Richard G. Newman is current Chairman and former CEO of international engineering firm AECOM. He has been on the company’s board of director since 1990, and served as AECOM’s Chief Executive officer from 1991 to 2005. During his tenure, Newman extended the firm’s geographic reach, broadening the company’s influence in global market. He is also currently a director of Sempra Energy Co., Capital Research and Management Co., and Southwest Water Corporation.
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Newman began his early career in a New York based engineering firm and subsequently in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Newman graduated from Bucknell University with a B.S. in civil engineering and from Columbia University in 1960 with a M.S. in civil engineering specializing in hydraulics and hydrology. From 1962 to 1970, Newman was executive vice president of engineering firm Cahn Engineers in New Haven, Connecticut. Upon Cahn’s acquisition by Genge in 1971, Newman joined the board of 14 mutual funds of Capital Research and Management Company and the board of Southwest Water Company. Between 1970 and 1977, he was president and later Chief Executive Officer of Genge, Inc. Then from 1977 to 1987, he served on the board of Daniel, Mann, Johnson, & Mendenhall, a transportation engineering services firm in the United States. During the latter half of the period, Newman was CEO of Ashland Technology Corporation, which was later acquired. In 1989, Newman prepared a buyback proposal that launched what is now AECOM Technology Corporation.
Under Newman’s leadership, AECOM became one of Forbes’ Top 500 Private Companies[1] in the world, with annual revenues of $6 billion. It was ranked 3rd overall in Engineering News Record’s Top 500 Design Firms.
2005, Newman retired from the post of CEO and has since assumed the company’s chairmanship.
Newman is member of American Society of Civil Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineers, Board of Directors of California Science Center, Board of Governors of Western Los Angeles County Council, and Chief Executives Organization. He also participated in numerous service-related activities. Newman contributed to the growth of California Science Center, Pepperdine University’s School of Business & Management. He volunteered in Boy Scouts Western Council Board and the YMCA of Los Angeles. In recognition of his contributions, Newman received the 2002 Southern California Leadership Network Leader of the Year Award, Bucknell’s Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Award, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, South California Construction Industries Lifetime Achievement Award, and Archdiocese of Los Angeles Ecumenical Leadership Award.