LAN Promotes Bob Austin and Jeff Thomas to Vice President

By Jay Srinivasan

Planning, engineering and program management firm Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc. (LAN) has promoted Bob Austin, P.E., and Jeff Thomas, P.E., to vice president.

“Bob and Jeff have helped the firm win numerous projects and played a pivotal role in LAN’s success,” said Wayne Swafford, P.E, LAN’s president. “Their leadership has raised LAN’s profile as a technical leader in providing facilities and transportation services.”

Austin has 36 years of experience managing and designing transportation projects. During this time, he has performed feasibility studies, preliminary engineering, and plans, specifications and estimates for new toll roads, interstate and rural highways, interchanges, farm-to-market roads, urban arterials, and railroad and river bridges. He joined LAN in 2013 as a senior project manager and was subsequently promoted to transportation team leader.

Previously, he served the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) as its planning and development director for the Laredo District. He managed the development of the district’s three-year transportation improvement plan and handled funding agreements with cities, counties and developers. He also authored the latest TxDOT preliminary design process manual and taught several courses at the agency. Some of the notable projects he has worked on include the $2.7 billion IH-635 managed lane design-build project in Dallas, the $325 million IH-35 project in Waco, Market Street realignment in San Antonio, and the $53 million MoPAC Intersections project in Austin.

Thomas has more than 26 years of experience as a project manager, energy manager, and electrical engineer. He joined LAN in 2008 as a senior project manager and was subsequently promoted to facilities team leader. As a team leader, he manages facilities projects for healthcare, institutional, municipal, and food distribution markets. He is responsible for providing mechanical, electrical and plumbing design and engineering services, including electrical modeling, field investigation, power generation design, power supply system design, system commissioning, energy management, utility design, and condition assessments.

A certified energy manager, auditor and green building engineer, Thomas also serves as the firm’s chief energy analyst. His expertise in renewable and sustainable solutions has helped reduce hundreds of thousands of dollars in operational costs for clients. Some of his notable projects include the Hurricane Ike assessment and recovery for the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, state-wide facility condition assessment for TxDOT, design of the Dollar General Distribution Center in San Antonio, and energy audit services for the Defense Commissary Agency and General Services Administration.