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.

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.

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.