DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Balfour Beatty announces senior leadership changes within its US Civils business appointing Mark Johnnie to chief operating officer (COO) and Kelly Phariss to vice president of West operations. The appointments support intentional and strategic planning of the company’s highways and bridges, rail and water businesses to expand Balfour Beatty’s Civils operations across the company’s chosen geographic footprint.
As COO, Mark will lead the company’s commitment to operational excellence spanning across all vertical markets including highway and bridges, rail, and water. Mark will work with leaders throughout the business to ensure consistency in execution, high quality of standards and client experiences are delivered, and industry-leading operational processes are embedded across verticals. In addition to his COO responsibilities, Mark will maintain his current role overseeing the highway and bridges work across the Southeast and will now expand to cover the Southwest. A Balfour Beatty teammate since 1998, Mark has a track record of consistent delivery in the Southeast, deep knowledge of the market sector and strong commitment to fostering the company’s Civils construction capability to clients.
Kelly Phariss has been promoted to vice president where he will head operations in the West managing its diverse project portfolio within the rail, highways and bridges and water sectors in California, Oregon and Washington. Kelly is a long-time Balfour Beatty Civils teammate and critical leader on Los Angeles World Airport’s (LAX) Automated People Mover (APM) project. He will remain deputy director on the LAX APM project in addition to his new role where he will also support and pursue opportunities that blend scopes of work involving the company’s expert Buildings and Civils construction services.
Commenting on leadership changes, Balfour Beatty’s Civils President and US Rail Managing Director Mark Konchar, said: “Our Civils business continues to experience significant progress with excellent opportunities on the horizon. Mark and Kelly’s appointments will not only strengthen, grow and sustain our operations but support intentional strategies that focus on engaging select market sectors across the nation.
“At the same time, these leadership changes are a key investment in preserving the fabric of our people-first culture and values which is vital to our teammates’ development and business success.
“I’m excited to work alongside Mark and Kelly in maintaining momentum that promotes Balfour Beatty’s US Civils business as a thriving and bright place to work as well as executing strategies that offer outstanding capability to clients.”
About Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty is an industry-leading provider of general contracting, at-risk construction management and design-build services for public and private sector clients across the United States. Performing heavy civil and vertical construction, the company is part of Balfour Beatty plc (LSE: BBY), a leading international infrastructure group that provides innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth. Balfour Beatty is ranked among the top domestic building contractors in the United States by Engineering News-Record. To learn more, visit www.balfourbeattyus.com.
