KANSAS CITY, MO — Zach Herrington, PE, has been promoted to Director of Projects within the Water Group in Kansas City at Burns & McDonnell. This role becomes a dual role as he continues to serve as the group’s National Director of Construction. Also based in Kansas City, Agnes Otto has been hired as Transportation Director within the Transportation Group.As Director of Projects, Herrington will lead the Water Group’s project management team in Kansas City to enhance the team’s project delivery skills and execution excellence. In this role, he will identify new project manager candidates, mentor teams, and develop a career track for project management staff. He will also be tasked with reducing risk and improving project performance by enhancing project management tools and workflow, conducting monthly project reviews, and serving as the executive sponsor of the Burns & McDonnell safety committee.

For the past 10 years, Herrington has served in a lead role for over $1 billion in collaborative delivery projects, including serving as the design-build/EPC (engineer-procure-construct) Project Manager for Denton Energy Center, which was named 2017 Project of the Year at Burns & McDonnell.

“Zach has spearheaded the construction initiative to build our construction capability related to collaborative delivery strategies and self-perform capability,” said Ron Coker, Senior Vice President at Burns & McDonnell. “He will build on that success from the construction side to the project management side. He truly has a passion for project execution excellence and client success.”

"I am honored and excited to take on this new role with the Water Group in Kansas City,” Herrington said. “We have experienced strong growth and success of water design-build and EPC projects, and I’m dedicated to making Burns & McDonnell the water and wastewater provider of choice for our entire client base in both the municipal and industrial market spaces from design through construction.”

Herrington is a licensed Professional Engineer and Project Management Professional. He earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and master’s degree in engineering management from Colorado School of Mines and a Master of Business Administration from Florida State University.

As Transportation Director, Otto will drive strategy and client and people development while delivering innovative and cost-effective solutions to Burns & McDonnell's client base. Her innovative approach and career in engineering delivery and applied technologies further enables Burns & McDonnell to support big infrastructure projects, aligning people development with technology integration to more efficiently deliver end-to-end infrastructure solutions.

Otto previously led a multi-state regional transportation practice, where she was responsible for growth and delivery of engineering and planning services. She brings a passion for developing and mentoring people and helping them develop their career trajectories while aligning successful business practices.

“Agnes is a strategic thinker and has a great ability to integrate technology into the engineering and construction business,” said Michael DeBacker, Vice President and Leader of the Transportation Group at Burns & McDonnell. “She brings a keen sense of people development and will be an excellent champion for our employee-owners.”

"I am thrilled to take on this role with Burns & McDonnell,” Otto said. “To be working with a firm so grounded in employee ownership and people development and to be able to align that people-centric philosophy with the ability to integrate so many new and useful technologies like digital delivery, data analytics, and smart vehicle infrastructure opens a future full of new ways to support our clients.”

Otto is LEED AP certified and earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Rockhurst University. She also participated in the Kansas City Tomorrow leadership program through the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City. Otto has supported the American Council of Engineering Companies liaison committees in both Kansas and Missouri. She is on the regional investment strategies subcommittee for the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Big 5 Transportation Initiative.

Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies bringing together a team of 7,600 engineers, construction professionals, architects, planners, technologists, and scientists to design and build critical infrastructure. The company offers full-service capabilities with more than 60 offices globally. Founded in 1898, Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned.