AECOM said Friday that CEO and Chairman Michael Burke plans to retire by next year, either once his successor is found or ahead of the company’s 2020 yearly shareholders meeting scheduled for March.
Burke will be the last executive to hold the dual title, the Los Angeles-based infrastructure and engineering multinational said in a press release. The positions will be separated once the new CEO starts work.
The announcement comes as AECOM advances the sell-off of its Management Services branch, which holds its contracts with the Department of Energy and other federal agencies, along with its nuclear decommissioning operations.
“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Mike for his service as CEO and his significant contributions to the Company,” AECOM board member Steven Kandarian said in the release. “Through Mike’s stewardship, we have created substantial value for the Company and our shareholders over the past year, and we are well-positioned to continue those value creation initiatives as we move into this next phase for AECOM following the completion of the sale of our Management Services business. The Board greatly values and appreciates Mike’s continued leadership and assistance through a smooth transition.”
Burke started at AECOM in 2006 as chief financial officer, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was promoted to president in 2011 and then to chairman and CEO in 2014.
He previously spent 15 years at the accounting and professional services firm KPMG, the last 10 as a partner.
In the release, AECOM also announced a change in the makeup of its Board of Directors following enactment of a governance deal with investment firm and shareholder Starboard Value.
The agreement allows Starboard to recommend three new independent directors to the board, including Starboard Managing Member Peter Feld. The board will add Robert Card and Jacqueline Hinman by Dec. 19. Two longtime board members, James Fordyce and Linda Griego, have retired, the press release says. Kandarian will become lead independent director on the board.
The changes will temporarily increase the board to 11 members. However, one unidentified member will not seek re-election at the shareholders meeting, dropping the board back to 10 members.
AECOM expects by February to complete the $2.4 billion sale of Management Services to a joint venture established by New York City-based investment firms American Securities and Lindsay Goldberg. AECOM primarily will retire debt and buy back stock using proceeds from the deal.
Management Services now oversees AECOM’s work on joint ventures for Energy Department waste management and cleanup contracts collectively worth about $18 billion at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the Hanford Site in Washington state, and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. AECOM is also a partner in the management contractor for the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
