McLaren Engineering Group Announces the Appointment of 2 New Board Members

McLaren Engineering Group New Board Members
(left) Cosema \"Connie\" Crawford, PE, Director of Rail and Transit for ASTM North America; (right) Stephanie Olexa, PhD, MBA, Founder of Lead to the Future, LLC.

McLaren Engineering Group, a leading full-service engineering firm, announced today the addition of two new members to its Board of Directors: Cosema "Connie" Crawford, PE, Director of Rail and Transit for ASTM North America, and Stephanie Olexa, PhD, MBA, Founder of Lead to the Future, LLC. 

Each began their terms last week, replacing outgoing Board members Lt. Gen. Dennis Hejlik and Roger Neuenschwander, AIA, who admirably served the organization since 2014. 

"The current Board is honored to welcome our new Members, who bring with them an innovative array of experience, industry knowledge, and perspectives," said Malcolm McLaren, PE, McLaren Engineering Group's founder and Executive Chairman. "After considering numerous candidates, our Nominating Committee has selected these individuals to guide the firm's strategic plans based on their expertise and the value we believe they will bring to the organization."

As the McLaren Engineering Group Board continues to serve and influence the organization, its membership is developing in diversity of backgrounds and skills to champion the firm's progressive changes.

"To best drive our next phase of advancement, the Board will continue to provide guidance for our future growth plans and management of operations," said McLaren Engineering Group's CEO, Jeremy Billig, PE. "Our new members are truly representative of McLaren's brand of 'Applied Ingenuity,' fusing technical excellence with out-of-the-box thinking. I believe they, along with our current Directors and leadership, will help propel us forward."

Crawford and Olexa join current Board Members, McLaren, Billig, James McCormick (Partner and Director of Construction for D&A Companies), Jay Carter (Former President of Lucent's AT&T Customer Business Unit), and Kenneth Arnold, PE (Founder and Former CEO of Paragon Engineering Services), in providing oversight for the worldwide engineering firm.

About Cosema "Connie" Crawford, PE 

Connie has 40 years of experience with public and private sectors in the management, design, and construction of large-scale transportation programs. Currently Director of Rail and Transit for ASTM North America, she is responsible for rail and transit P3 projects. Previously, as Global Practice Leader at Louis Berger (later WSP), she oversaw major rail and transit programs in the U.S. and overseas. Connie has served as senior vice president and chief engineer at New York City Transit Authority (NYCT), overseeing a $2.25 billion annual capital program for subway and bus infrastructure including tunnels, viaducts and bridges, passenger stations, maintenance facilities, power distribution, and signals and communications systems. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, she directed planning and design efforts to rebuild the collapsed Lower Manhattan subway tunnel in one year. Earlier, as chief engineer for New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), Connie was responsible for the design, construction, and maintenance of 875 bridges and seven tunnels. A graduate of Princeton University, Connie is a member of the Moles and is well known in the AEC Industry.

About Stephanie Olexa, PhD, MBA

Stephanie Olexa began her career as a Professor of Medicine at Temple Medical School, teaching Biochemistry and Hematology along with conducting research in the blood coagulation system. She evolved into the "business of science", getting an MBA with a specialty in finance while working at Rohm and Haas Company in Philadelphia and Air Products and Chemicals in Allentown, Pa. In these positions she led acquisitions of high-tech diversification businesses, preparing her to form her own venture. She founded an independent testing laboratory with technical capabilities in Microbiology, Organic and Inorganic Chemistry and Radiochemistry and grew it into a multi-million-dollar, nationwide business through organic growth and over 26 acquisitions. After selling the company to an equity investment firm, she formed Lead to the Future, LLC to work with privately held and family-owned businesses in the areas of governance, succession planning and business sustainability. Currently, she focuses on Excellence in Governance, providing Board design, development, education, review, and management to organizations. 

About McLaren Engineering Group

For over 45 years, McLaren Engineering Group has built a strong industry standing with a portfolio of over 20,000 innovative projects spanning infrastructure, transportation, energy, healthcare, education, industrial, entertainment, and real estate development. The employee-owned multi-disciplinary engineering firm has been expanding with offices coast to coast and a well-diversified line of services that includes structural, civil, marine, entertainment, bridges, forensics, facades, geotechnics, construction engineering, and surveying. McLaren has offices in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., New York City, Albany, N.Y., Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley, Pa., Greenwich, Conn., Baltimore, Roswell, Ga., Orlando, San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Oran, Algeria. www.mgmclaren.com

Press Contact: Denisa Moss-Heitlager dmoss-heitlager@mgmclaren.com 862-571-0325