(New York – April 4, 2011) – Thornton Tomasetti, the international engineering firm, today announces the following leadership team appointments: Thomas Scarangello to chairman and CEO, Robert DeScenza to president, and Aine Brazil and Dennis Poon to vice chairmen. The announcement was made by Thomas Scarangello on behalf of the firm’s managing principals. The changes are effective May 12.

From Left, Tom Scarangello, Aine Brazil, Dennis Poon, Bob DeScenza.

Key Points

• Dan Cuoco, the current president and chief executive officer, will be retiring at the end of May. Mr. DeScenza, currently the chief operating officer, will be taking over the role of president, and Mr. Scarangello, the current chairman, will be taking on the additional role of chief executive officer.

• In his 40 years of service to Thornton Tomasetti, Mr. Cuoco has played an integral role in the seamless transition and expansion of leadership that is at the heart of the firm’s success. During his tenure the firm grew from a dozen people in one office in New York City to 550 people in 23 offices in nine countries. He will continue to consult to Thornton Tomasetti on future projects, particularly in the Building Performance and Property Loss Consulting practices. Dan will also serve as Editor in Chief of Structural Engineer magazine.

• Mr. Scarangello has been with the firm since 1979 and is a licensed professional engineer in 26 states. He has been principal in charge of engineering many award-winning and signature projects internationally. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Manhattan College, and an advanced engineering degree from Columbia University.

• Mr. DeScenza has served as chief operating officer of Thornton Tomasetti since 2005, overseeing the global operational activities of the firm. He joined Thornton Tomasetti in 1978 and has more than 30 years of experience in the structural engineering of a wide variety of building types, from long-span sports and entertainment arenas and stadiums to high-rise commercial and mixed-use buildings in concrete and steel, and renovation and rehabilitation of vintage structures. Mr. DeScenza is a registered professional engineer in 14 states, and has authored many papers and articles.

• Throughout her more than 30-year career, Ms. Brazil has been responsible for the design and construction of projects including three million square feet of high-rise office development in the Times Square area, the major expansion of New York Hospital, the 60-story 731 Lexington Avenue mixed-use project, and Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

• With 30-plus years of experience, Mr. Poon has been responsible for the design and construction of Taipei 101 in Taiwan, Bally’s Atlantic City hotel and casino in New Jersey, CBX Tower in Paris, the 66-story, mixed-use Plaza 66 in Shanghai, the Board of Trade Tower and O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, and the five million square-foot MGM City Center hotel in Las Vegas. Currently, Mr. Poon is working on several 100-plus story towers, such as Shanghai Tower and Ping An International Finance Center Tower, which are the two tallest in China, and several high-rise projects in the Middle East. He has extensive expertise in seismic design and performance-based design with complex mixed-use structures worldwide.

Executive Quote

Thomas Scarangello, chairman and chief executive officer:
“A core strength of our firm has always been the development, depth and continuity of our leadership. These appointments are a testament to those efforts. With this strong leadership, our growing suite of high-value services and deep bench of design professionals committed to excellence, I am confident that in the emerging recovery we have the right ingredients to position our firm for long-term success.”

Supporting Materials

Thornton Tomasetti Website

About Thornton Tomasetti (www.ThorntonTomasetti.com)
Thornton Tomasetti is a leader in engineering design, investigation and analysis serving clients worldwide on projects of all sizes and complexity. With practices in building structure, building skin, building performance, construction support services and property loss consulting, Thornton Tomasetti addresses the full life cycle of a structure. We have supported clients working in more than 40 countries, with projects that include the tallest buildings and longest spans to the restoration of prized historic properties. Founded in 1956, today Thornton Tomasetti is a 550-person organization of engineers and architects collaborating from offices across the United States and in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.

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