Alabama

Brice Building Co. has promoted Roger Wood, Nick Miele and Scott Wearren to project manager.

Wood has been with Brice since 2002 and has managed a number of projects for the firm. He graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in building science and is a member of Associated General Contractors’ Young Constructor’s Form and participates in Habitat for Humanity projects. 

Miele began his career with Brice in 2002 as an assistant project manager. A native of Hoover, Nick has a bachelor’s degree in building science from Auburn University.

Wearren was hired by Brice in 2004 as an assistant project manager on the Auburn Pharmacy School addition in Auburn, Ala. A native of Clanton, Ala., Wearren recently relocated to Homewood and is currently on-site at Children’s Hospital, one of Brice’s long-time clients.

His new responsibilities will be leading various renovation and new construction projects at Children’s Hospital’s downtown campus. Wearren graduated from Auburn University in 2003 with a degree in civil engineering. He is a member of Associated Builders & Contractors. 

Celebrating its 75th Anniversary, Brice is headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., and is a regional contractor and construction management company. 

Arkansas

Jay Allen has been named vice president of sales and marketing of Allen Engineering Corp. of Paragould, Ark. In his new capacity, Allen will be directing the national and international sales and marketing efforts for the company.

He has more than 10 years of experience in concrete equipment sales and marketing. A native of Paragould, Allen received degrees from Baylor University and Texas A&M University.

Louisiana

Group Contractors LLC, a Baton Rouge-based construction company, has hired Russell Trapp as Transportation Division manager.

In his role he will manage the company’s new division, overseeing the logistics of transporting cranes and construction equipment to jobsites and equipment for other contractors and vendors. Prior to his new position at Group, he was the owner of Von Trapp Transport LLC in Baton Rouge.

He has more than 10 years of experience.

Group Contractors is a subsidiary of Group Industries LLC and performs mechanical, structural steel and civil work in the petrochemical and refinery plants and is one of the largest industrial-building contractors in Louisiana.

Industrial services provider XServ Inc. has promoted Jeryl Finke to president of one of its operating companies, United/Anco Services Inc. Finke has served as an XServ vice president for six months.

Finke brings to United/Anco more than 20 years of operational and corporate leadership experience in construction-related industries throughout the Gulf Coast and Western United States.

Finke recently was a manager for Aluma Systems USA in Houston. He is a member of the Texas and National Societies of Professional Engineers and Associated General Contractors (AGC), serving as public affairs chairman.

United/Anco is a nationwide market leader in scaffolding, insulation, shoring and sheet metal fabrication services.

Don Grimes recently joined the Pelican Chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors as director of member services in North Louisiana. 

He was brought on board to meet local demand for an ABC presence in the northern part of the state. He is responsible for membership development and the coordination of member services and training for the area. 

Grimes is interfacing with the contractors, industry and training providers in Alexandria, Shreveport/Bossier and Monroe to bring ABC training and member services to the area.

He has more than 40 years experience in industrial contracting business covering Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, California, Washington and Oregon. Grimes was most recently self employed as a business consultant, primarily in the field of business development for construction, maintenance and engineering companies.

Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corp. recently announced that Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has appointed James N. “Jim” Hall of Baton Rouge to its board of directors.

Hall has served as president of Petrin Corporation, an industrial insulation contractor in Port Allen, La., since 1996. He will serve as a member representative of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) on LWCC’s board of directors. His appointment took effect Sept. 1.

Petrin Corp., founded in 1972, is a full-service insulation company providing labor and fabricated products and is a full-line distributor of insulation products. Petrin Corp. also provides coating and fireproofing services as well as scaffolding rental and erection services through affiliated companies.

Hall received a master’s degree in finance from Louisiana State University in 1986 and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Louisiana Tech University in 1982.

A past chairman of Volunteer Baton Rouge, Hall currently serves on its board of directors and is a past board member of the Louisiana Art and Science Museum, as well as Family Services of Greater Baton Rouge.

LWCC is a private, nonprofit mutual insurance company. It is the largest writer of workers’ compensation insurance in Louisiana, covering about 23,000 policyholders statewide.

Group Industries, a Baton Rouge-based commercial and industrial construction company, has hired Donn Peterson as business development manager for GROUP Contractors LLC Drilling and Piling Divisions. 

As Drilling and Piling business development manager, Peterson will service general contractors, industrial plants and other building industry-related clients. He previously worked for Vector Electric & Controls in Gonzales. He has more than 20 years of sales and business development experience.

Basic Industries Inc., an operating company of industrial services provider XServ Inc., has named Richard Simoneaux as manager of estimating.

Simoneaux brings to Basic Industries 40 years of industrial and environmental project experience, including more than 25 years of estimating experience. His tenure in the XServ organization began in 1966 at a company that later evolved into a part of United/Anco Inc., a sister company of Basic Industries. Most recently, Simoneaux was serving as a project estimator for United/Anco.

At Basic Industries, Simoneaux has assumed additional responsibility for new types of projects, including regional and national painting and fireproofing.

Basic Industries is a specialty services contractor for the petrochemical, utilities, nuclear, pulp and paper and refining industries. Services include lead and asbestos abatement, coatings, scaffolding and shoring, tower and vessel maintenance and general construction.

SJB Group LLC of Baton Rouge recently announced that Eric M. Poche’ has joined the firm as senior land planner and landscape architect, reporting to William “Jeff” J. Bell, director of parks & planning. 

In his new role, Poche’ will plan, design and direct planning and landscape architecture design projects including community planning and planning studies, residential and commercial site planning and design, recreation and park master planning and design, irrigation plan design and hardscape construction design for public and private clients.

Some of his management duties and responsibilities include project scheduling, monitoring project budgets, supervising staff and monitoring client relationships.

Poche’ has a strong background in design, planning, estimating and construction document preparation. His experience includes neighborhood entry, streetscape and town center projects for The Woodlands Operating Company in Houston, Texas. 

Additionally, he managed Military Housing Privatization Projects with budgets exceeding $50 million for Hanscom Air Force Base in Boston, Mass., and Little Rock Air Force Base in Little Rock, Ark.  

Specific services performed included all aspects of neighborhood planning, parks and recreation and open space management.

Prior to joining SJB Group, Poche’ was landscape architect and project manager with SLA Studioland Inc. of Houston, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1989 from Louisiana State University A&M. Poche’ has 17 years of experience in land planning and landscape architecture and is a registered landscape architect in Louisiana.

Mississippi

Susan Clopton with Case of Case & Associates of Madison, Miss., was recently inducted into the American Society of Landscape Architects’ Council of Fellows.

The designation acknowledges extraordinary work, leadership, knowledge and service to the landscape architecture profession over a sustained period of time.

It is one of the highest honors ASLA confers upon a landscape architect. The new fellows were formally inducted during the October ASLA Annual meeting in Minneapolis, Minn.

Fellows are nominated in one of four categories: works of landscape architecture, administrative work, knowledge and service to the profession. 

Tennessee

Harry L. Little, an environmental engineer, and Jon Meadows, a transportation engineer, have joined the Nashville-based firm of Hart Freeland Roberts Inc.

As a team leader in HFR’s Environmental Engineering Department, Little will be involved in a wide variety of projects for the architectural/engineering firm. He has nearly 30 years of environmental consulting experience, most of it with large national firms. Most recently, he spent three years with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation as a regulator in hazardous waste management.

Little is a 1973 graduate of Tennessee Technological University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. In 1974 he was awarded a master’s degree in bioenvironmental engineering by Oklahoma State University.

Meadows, who is also a certified erosion control specialist, will concentrate primarily in roadway design within HFR’s Transportation and Civil Engineering divisions. Prior to joining HFR, he served for seven years as transportation engineering manager for TRC International Ltd. From 1993 to 1999, he was a roadway designer and traffic engineer for the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Meadows is a 1992 graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He is a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers and is a licensed engineer in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Florida.

Hart Freeland Roberts Inc. offers a variety of services, including architectural design, civil and structural engineering.

Tim Fuller has joined M. J. Harris Inc. as director of business development for the Nashville office. Fuller has more than 10 years experience in the Healthcare Construction Industry.

He will be responsible for establishing and maintaining accounts in the Nashville market.

Denark Construction Inc. of Knoxville, Tenn., recently promoted one of its top management professionals. Robert Anderson has been promoted to vice president/operations, as well as being appointed as a member of Denark’s Executive Committee.

Anderson came to Denark a year ago with more than 30 years of construction experience. Anderson will continue serving in his current capacity of project executive on some of Denark’s major work.

Denark Construction is a full-service general contractor/design-builder/construction manager.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association recently announced the election of its 2006-2007 officers and directors. The following individuals from Tennessee were elected at the association’s annual meeting in September:

Southern Region Vice Chairman: Jerry Geraghty, executive vice president, and chief operating officer, The Rogers Group of Nashville, Tenn.

ARTBA directors:

• Donald Chambers, president, LoJac Inc. of Lebanon, Tenn.

• E. Gail Mize, executive vice president, Astec Industries Inc. of Chattanooga, Tenn.

Kim Shinn of Nashville, director of sustainable design for TLC Engineering for Architecture, has been elected to a three-year term on the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Board of Directors, effective in 2007. 

One of eight new board members elected by the USGBC Regional Councils, Shinn will represent the Southeast region, comprising Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Southwest Virginia.

Shinn has 26 years of engineering experience in healthcare, institutional and industrial building design and is the co-founder and chair of the USGBC’s Middle Tennessee Chapter.

One of the foremost sustainable building organizations in the United States, the USGBC works to develop environmentally responsible industry standards, design practices, guidelines, policy positions and education tools. The group’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system is considered the gold standard in green building design and construction practice.

Under Shinn’s direction, TLC Engineering for Architecture has designed two LEED-certified projects, including the first project in Florida to attain certification. Currently the firm has on the boards 18 LEED-registered projects and 12 projects that are expected to seek certification. 

Based in Orlando, Fla., TLC has a staff of 400 and maintains regional offices in Cocoa, Deerfield Beach, Ft. Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Tallahassee and Tampa, Fla., and Nashville, Tenn.   

Clinton Yount with A-1 Equipment Rental of Morristown, Tenn., was recently awarded a $1,000 academic scholarship by the American Rental Association Foundation.