Raleigh—John T. Lucey, Jr., PE, CEO of Raleigh, North Carolina-based engineering and surveying firm McKim & Creed, Inc., announced today that Lochner CEO Jeanne Cormier and UNC business professor Paula Sims have joined the company’s board of directors.
“Jeanne brings to our board the perspective from a CEO of an Engineering News-Record #126 firm and someone who has worked her way up from an entry level position to become the CEO of Lochner. Paula’s academic background with a BS and MS in engineering and an MBA, coupled with her managerial and leadership experience with GE and Progress Energy, will be key to guide us to accomplish the goals and objectives of our 2025 Strategic Plan,” said Lucey in making the announcement.
In joining McKim & Creed’s board, Cormier and Sims replace long-time directors Michael W. Creed, PE, Ph.D., McKim & Creed co-founder, and Fred Day, retired president/CEO of Progress Energy. Both Creed and Day retired from the board in April. Other directors include Ken Garcia, CEO and founder of New Prospect Holdings, LLC; Mark Mulhern, senior vice president and CFO of Highwoods Properties, Inc.; and Herbert P. McKim, Jr. PE, PLS, McKim & Creed co-founder. Lucey serves as board chair.
Cormier to Provide Business and Industry Leadership
Jeanne Cormier is one of the few women CEOs within the architectural / engineering / construction industry. She began her career at Lochner, a 600-person Chicago-based transportation engineering firm, as a field office engineer in 1988. She served as chief operating officer, director of strategic growth, director of aviation and alternative delivery practices and regional team leader before being appointed as president and CEO in 2017.
“John Lucey and I run similar sized firms and, while different in our practices, we share similar experiences, growth objectives and ownership structure. As a McKim & Creed board member my goal is to support the entire McKim & Creed team in maintaining their commitment to excellence, broadening their leadership to include diversity and to assure their continued success as an independently held engineering firm, while continuing to grow,” said Cormier.
Sims to Focus on Human Engagement
After 30 years of corporate leadership at both Progress Energy and GE Aviation, Paula Sims now teaches MBA students at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School about leading change. Prior to joining the UNC faculty, Sims served as Progress Energy’s chief integration officer. She spearheaded the company’s efforts to combine systems and structures with Duke Energy in 2011-12. The Progress Energy/Duke Energy merger created the nation’s largest electric utility.
Asked why she joined McKim & Creed’s board, Sims answered, “I love the fact that McKim & Creed is an employee-owned firm. That is both intriguing and inspiring to me. I’m an engineer, a business person and an advocate and proponent of employee engagement and development. I think those skills are useful in a company like McKim & Creed that is trying to grow and is owned by its employees.”
Added Lucey, “McKim & Creed’s tremendous revenue and profit growth over the past five years, and the vision presented in our 2025 Strategic Plan, have helped us assemble a board of superstars who will help to guide us toward our goals of being a sustainable, employee-owned firm that is the most desirable place to work in our industry. Jeanne and Paula are definitely superstars and we are proud that they have joined our board.”
About McKim & Creed
McKim & Creed is employee-owned engineering and geomatics firm with nearly 600 staff members in offices throughout the U.S., including North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Georgia, Texas, and Pennsylvania. McKim & Creed specializes in civil, water/wastewater, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural engineering; design-build services; airborne and mobile LiDAR/scanning; unmanned aerial systems; subsurface utility engineering; and hydrographic and conventional surveying services for the energy, transportation, federal, land development, water and building markets. In April 2020 the company was ranked by Engineering News-Record magazine as #148 among the Top 500 Design Firms in the U.S. For more information about McKim & Creed, visit www.mckimcreed.com.
