For the second time in less than two years, Fluor is naming a new chief executive officer.
The Texas-based company said in a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has named a board of directors member, David Constable, as the new CEO replacing Carlos Hernandez who has only been in the top job since May 2019.
Constable held various management roles within Fluor from 1982 to 2011, before returning as a board member in 2019. From 2011 to 2016, Constable served as CEO of Sasol Ltd, a global energy and chemicals company.
Hernandez took over as CEO in May 2019 replacing David Seaton. Seaton had been the top boss since 2011 and left the engineering, procurement and construction company at a time of disappointing financial performance. Hernandez was Fluor’s senior vice president when he was elevated to the top job and had served 12 years in Fluor management positions.
For much of Hernandez’s tenure, however, the company has been dealing with federal investigations by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission about irregularities in some 2019 financial reports. As part of the company set up an internal team to scrutinize its own books. While it found some errors, none was connected with its Department of Energy contracting business.
Fluor only recently reported its results for 2019 and the first quarter of 2020.
“It has been an honor to serve as CEO of Fluor over the last year and a half, and a member of this great team for over a decade,” Hernandez said in the company statement. “While it has been a challenging time for Fluor, we have made significant progress conducting our strategic review, strengthening our operations and completing the restatement of our financial results. Particularly, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am proud of how our team adapted to the dynamic environment,” he added.
A Fluor spokesman declined this week to comment on the management change, beyond what is in the public statement.
“I am excited to rejoin such a great company and am honored to be leading Fluor during this important time in its history,” Constable said in the Fluor statement. “Since first joining Fluor in 1982 and returning again as a board member last year, I have seen firsthand the team’s hard work and commitment to improving the business and delivering for our customers.
Fluor’s management team will hold a business update conference call with the investment community in mid-January to update the company’s performance.
Fluor is a major player in the DOE weapons complex, serving as the lead partner in a number of multi-billion-dollar contracts including the $14.8-billion operations contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina that runs through September 2021.
