HMC Architects Names New President, CEO

ONTARIO — Randal Peterson, FAIA, has been named president and CEO of HMC Architects. He replaces Jim Gilliam.

Peterson will transfer his previous San Diego management duties to Katherine Lord, who has advanced through the firm from studio designer to principal and regional vice president during the past six years.

Peterson has been with HMC since 1994. He has overseen an eightfold increase in the company's San Diego business base during the past seven years, while expanding the HMC's San Diego practice from seven to 40 employees.

Peterson also developed a $4.5 billion long-range master plan for San Diego Unified School District, with an enrollment of 141,000 students in 177 schools. He also helped HMC win contracts to design a $22-million expansion of San Diego Children's Hospital, and a $24-million expansion of San Diego State University. Peterson also served as local co-chair of the 2003 AIA National Convention in San Diego, one of the most successful AIA conventions in its 75-year history, with more than 20,000 registrants.

Gilliam joined HMC in 1978, ultimately serving as chairman from 1995 to 1999 and CEO since 2000. He assumes a leadership role in the firm's Pasadena office, where his primary responsibilities will include strengthening the educational facilities practice while also serving as a senior-level liaison between K-12 and university clients, and state government officials in Sacramento.

Peterson was cited for his award-winning architectural design work, programming, and planning on behalf of students in underserved communities in both rural and inner city areas throughout San Diego, Imperial and Los Angeles counties.

HDR Hires in San Diego, Pasadena

MINNEAPOLIS — William Chopyk has joined HDR, a Minneapolis-based, architecture, engineering and consulting firm, as environmental and resource management section manager for its San Diego office.

HDR also named Irena Finkelstein environmental and resource management section manager in its Pasadena office.

Chopyk will serve as an operations manager for the multi-disciplinary team within the environmental section. He may also serve as technical leader and project manager on large-scale urban planning assignments, environmental impact statements, assessments and reports for policy, development, transportation, water and power- related projects. Prior to joining HDR, Chopyk was the manager of planning services with the Port of San Diego.

Finkelstein will manage operation of multi-disciplinary teams within the Pasadena environmental and community planning division. She will also serve as a technical leader and project manager for large-scale environmental impact reports/statements, assessments and reports for policy planning, urban and rural development, transportation, water, power, and other projects. Prior to joining HDR, Finkelstein was a head of environmental services with Cotton/Bridges/Associates.

Jeff Morales New at Parsons Brinckerhoff

SACRAMENTO — Jeff Morales, former director of Caltrans, has joined Parsons Brinckerhoff, an international consulting, engineering and program management organization, as a senior vice president. He also will be a principal consultant with PB Consult, the management and strategic consulting unit of Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Morales will be responsible for advising PB's clients in the areas of transportation policy, strategic planning, program implementation and customer service. He will be based in PB's Sacramento office.

Serving as director of Caltrans for three years, Morales led the nation's largest state transportation agency with 23,000 employees statewide. He was responsible for implementing California's largest-ever transportation investment program, encompassing $10 billion of highway, transit and rail improvements.

Prior to joining Caltrans, Morales was executive vice president of the Chicago Transit Authority. He previously served as a senior staff member on Vice President Al Gore's task force to improve the management and performance of the federal government and was an issues director for the White House Commission on Aviation Safety & Security during the Clinton Administration. Morales also served as special assistant and policy advisor to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena and was an aide to Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Barnhart Promotes Henry Amigable, Clay Maki

SAN DIEGO — Henry Amigable has been promoted to a senior vice president and will oversee Northern California operations in the new Stockton office of San Diego-based Barnhart Inc.

Barnhart clients in Northern California include Lodi Unified School District, CSU Monterey Bay, Stockton Unified School District and Palo Alto Unified School District. Clay Maki has been promoted to vice president/field operations. He has been with Barnhart for 15 years. Maki has supervised construction projects exceeding $60 million, including Lindbergh Field Terminal 2 Expansion, the Federal Aviation Administration TRACON facility at MCAS Miramar, Calexico Port of Entry and the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts.

Craig Horwat Joins Smith Consulting

SAN DIEGO — B. Craig Horwat has joined Smith Consulting Architects as a senior project manager.

Horwat's responsibilities include project coordination, design, permitting, consultant management and construction administration.

He has eight years of architecture experience. He previously served as an architect for San Diego-based Architects Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker, where he was responsible for project management and architectural design.

Horwat also worked as a project manager for San Diego-based Zagrodnik & Thomas Architects, where he oversaw the renovation of the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center; and as an architect for Valentiner Crane Brunjes Onyon Architects in Salt Lake City.

He earned a master of architecture degree from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. He also earned a master of science degree in engineering from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

EBS Hires Chuck Pryatel

SAN DIEGO — Chuck Pryatel has joined Environmental Business Solutions, as a senior project manager specializing in regulatory compliance.

Pryatel is responsible for managing the company's portfolio of regulatory compliance projects. Specific duties include project management of Phase 1 and 2 site assessments, regulatory audits, permitting, risk assessments and regulatory research and interpretation.

Pryatel has 23 years of experience in environmental regulatory affairs. He previously worked as the manager of regulatory compliance for AMEC Earth and Environmental Inc. in San Diego, where he was responsible for supervising a professional staff, business development, project management of Phase 1 and 2 environmental site assessments, permitting and auditing.

His other previous experience includes having served for 18 years for the County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health.

Pryatel earned a master of business administration degree, with a specialization in management, from San Diego State University.

Edmund Einy Joins GKK

LOS ANGELES — Edmund M. Einy, AIA, joins GKK as director of design. Einy has 20 years of experience leading architectural teams in all aspects of design. Einy will concentrate on GKK's government, health care and educational projects. He is currently working on the development of an 85,000-sq.-ft. research laboratory at Harbor-UCLA in Los Angeles.

Prior to joining GKK, Einy worked on significant similar projects in California with budgets up to $120 million, including Children's Hospital, Los Angeles; Veteran's Administration Outpatient Facility, Sepulveda; and UC Riverside, Instructional and Auditorium buildings. He received a masters of architecture degree from UCLA.

Bryan Benso Promoted at Gafcon

SAN DIEGO — Bryan Benso has been appointed vice president/director of new business development at Gafcon, a San Diego-based construction consulting and management firm.

His responsibilities include operational and procedural oversight of all project management operations, employee management and new business development on behalf of Gafcon's Orange County office. Benso was promoted from vice president/director of operations.

Benso's project experience with Gafcon includes the 253-unit Laguna Sur Condominiums in Laguna Niguel, River Colony Condominiums rehabilitation project in San Diego and the City of Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza reconstruction.

Dan Dumke, Jay Helekar Join McCarthy

NEWPORT BEACH — McCarthy Building Cos. Inc., one of Orange County's largest general contracting firms, recently hired Dan Dumke as senior project manager and Jay Helekar as estimator in the firm's Southern California division in Newport Beach.

Dumke's 22 years of construction experience includes positions as senior program manager, director of operations, chief estimator and mechanical construction manager.

Helekar will work in McCarthy's full-service preconstruction department. Prior to joining McCarthy, he worked as a project manager on LAC+USC Medical Center, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Student Housing Project, and UCLA De Neve Student Housing.

MBH Hires David Castro

ALAMEDA — The Newport Beach office of MBH Architects has hired David Castro, AIA, as a project architect.

Prior to joining MBH, he was the campus architect for California State University, Long Beach.

Castro has 25 years of experience, primarily in the field of hospitality architecture. He has worked as a field architect, project manager and project architect on nearly 20 hospitality projects in the United States, Japan, Australia and Indonesia.

Bruce Morimoto Joins Leo A. Daly in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — Bruce Morimoto has joined the Los Angeles office of Leo A Daily as director of interior design.

Morimoto is working on various projects for Union Bank of California, Beckman Coulter, Southwest College and Ventura College.

Prior to joining Daly, Morimoto was the executive director for Los Angeles-based architecture firm RSA. His background includes projects in programming, space planning, interior design and renovations. He has worked on the Sheraton Four Points hotels near Los Angeles International Airport and in Santa Monica, JP Morgan Private Banking in Newport Beach and the Los Angeles Media Technical Center for Legacy Properties.

Morimoto has 25 years of experience in all sectors of interior architecture, including hospitality, health care, corporate and high-tech communications.