WASHINGTON — The National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) secured 20 signatures from leaders committed to supporting greater diversity in the built environment.
       The primary goals of the agreement include building diverse staff and volunteer leadership teams, sharing best practices, and promoting this work with association membership. Lakisha A. Woods, CAE, president and CEO of NIBS, said this commitment ensures real and equitable change will take place for employees and employers throughout the building industry.
       “The built environment workforce is facing shortages, and improving DEI is the best solution,” she said. “These specific actions will help develop a diverse leadership pipeline.”
       The organizations that have committed to join NIBS in the goals outlined above include the American Institute of Architects; American Society of Civil Engineers; ASHRAE; Arc Skoru Inc.; ASTM Intl.; BOMA Intl.; ConnexFM; Construction Specifications Institute; Design-Build Institute of America; Energy & Environmental Building Alliance; Green Building Initiative; Green Business Certification Inc.; Institute of Real Estate Management; Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety; International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants; Modular Building Institute; National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers (NAREIM); New Buildings Institute; RICS; and the U.S. Green Building Council.
       As part of this commitment, Woods, on behalf of NIBS, also signed the PwC CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, joining 2,000 CEOs who have signed the pledge. The pledge aims to cultivate trusting workplaces that can have complex, and sometimes difficult, conversations; implement and/or expand unconscious bias education; and share best and unsuccessful practices.

       PHILADELPHIA — Hill Intl. hired Stephen E. Browning, P.E., as senior vice president, federal sector leader. He will work with Hill’s regional leaders across the U.S. to capture and execute program and project management assignments for U.S. federal government agencies, including long-term Hill clients, such as the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), among others, as well as cultivate relationships with new federal clients.
       Browning comes to Hill with more than 30 years of experience in federal project management, most recently serving as senior vice president, national federal market lead, with Michael Baker. Prior to Michael Baker, Browning held the positions of program executive, DOE legacy management program, with Navarro Research and Engineering; client account executive and senior vice president with CH2M Hill/Jacobs; chief strategy and development officer and senior vice president with Weston Solutions; director of programs and senior vice president with MWH Global; and chief of military programs and senior executive service for USACE. Highlights of his career include leading the reconstruction of national infrastructure across Iraq under the Coalition Provisional Authority’s $12.6 billion reconstruction program. Browning’s leadership of the program was recognized by the “Service To America Award for National Security and International Affairs.”
       Browning holds a master’s degree in civil engineering and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Colorado State University. He is also a graduate of Harvard University Business School’s Advanced Management Program and Johns Hopkins University’s National Security Studies Program. He is a senior executive Fellow of the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and a registered professional engineer in Minnesota.

       EDMONTON, ALBERTA, Canada — Stantec, a global sustainable design and engineering firm, entered into share purchase agreements to acquire the North American and Asia-Pacific engineering and consulting groups of Cardno Limited. Under the terms of the acquisition, Stantec will acquire select assets of Cardno Limited for aggregate cash consideration of $500 million.
       In alignment with its strategic plan, Stantec is selectively acquiring strategically complementary assets of Cardno. Cardno’s Latin American operations and international development business are excluded from the acquisition.
       The combined environmental services business is set to represent 20% of Stantec’s pro forma net revenues. The acquisition is designed to augment Stantec’s sustainability position, growing its U.S. environmental services practice by more than 60% and increasing its exposure to the $9 trillion in spending on ecosystem restoration that the U.N. forecasts by 2030.
       The combined infrastructure business is set to represent 30% of Stantec’s pro forma net revenues. This is designed to bolster Stantec’s position to benefit from global stimulus spending in key geographies.
       The acquisition will add approximately 2,750 professionals in regions and sectors that align with Stantec’s growth objectives. This nearly doubles Stantec’s Australia footprint to 2,500 employees and establishes the critical mass and diversity to further accelerate growth in this region. This also meaningfully increases the U.S. footprint to 10,500 employees.

       PARSIPPANY, N.J. — The Hydraulic Institute (HI) announced its Circulator Energy Rating labels are now available. The labels, which appear on circulator pumps, are designed to help HVAC professionals understand and quantify the benefits brought by the advanced technology and onboard controls found on the latest circulators. The label also helps installing contractors communicate these benefits to end users.
       “Pumps drive the comfort and convenience we are accustomed to today,” said Michael Michaud, executive director, Hydraulic Institute. “Informative energy rating labels make it easy to identify a pump’s energy performance and opportunity for energy savings. As the industry strives for more energy-efficient solutions and to make a substantial impact toward sustainability targets, implementing the right pump technology is critical.”
       Circulator Energy Rating labels are designed for highly efficient circulator pumps. The higher the energy rating, the more savings the circulators can provide the end user. In addition, with the Circulator Energy Rating label and database, utilities and energy efficiency program administrators can streamline their rebate programs for the selection of energy-efficient circulators. Rated circulators are designed to save energy, maximize overall system efficiency, cut operational costs, and reduce carbon emissions. Since these pumps have integrated variable-speed controls, additional benefits include optimized performance and improved comfort through more even space heating or cooling.

       JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Stellar, a fully integrated firm focused on design, engineering, construction, and mechanical services worldwide, has promoted six key members of its senior management team.
        “I am continually impressed by these individuals, both in terms of their accomplishments and, more importantly, their leadership," said Brian Kappele, president and COO, Stellar. "I thank them for their dedication to Stellar's mission and look forward to their continued growth in these new roles."
       Scott Mark has been named executive vice president and will now oversee all of Stellar’s food and beverage, logistics, and thermal building envelope business units as well as all construction field services, corporate safety, and quality control functions for the company. Starting as an intern, he advanced through the operational ranks as vice president and then senior vice president of food and logistics. Mark graduated from the University of North Florida’s building construction program.
       Todd Allsup has been named senior vice president of business development and is responsible for corporate sales and customer service initiatives. He will focus his sales efforts on Stellar’s strategic growth opportunities across multiple industries. Allsup joined Stellar in 2002 as director of sales. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of South Alabama.
       Wyatt Payne has been named division vice president of logistics and is responsible for all aspects of Stellar's logistics business unit, expanding the company's offerings in the market. He first joined Stellar in 1997 and has more than 28 years of experience in both design and construction project management. Payne received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Florida State University and his master’s degree of science in construction engineering and management from the University of California, Berkeley.
       Derek Bickerton has been named vice president of business development, overseeing the sales and business development of the firm's food and beverage division. Bickerton has managed business relationships across the globe during his time with Stellar and has overseen some of the company's most unique projects. He is a graduate of the University of North Florida.
       Peter Wu has been named vice president of design and is responsible for Stellar’s building and infrastructure design operations, including overall project management. He has more than 20 years of experience in engineering, construction, quality control, and modular fabrication in North America, China, and the Middle East. Wu is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and earned his MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
       Neil Ross has been named vice president of safety. Ross brings more than 33 years of construction and heavy industrial experience to the Stellar team. He joined Stellar in 2020 and has been an essential part of implementing the firm's COVID-19 safety standards across all job sites. In his role as vice president, he will continue to bring “best in class” safety expectations to life by developing innovative ideas to encourage risk-mitigating behavior change and by spearheading the adoption of safety-first initiatives.

       DALLAS — Jacobs appointed Ross Johnson vice president and client executive of mission critical, advanced facilities.
       "I love the freedom and creativity involved in consulting and entrepreneurship,” Johnson said. “You get involved in areas that are atypical of a business development role, but, eventually, the conversation always comes back to scale, talent, and proven resources. Today's colocation market is beginning to look and feel like the hyperscale; you can't deliver with one or two ‘A’ teams. It’s now table stakes to have a competent team, leadership that is focused, and enough resources to enable them to execute at scale. I have found a home at Jacobs with an abundance of qualified talent and an insatiable appetite to grow the mission critical practice. Jacobs' unrivaled success in hyperscale and deep bench of talent will enable us to condense the growth curve within the colocation market both domestically and abroad.”
       Johnson began his career with American pharmaceutical company Wyeth LLC in 2004. He subsequently entered the energy brokerage world when, at age 27, he and a partner founded Energy Xtreme, a company that specialized in remote power management systems. His tenure landed his name in the 100 Most Promising Companies list in Forbes. Serving as vice president of development, he led the team that built the company’s first cloud-based IoT networks used to self-discover, track, and heal a network of remote devices in the field, landing his company a Stevie Award for Innovation in 2011.
       Emboldened by his recent success, in 2013, Ross joined CLEAResult, a local Austin firm focused on energy efficiency measures within data centers. His love for the mission critical vertical was immediate, as he realized the young, vibrant, explosive growth would suit his skill set. Over the next five years, he earned equity in two start-ups within the vertical, and, in 2015, he was hired by Schneider Electric, where he helped develop and deliver solutions in excess of $750 million dollars across three continents.