Environmental giant CDM is in talks about a possible link with transportation engineer Wilbur Smith. A merger or acquisition if completed would combine two businesses with strong brands in their respective markets and more than 100 years of combined operating history. Both are based on the U.S. east coast but operate internationally. CDM is a Cambridge, Mass.-based engineering and construction management firm and Wilbur Smith & Associates Inc. is a Columbia, S.C., transportation designer. The transaction is in “due diligence,” says a CDM spokeswoman, declining to note the nature or timing of any new association. “This would be a good

Samir Brikho has been CEO since 2006 of U.K.-based AMEC plc, a leading global engineering and project management services provider to the oil and gas, energy, water and environmental sectors. A former CEO of ABB Lummus Global and a former senior manager at France’s Astom, Brikho was born in Lebanon and received advanced technical and business degrees In Sweden and the U.S. ENR Business Editors Debra K. Rubin and Gary Tulacz interviewed him on June 10 in New York City. BRIKHO How will the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico affect your projects and work with BP? AMEC is

With competition stiffer, particularly on federal and other public-sector projects, the Construction Management Association of America is banking on more firms opting to use construction management certification as a competitive edge. CMAA reports an 18% gain since mid-2009 in the number of managers who have become certified and claims more owners are specifying it in procurements and having their own staffers achieve the credential. Related Links: Seeking New Directions By Raising the Bar on CM Much of the certification gain has come this year, says John McKeon, a CMAA spokesman. He says that, by the end of March, the association�s

Hyper-competitiveness in the industry seems to be abating somewhat as world economies recover. However, wary customers and unclear government policies still restrain contract awards, public engineering and construction-firm executives told investors on June 3 at a conference sponsored by New York City-based investment firm Credit Suisse. MasTec CEO Jose Mas sees economic recovery generating work in its wireless business and in renewable-energy construction. “We have as much visibility in this business as we’ve ever had,” he says, adding that up to 40% of projects already bid could start work this year. Firms hope to fuel growth and fill domestic market

McNAMARA Robert S. McNamara has joined developer-builder Lend Lease, Sydney, Australia, as CEO of its New York City-based Americas division. Lend Lease is the parent of Bovis Lend Lease and Actus Lend Lease, both with U.S. units. Since 2006, McNamara was president and CEO of LVI Services Inc., a New York City abatement and demolition firm. LVI is a key subcontractor to Bovis on demolition of the Deutsche Bank building in Manhattan, damaged on Sept. 11, 2001. McNamara, also a former Fluor Corp. senior group president, now directs Lend Lease Americas units involved in development, project management, construction, public-private partnerships

James S. “Jim” Myers, former senior engineer at The Louis Berger Group Inc., Morristown, N.J., whose 40-year career included some of the firm’s toughest global assignments, died on May 13 of natural causes in Northport, Wash. He was 75. Myers held engineering and law degrees and was a certified scuba diver, licensed instrument pilot and marksman. “He was a man of such engineering brilliance, tenacity and dedication, he forever will be a legend at Berger,” says Larry D. Walker, Louis Berger president. Photo: Louis Berger Group Engineer Myers (left) at memorial to workers killed during an Afghanistan road rehab project

ALEXANDRIA, Va. � Firms looking to boost sagging bottom lines and gain more-robust public-sector construction markets generated a record attendance of more than 550 at this year�s federal and military workload briefings, sponsored by the Society of American Military Engineers in March in Alexandria, Va. Traditional pockets of �milcon� work�such as in base closure and housing�are winding down, officials said. But overseas expansion and new initiatives in energy conservation and facility �quality of life� upgrades are boosting work for the short term, just as new conference attendees were boosting their profiles. The SAME event preceded by one day testimony from

THOMAS David B. Thomas has joined engineer-architect Gannett Fleming, Harrisburg, Pa., as a senior vice president and national director of transit and rail. Now based in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., he was executive vice president and director of infrastructure operations and client development for ARCADIS. Granite Construction Inc., Watsonville, Calif., announced on May 17 a planned leadership transition, as of Sept. 1. James H. Roberts, executive vice president and chief operating officer since last September, has been named as president and CEO. He replaces William G. Dorey, who retires Aug. 31 after four years in the positions and 42 with the

VIESSMAN LABIB Maher Z. Labib, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the buildings and facilities division of engineering and construction management firm STV Inc., New York City, died on May 12 at age 67. STV declines to disclose how or where he died. Labib, who earned civil engineering degrees in Cairo, Egypt, joined the firm in 1996 from a previous role as vice president for facilities and buildings at Raytheon Infrastructure Services Inc. Labib “re-engineered … the division into one of the most profitable arms of STV,” says CEO Dominick Servedio. Warren “Bud” Viessman, professor emeritus of environmental

Even as the U.S. Navy awarded seven U.S. and Guam-based joint-venture teams on May 10 a $4-billion indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for design-build work on the Pacific island and nearby sites over five years, it also started to compete the first major task order under the contract. Photo: U.S. Navy, by Christopher S. Borgren II Looming troop transfer will unleash huge Guam building boom. Construction will support relocation of thousands of U.S. Marines to Guam from their current base on the Japanese island of Okinawa. The contract is the largest ever by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command’s Honolulu division. Under the