Balfour Beatty Construction

A 30-year construction industry veteran, Brian joined the company in 1993 when it was known as Barnhart, Inc. in San Diego, California. In the years since, his passion, commitment to the business, and strong leadership skills have remained consistent as he climbed the ranks within the organization. In 2015, he was promoted to his current position as president, California, where he oversees operations and business acquisitions throughout California and Arizona.

Respected and admired by his peers, Brian was acknowledged by the San Diego Daily Transcript as a “Top Influential” in acknowledgement of his leadership, dedication to our Zero Harm safety culture, and continuous commitment and support of the communities where we build.

Brian is also recognized as an industry expert in the education market and recently co-authored a new book titled, Humanizing the Education Machine. The book acknowledges the many challenges facing public education today, and explores learning as a uniquely human experience. The book joins Balfour Beatty with futurist Rex Miller, who first introduced the K12 MindShift project.

Through his dedication to several community organizations, buildings have been built and donations have been raised to support important causes. In fact, Brian played a key role in coordinating the effort for Balfour Beatty and its mission-aligned trade contractors to construct the 65,000-square foot Ronald McDonald House of San Diego for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego at-cost – saving the charity millions of dollars.

Brian is a Certified Construction Manager and a LEED AP, holds a degree in Aviation Science from San Diego Mesa College, and attended San Diego State University. He is also a certified flight instructor and served for five years in the U.S. Navy as a deep-sea diver, having graduated from the U.S. Navy Deep Sea Diver School in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He serves on several Boards including Junior Achievement of San Diego and Imperial Counties, Western Science Center in Riverside County, and Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego.

Christine McAnney is an expert in construction law, including the negotiation, mediation and arbitration of large and complex construction-related legal matters and currently leads all of these critical responsiblities for Balfour Beatty's US Civils business. Before joining Balfour Beatty, she was the head of Venable's Construction Law Group, based out of Venable's Northern Virginia office.

Christine obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Central Florida, and is a graduate of the George Mason University School of Law. She holds multiple bar admissions, is a panel member of the American Arbitration Association and is a Fellow of the American College of Construction Lawyers.

As senior vice president and chief legal officer, David Hodnett is responsible for providing legal counsel, supporting business operations, and managing transactions, compliance and general risk for Balfour Beatty’s buildings and civils operations. Hodnett rejoined Balfour Beatty in 2018 having previously served the company for 12 years, including four years as general counsel for Balfour Beatty, Inc. and eight years as chief legal officer for the Mid-Atlantic Division of the buildings business. Hodnett began his legal career in private practice, primarily representing general contractors, and prior to joining Balfour Beatty, was the general counsel for Beers Construction Company.   
  
Hodnett is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in business finance and earned his law degree in 1992 from the University of Richmond, T.C. Williams School of Law. He is licensed to practice law in Florida, Georgia and Virginia.

Denise Hubley began her career with GMH in 1989, a company which was acquired by Balfour Beatty in 2008. Most recently, Denise has served as chief financial officer for the Balfour Beatty Investments team. In her role, she has oversees the financial services team supporting real estate and construction divisions.

Hubley was named chief financial officer for Balfour Beatty’s US buildings business in early 2018. In addition to supporting our US Buildings, Denise will continue to serve as chief financial officer for Balfour Beatty Investments.

Ed Littleton joined the company in 2006 as vice president of Risk Management and serves as chief risk officer. He is responsible for the overall design, management, and execution of risk management programs and initiatives for Balfour Beatty. Ed began his career in 1985 with Arthur Andersen & Co., where he worked closely with construction industry clients. From there, he joined one of those clients as vice president of Finance. In 1996, Ed moved from finance to risk management when he joined Willis, serving in various capacities including National Subguard Practice Leader, CFO of their National Construction Practice, and COO in the Carolinas. Ed further expanded his industry experience serving as vice president of Risk Management for a Top 10 ENR contractor.

Ed holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Accounting from the University of South Carolina, where he serves on the recently formed Risk and Uncertainty Management Advisory Board. He is involved in numerous industry leadership groups, and is past Chairman of the AGC Surety Bonding and Risk Management forum. Ed is also active in the grant process, and annual campaign cabinet, for United Way of Dallas.

Eric Stenman began his career in construction with boots on the ground — as a plumbing contractor. He owned his own business and later became a general contractor while also putting himself through college and law school.

His tenure with the company began in 2001, when he served as vice president and general counsel for Douglas E. Barnhart. Eric’s strong leadership and construction business acumen led to his promotion to president of that business in 2007. Barnhart was acquired by Balfour Beatty in 2008 and since then, Eric has served in several national leadership roles. Under his leadership, the company has achieved the leverage and scale of national capabilities, operational excellence standards, team growth and development, and industry innovation. Eric serves as President for Balfour Beattys US.

Some of the prestigious and award-winning projects that comprise Eric’s impressive career with Balfour Beatty include the $221 million San Diego County Women's Detention Facility, a design-build, 1,216-bed facility that, through its innovative and campus-like design, creates a rehabilitative environment that prepares inmates for re-entry into civilian life. The project has been honored with 11 industry and sustainability awards. The $103 million J. Paul Leonard Library and Sutro Library project, which earned four awards at regional and national levels including “Project of the Year” from the Design-Build Institute of America Western Region, is a beacon of information and collaborative learning for students who call San Francisco State University home. Through the addition of an automated library retrieval system (LRS), students can quickly access key research materials from the facility’s 2,000,000-item collection. Eric has also executed a vast array of mission-critical work for confidential clients in Oregon and across the United States.

Eric is a leader focused on talent, who is constantly mentoring, recognizing, and appreciating those who have contributed. In fact, it’s this kind of leadership that inspired his co-workers and peers to nominate him as one of the San Diego Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs — an accolade earned in 2014.

Eric holds a law degree from California Western School of Law, earned his B.A. in Political Science from California State University, Northridge, and is a licensed contractor in the State of California and Arizona. He is active at the local and national levels of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), having chaired the National Contract Documents Forum and Chair of the Building Division. Eric is currently President of AGC of America, San Diego Chapter and serves on the board of directors for the AGC of San Diego. Eric also serves as an Executive Committee member of the Downtown San Diego Partnership.

John has been with Balfour Beatty for more than 20 years of his 35-year career in the heavy civil construction industry. He is a 1981 graduate of Purdue University and a registered professional engineer in Texas. 

Throughout his time at Balfour Beatty, John has held various roles, including director of construction on the $1 billion SH 130 project in Austin, one of the company's first design-build projects, and, at the time, one of the largest design-build projects in the United States. After SH 130, in 2009, he was promoted to southwest region vice president and regional manager, where he oversaw the delivery of the $425 million SH 161 design-build project in Dallas and several bid-build projects. In addition to overseeing traditional bid-build projects for the region, he has led work on the $582 million 183 South design-build project in Austin and the $625 million Southern Gateway design-build project in Dallas.

As a seasoned and strategic industry leader, Kasey Bevans is passionate about developing the technology infrastructure that empowers Balfour Beatty associates to deliver clients’ dreams. She joined Balfour Beatty’s Information Technology department in 2001. In 2005, Kasey was promoted to her current position as senior vice president and chief information officer. During her tenure with Balfour Beatty, she has been responsible for leading the implementation of several core business systems and increasing customer satisfaction and cost recovery. She also developed a Systems Roadmap to align with the strategy of the business.
 
Kasey earned her B.B.A. in Business Computer Information Systems from the University of North Texas in 1992 and has completed graduate work at the University of Wisconsin. She is a member of Construction Information Executives, Oracle Strategy Council, Constructware Advisory Board, and serves on the University Park PTA Technology committee. In 2015, Constructech magazine named Kasey to its prestigious “Women in Construction” list at the publication’s Technology Day event. The list is comprised of some of the most successful women working in the construction industry who drive innovation with technology and represent the leading construction companies in the country.

Leveraging his nearly 30-year tenure with Balfour Beatty and his experience in nearly every facet of the company, Keith serves as senior vice president, national safety for the Balfour Beatty US Buildings operations.

In this critical role, Keith's mission is to ensure we continue improving safety practices across the company with the goal of one day achieving Zero Harm. He's passionate about creating a safe work environment for our workforce and the public, as well as reducing workplace injuries at Balfour Beatty and in the construction industry at large. Keith believes in supporting project teams through a servant leadership approach and helping teammates be successful not only on their projects but also in their personal and professional lives. He will also be leading the company’s sustainability efforts across the US.

Keith holds a bachelor's degree in construction science from Texas A&M University. He has served in numerous community and industry organizations, including the Texas Real Estate Council, Carson Leslie Foundation and 22Kill. He has also served on the boards of Texas A&M Construction Industry Advisory Council and TEXO/AGC.

Kurt Knebel joined Balfour Beatty in 2020 to provide executive oversight for project pursuits, including design development, estimating and proposal development. He is a proud former student of Texas A&M University where he graduated with a civil engineering degree. 

As part of his role, Kurt serves as a board member and executive leader for the $900 million Green Line Extension (GLX) project for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. With more than 34 years of experience in heavy civils construction, Kurt has earned a reputation as a collaborative leader with success in developing vision and strategy for business opportunities and growth.

Leon Blondin was named chief executive officer of Balfour Beatty's US operations in 2020 and is responsible for the company’s US Buildings and US Civils businesses, as well as the US-wide functional shared services, providing overall country leadership and coordination.

Leon has been with Balfour Beatty since 2001, holding the positions of chief estimator, vice president, senior vice president, division president of the National/Federal Group, president of the Mid-Atlantic Division, chief operating officer, Mid-Atlantic and most recently, chief executive officer, US Buildings. As chief operating officer, Mid-Atlantic, Leon had responsibility for all activities and construction operations, including oversight of the firm’s program management, operations, preconstruction, purchasing and estimating activities. During his 30-year career, he has pursued projects in more than 30 states, and successfully acquired more than $7.5 billion in new work. In addition to having vast experience with federal projects, Leon has experience in the construction of healthcare, upscale lodging, and convention centers.

Leon is past president of the National Capitol Chapter of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) and holds an A.S. in construction engineering from Alfred State College.

Leslee Mallinson is an industry veteran who joined the company in 2000 and serves as our vice president of communications. As an experienced and passionate communications advisor, Leslee sits on our executive leadership team and is responsible for delivering strategic communications counsel and brand management across our entire US business.

Leslee works closely with our operational, marketing and shared services teams to devise impactful communications that support our overall business strategy and our most valuable asset: our people.

As the head of our national communications team Leslee manages and oversees all activities related to employee communications, change management, investor relations, crisis and issue management, social media, employer brand, market positioning and value propositions, brand management, internal program embedment and content development.

Leslee is a graduate of Austin College and Southern Methodist University and an active volunteer in the Dallas community our Balfour Beatty team has helped build. 

Mark Birch began his career in corporate finance at Ford Motor Co. in the United Kingdom. He diversified his experience with positions at other manufacturing organizations before joining Balfour Beatty Rail, Ltd in 1997. After assuming positions of increasing responsibility, Mark moved to Balfour Beatty’s US operations in 2004 to manage the financial growth of the state-side business.
 
Mark was appointed chief financial officer of Balfour Beatty’s domestic civils business in April 2006.

Mark earned a B.A from the University of Birmingham, UK and an MBA from Henley Management College, UK. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

After an extensive career with some of the construction industry's most successful companies, Mark Johnnie joined Balfour Beatty in 1998. In his tenure with the company, Mark has managed some of our most highly visible and important projects, including the San Mateo Bridge Widening and Smith Creek Parkway. As vice president of the Southeast Region for Balfour Beatty's civils business, he oversees operations and delivery of highway and water projects throughout the southeastern United States, where he brings a strong local reputation and capability to Balfour Beatty clients. 

Mark graduated from Oregon State University and holds two bachelor of science degrees – one in construction engineering management and the other in business administration.

Mark has such a cool role in the company – he gets to develop ideas and approaches to industry innovation. Our innovation strategy enables Balfour Beatty to improve our value proposition for clients, partners and teammates in how we deliver projects, including our focus on Zero Waste. In addition, through research and delvopment, Mark is finding new ways for Balfour Beatty to streamline processes, reduce redundancy, and increase our knowledge and expertise in our strategic procurement and business acquisition efforts. 
 
Mark joined the company in 1999 on the design-build National Academy of Sciences headquarters project in Washington, D.C. Since that time, Mark has helped develop our company’s approach to integrated projects, which provides team-based project solutions and design facilitation processes on large design-build and design-assist projects. He also led the business acquisition team in D.C. for several years.
 
Mark has played a major role in Balfour Beatty’s Public-Private Partnerships as well. In 2009, Mark was promoted to vice president of National Integration – bringing innovative procurement and delivery expertise to the benefit of our clients, employees, and partners across the U.S. In that role, he was recognized both inside and outside the company as a leader in alternate procurement and innovative strategies.
 
Mark earned his BAE and PhD in Architectural Engineering from Penn State University. In 2010, he was named a Centennial Fellow by Penn State University’s Department of Architectural Engineering for his exceptional contributions during the department’s first 100 years, and potential to make significant contributions during the second century. And, was one of Building Design + Construction’s “40 under 40” (2009).
 
He has been directly involved with a number of industry-leading research projects and is the author of several published articles and reports, including his co-authorship of the book, "Selecting Project Delivery Systems" and “Change Your Space, Change Your Culture”.
 
He is a Designated Design-Build Professional (DBIA) and a LEED Accredited Professional and is also helping to establish industry-leading Building Information Modeling procedures for design-build projects across the global Balfour Beatty network. Mark is on the board of directors for the Lean Construction Institute, an advisory council member of the Pankow Foundation and serves as a research advisor on several industry improvements projects.

With an impressive 35+ years of industry experience, Mike has been part of the Balfour Beatty team since 1987. Currently, he serves as president for the company's Mid-Atlantic operations.
 
During his career, Mike has overseen construction of more than 45 projects totaling $4 billion and more than 11 million square feet. His portfolio includes unique, large and challenging projects like the $1.4 billion National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Campus East Headquarters at Fort Belvoir; a $550M design build mission critical facility for a confidential client on the west coast; and multiple award winning, landmark projects like the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Air Force Memorial and the Pentagon Memorial.

Mike is a member of AGC of Virginia as well as the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Mike holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Steve Smithgall is an experienced operational leader who has been in construction since 1977 and has been a part of Balfour Beatty since 1997. Prior to his current role, he served as a division president in Washington, D.C. for Balfour Beatty.
 
Steve’s mission is to ensure we continue improving our safety practices across the company with the goal of one day achieving Zero Harm. He’s passionate about reducing workplace injuries at Balfour Beatty and in the construction industry. He has also successfully engaged all of the officers at the company to visit job sites for proactive safety visits, which is making a positive difference.
 
Steve holds a bachelor's degree in building construction from Virginia Tech University. He has served on numerous community and industry boards, including the Ronald McDonald House Charities Building Committee, the Virginia Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), Washington Building Congress, and the Myers Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech.