure group Building America's Future, is seeking to see the White House boost the proposal's public works funding to $100 billion. AP Photo/Mel Evans In a Dec. 7 interview with ENR in Bloomberg's Washington office, Rendell proposed to obtain the additional infrastructure money through a transfer to the Highway Trust Fund from the general fund. It would in effect be
John F. Donohoe, chairman of Moretrench American Corp., a major geotechnical construction firm based in Rockaway, N.J., and industry activist and innovator, died suddenly of a heart attack Dec. 2 while addressing an employee gathering at the company office, officials say. He was 67. DONOHOE Donohoe, a civil engineer and 45-year Moretrench veteran, had served as the company’s president from 1982 until 2002 and as CEO as well from 1995 until 2007. He was also current president of the General Contractors Association of New York (GCANY) and winner of the 2009 OPAL award last spring for construction innovation and excellence
PIERSON George Pierson, president and chief operating officer of the Americas unit of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc., New York City, has been named to the additional role of corporate CEO. He replaces Keith Hawksworth, a 33-year PB veteran, who becomes chairman. Hawksworth replaces former CEO James L. Lammie. PB became the 15,000-person professional services unit of U.K. contractor, Balfour Beatty LLC in an October acquisition. Effective Jan. 1, Jeffrey N. Lighthiser becomes president and CEO of Draper Aden Associates, a Blacksburg, Va., engineer. He replaces firm co-founder Bill Aden, who remains chairman. Lighthiser is executive vice president, director of marketing and
Gregory Kats is Senior Director and director of climate change policy at Good Energies Inc., Washington, D.C. (www.goodenergies.com), an investment firm emphasizing renewable energy and environmental technologies. He was a principal author of Green Office Buildings: A Practical Guide to Development (ULI, 2005) and is the author of the forthcoming book Greening Our Built World: costs, benefits and strategies (Island Press, 2009; www.islandpress.org/Kats. Photo: Gregory Kats KATS Tell me about your new book, Greening Our BuiltWorld. The official launch was in [mid-November]. It took two and a half years — a huge amount of original research went into it. It
AECOM Technology Corp., Los Angeles, has named James F. Thompson as CEO of international government services. In this role, he will lead the firm’s programs and projects with international governments. He had been CEO of AECOM’s Southwest and Mountain region in the U.S., encompassing 15 states. Thompson joined the firm in 2005, when it acquired his former company, J. F. Thompson Inc. FLEW Nick Flew has been appointed managing director of the U.K. and European operations of Parsons Brinckerhoff, New York City. He had been director of Balfour Beatty Management, the professional services business of Balfour Beatty, the U.K.-based global
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