Alabama

Ronald J. Swafford has joined Superior Mechanical Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., as an accounting associate. After relocating to Birmingham from California, Swafford was selected for his “chemistry, character and competence,” according to Superior Mechanical President Richard J. Drennen.

Prior to joining Superior, Swafford spent seven years as a tax preparer and bookkeeping manager for a tax preparation firm in Monrovia, Calif. He was previously with C.E.S. and Crossroads Escrow.

“Ron will work well with our clients, our vendors and our staff,” Drennen says. “He has excellent relational skills, is gifted professionally and will bring depth to our accounting department.”

Headquartered in Birmingham, Superior Mechanical is a 24-year-old commercial plumbing contractor with an emphasis on large, complicated construction projects.

Louisiana

LSU’s College of Engineering recently inducted Art Favre, president of Performance Contractors Inc. of Baton Rouge, into its Hall of Distinction. The ceremony was held in mid April at the LSU Faculty Club in Baton Rouge.

Engineering Dean Zaki Bassiouni presided at the event, which was attended by 90 guests, including faculty members and alumni.

Favre received his bachelor’s degree in construction from LSU in 1972 and has been a longtime supporter of the university and the College of Engineering. He serves as a member of the college’s Dean’s >> Advisory Council and on the board of directors of the Construction Industry Advisory Council for the Department of Construction Management and Industrial Engineering.

He has served as past president of the LSU Construction Industry Advisory Council and is a current member of the LSU Alumni Association, the LSU Foundation and Tiger Athletic Foundation.

Block Construction LLC of Baton Rouge, La., a general building and construction management firm, recently announced the addition of Larry Utrera as the company’s project manager and safety director.     

Utrera has worked in the Louisiana and Gulf Coast construction industry for more than 25 years in all phases of the industry, from hands-on detail work to overseeing all safety aspects on the jobsite. He most recently served as the Gulf Coast operations manager for Geofon LLC. Utrera is also fluent in Spanish, a skill that is a benefit in today’s Louisiana construction industry landscape.

Founded in 2005 by Jason E. Keller, Block Construction has a concentration in the commercial market, but the company is licensed in commercial building, highway, street and bridge, and municipal\public works.

Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corp. of Baton Rouge has announced the promotion of Mark Bellue to claims manager of large accounts and U.S. Longshore and Harbor accounts. Kathy Otts has been promoted to claims manager of small and medium accounts.

Bellue joined LWCC in 1995 as a senior claims representative and was promoted to claims team leader in 1999. Prior to joining LWCC, Bellue worked for Richard & Associates as a multi-line claims adjuster and adjuster-in-charge in California, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. He received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from LSU in 1987.

Otts has been a claims team leader at LWCC since 1993. She came to LWCC from Liberty Mutual, where she worked as a claims adjuster and claims supervisor for nine years. Otts earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from LSU in 1983.

LWCC is a private, nonprofit mutual insurance company.  It is the largest writer of workers’ compensation insurance in Louisiana, covering about 22,000 policyholders in the state.

Jack Donahue of DonahueFavret Contractors Inc. of Mandeville, La., recently announced that John Donahue III has been named president and chief operating officer of the company.

John Donahue began his career at DonahueFavret Contractors in 1990 as a project manager/estimator, after earning a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Louisiana State University.  In 1996 he was named a vice president of the company and became vice president of operations in 2003. 

“I am delighted to take over the day-to-day operations of DonahueFavret from my father,” John Donahue says.

“He started this company in 1979 with a small acoustical ceiling job and guided it into a $80 million company.” Jack Donahue remains chairman and CEO of the company.

DonahueFavret Contractors specializes in retail, healthcare and hospitality construction and is licensed throughout the Gulf South.

Spider, a division of SafeWorks LLC recently promoted Chris Bates to the newly created position of director of national accounts and industrial access.

In this new role, Bates will be responsible for driving incremental business solutions to top facility owners, general contractors and specialty subcontractors.

Bates has more than 26 years of experience in the scaffolding industry, spending the past 15 years with Spider. In his most previous role as Gulf Coast area director, Bates managed sales and operations for the New Orleans, Dallas, Houston and Pensacola branches.

“This position creates an opportunity to provide our customers with better access solutions by building strategic alliances through national accounts and partnering with our industrial customers,” says John Sotiroff, vice president of Spider sales.

Mississippi

Roy Anderson Holding Corp of Gulfport, Miss., has now been acquired by Roy Anderson III, son of company founder Roy Anderson Jr.

“Every man hopes he can build something that will continue, something that will last and stand up to the test of time,” Roy Anderson Jr. says. “This is the culmination of my dream that was envisioned back in 1955.”

Roy Anderson Holding Corp. consists of Roy Anderson Corp., Harrell Contracting Group and various other subsidiaries.

“Since Roy took over as president and CEO in 1993, his leadership has brought this company to levels of accomplishment I couldn’t have imagined 52 years ago,” says Roy Anderson Jr. The company is now one of the leading construction firms in the southern states.

Tennessee

Gresham, Smith & Partners, with Tennessee offices in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and an office in Birmingham, Ala., recently added five new owners in the South Central region.

New South Central owners include Steve Alby, Jason Griffin, Jeffrey Morris, Travis Pigott and Jack Weber.

Alby is a healthcare architect and medical planner and also serves as the studio head for the healthcare design group. He has 15 years experience on a wide variety of healthcare projects and is an accredited professional in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Griffin is an engineer and project manager in the water services group. He specializes in modeling, evaluation, design and management of water distribution and wastewater system projects.

Morris is division vice president of healthcare design. He has designed a wide range of healthcare facilities across the country and has more than 17 years of experience.

Pigott is an architect and planner in the healthcare design group. He has more than 11 years of experience.

Weber serves as a principal in the corporate and urban design group. He specializes in workplace designs that capture an organization’s identity while increasing both efficiency and communication. He has 26 years of experience.

Gresham, Smith & Partners provides planning, architecture, engineering and interior design services to national and international clients from 16 offices across the United States.

Dennis Cook has been named vice president at MACTEC Engineering & Consulting, with Tennessee offices in Clarksville, Knoxville, Nashville and Oak Ridge. Bruce C. Coles, president of MACTEC E&C and chairman & CEO of the holding company, MACTEC Inc., recently made the announcement.

According to MACTEC Tennessee Operations Manager Jerry Archer, Cook will be instrumental in the continued success and growth of the company’s Transportation Business Practice in Tennessee and will serve as principal liaison with the Tennessee Dept. of Transportation.

Cook brings to MACTEC a wealth of transportation engineering and management expertise accumulated during a 45-year career, first with the Federal Highway Administration and later TDOT.

Cook began his career at FHWA as a trainee on various construction projects and subsequently worked his way up through roles of progressively increasing responsibility including assistant area engineer and assistant planning and research engineer in the St. Paul, Minn., office and the regional Kansas City, Mo., and Chicago offices; senior staff assistant to the regional representative for the U.S. Secretary of Transportation in Kansas City; assistant division administrator in Ames, Iowa; and finally, Tennessee Division administrator in Nashville, from which he retired in 1996.

Following his retirement from FHWA, he joined TDOT, where he served in an executive capacity, first as chief of Bureau of Operations and, most recently, as the assistant chief engineer/Planning, assistant chief/Bureau of Environment and Planning. 

MACTEC, based in Alpharetta, Ga., is an environmental, engineering, construction management and infrastructure services firm with 3,000 employees in more than 90 offices nationwide. 

Street Dixon Rick Architecture of Nashville has hired Sybil McLain as marketing director, says Baird Dixon and Steve Rick, firm principals.

McLain had served as vice president for Spaeth Communications’ Nashville office, where she provided business communications and media relations training.

McLain plans to draw on her marketing experiences with SunTrust and American General Life and Accident Insurance Co. and from her consulting work with clients that included FedEx, Turner Construction and Methodist Healthcare in Memphis.

The firm will increase marketing in Middle Tennessee and in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Kentucky and Louisiana.