News
Members of 2019 Class of Principals Are Part of Future Leadership
KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Burns & McDonnell has promoted 16 employee-owners to the Principal Group, a senior level of leadership that marks distinguished performance over an extended period of time with the firm. Out of the 7,000 employees at Burns & McDonnell, only 2% are principals.
“The principal leaders at Burns & McDonnell reach this level because they have demonstrated exceptional performance, technical excellence and act as owners at all times,” says Ray Kowalik, chairman and CEO. “It is an honor and also a responsibility because this is the core of leadership that will carry our company forward in the coming years. It is a very select group.”
The 2019 Class of Burns & McDonnell principals:
Kyle Beebe, regional construction manager for Burns & McDonnell in Southern California. In this role, Kyle focuses on providing construction/design-build services for clients ranging from utilities and airports to transit agencies and seaports. He holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from the University of Maine.
Jacob Blanton, regional transmission and distribution operations manager in the Northeastern U.S. Jacob oversees multiple engineering teams working on overhead and underground transmission, substation, NIA projects for multiple clients in the power sector. He is a licensed professional civil engineer with a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University.
Nathan Branham, program and department manager for the Global Facilities Group in Kansas City. Nathan serves in key leadership roles on design-build projects for aerospace, military and general defense sector clients including aircraft manufacturing, radar, flight line operations. Nathan holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in civil / structural engineering from Missouri University of Science & Technology.
Shelly Brown, manager of Information Technology Business Innovation and Service Management in Kansas City. With her record of strategy development and reengineering business processes, Shelly is leading Burns & McDonnell projects along a number of quickly evolving technology paths. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Washburn University and an MBA from Rockhurst University.
Grant Chapin, strategy, innovation, and technology development leader for the Business & Technology Solutions Group in Kansas City. Grant has played a key role in incubation and development of potential new lines of business and the overall growth and success of the firm’s primary business and technology consulting group. He holds a bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical science from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and an MBA from Cornell University.
Cary Gallaway, substation department manager for the Burns & McDonnell office in Houston. Cary manages the largest electrical department in the company’s Regional Office Group and has overseen some of the most successful power projects in the firm’s history, including one that recently earned companywide recognition as Project of The Year. He is an electrical engineer with a degree from the University of Houston.
Scott Herold, business manager for the electrical Transmission and Distribution Group. Working in Kansas City, Scott has played an integral role in implementing corporate project management and financial reporting systems and project manager training for the company’s largest operating division. He is a civil engineer with a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University.
Chris Hotop, aviation projects director for the Aviation & Federal Group in Kansas City. Chris has over 20 years’ experience developing engineering and construction projects for public and private sector clients. He currently leads the aviation design-build team with a focus on infrastructure and facility construction projects for airline, airport, and developer clients and partners. He is a civil engineer with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Chad Hotovec, manager of the oil, gas and chemicals team, located in the Burns & McDonnell office in Mumbai, India. With a strong background in project management, cost management, project estimation, scheduling and operations, Chad serves in a key leadership role for rapidly growing Burns & McDonnell India. He holds a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering from Iowa State University and an MBA from Avila University.
Joshua Kenney, project manager and section manager in the Networks, Integration & Automation Group. In this role, Josh serves as an account segment manager leading a large program design team and manages the emerging network technical field services section. Both groups support implementation of a wide range of mission-critical networks and applications for electric utilities. He holds bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Doug Lenz, aviation projects director for the Aviation & Federal Group in Kansas City. In this role, Doug leads project teams working on large airport and aviation projects in some of the largest cities in the U.S. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Benedictine College.
Tom McCay, operations manager for the Transportation Group in Chicago. With a background as project manager on a number of large bridge and heavy highway construction projects, Tom directly manages the civil transportation design and construction departments in the Chicagoland region. He is a civil engineer with a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University.
Stacy Price, Southeast region manager for the Burns & McDonnell Construction/Design-Build Group, located in Orlando, Florida. With nearly three decades of construction, engineering and finance experience, Stacy has led numerous fast-track, complex projects in some of the most challenging environmental conditions in North America. He is a civil engineer with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.
Ken Schaefer, senior project manager for the Construction/Design-Build Group in Kansas City. Ken has represented Burns & McDonnell on a number of commercial office projects, including the Burns & McDonnell world headquarters, where he has overseen all aspects of the preconstruction and construction process to ensure accurate estimating, scheduling and predictable results. He has a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Kansas State University and an MBA from Drake University.
Bill Sprauer, Mid-Atlantic Manager of the Aviation & Federal global practice. A Navy and Marine Corps veteran with more than two decades of active duty experience in Naval Construction Force and Marine Corps Aviation units, Bill is a mechanical engineer with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati, an MBA from the University of Texas-Austin, and a PhD from The George Washington University.
Christine Wood, Regional Global Practice Manager and Senior Project Manager in Dallas-Fort Worth for Global Facilities. In this role, Christine manages highly complex, fast-track engineering and design-build projects in the mission-critical, aerospace, and manufacturing sectors. She is a structural engineer with a bachelor’s degree from Villanova University and a master’s degree from Columbia University.