COBELLI

Skanska USA Civil Inc., the New York City infrastructure unit of Swedish contractor Skanska AB, has appointed Michael Cobelli to the position of chief operating officer, a new position. Based in Riverside, Calif., he remains executive vice president of Skanska USA Civil’s western region. A 26-year company veteran, Cobelli was formerly the executive vice president of Skanska USA Civil Northeast. He now will manage operational resources of all Skanska USA Civil offices, says the firm.

Dennis Thompson has joined Klewin Construction, West Palm Beach, Fla., as president. He was chief operating officer and president of the western region of Walton Construction Co. and had been an executive of Hunt Construction Group.

URS Corp. has named Robert E. “Bob” Holt and Jack Waldron as senior vice presidents. Holt, formerly vice president of program and construction management at Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., also becomes URS national director of program and construction management, based in Washington, D.C. Waldron, formerly URS vice president of design-build in its western group, becomes Santa Ana, Calif.-based national director of transportation design-build projects.

HENRY

Paul Henry has been named to the new position of principal associate director for capital projects at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a U.S. Energy Dept. nuclear research facility in New Mexico, under a site restructuring. A principal vice president of Bechtel Group, he had been project manager of a Pueblo, Colo., pilot plant, managed by Bechtel, that seeks to destroy chemical agents. The firm is part of Los Alamos National Security LLC, which operates the Los Alamos lab.

Lisa DiTaranti has joined VHB/Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, a Watertown, Mass., transportation engineer, as its Northeast director of transit and rail, based in Boston. Formerly vice president and planning director at Systra Consulting Inc., she leads transit and rail work in three states.