The Boston Planning & Development Agency board elected Priscilla Rojas as chair. She is the first woman and Latina to hold the position. Rojas has served as interim chair since December. The board also voted to elect Michael Monahan as vice chair. He is a district vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Jane Chmielinski has joined the board of directors of STV. The former chief operating officer and president of the Americas unit at AECOM, she  also is a director for Smart City Works, a technology nonprofit in engineering and construction, and for Pittsfield, Maine, contractor Cianbro. Richard M. Amodei has been elevated to executive vice president of STV’s transportation and infrastructure division. He succeeds Martin F. “Marty” Boyle, who is retiring.  Amodei joined the firm in 1999. STV also promoted Alexander Napoli and Denise Pied to vice president in New York and Newton, Mass., respectively. Previously a senior associate and senior project manager, Napoli is leading STV’s work on New York City Transit flood mitigation and resilience. Pied, also a former senior associate, is a project executive specializing in large-scale tenant improvement projects.

David Fish has joined AECOM as senior transportation manager in Providence. Fish previously headed the Rhode Island Dept. of Transportation’s capital program as administrator of project management.
 

BRAVO, a Cooperative Co., hired Elan Abneri as president of Velocity Architecture & Engineering Group. He previously was a senior director at the New York City School Construction Authority, responsible for leading its project and design managers.
 

Arden Building Cos. hired Paul Battaglia as president of Corporate Mechanical of New England, an Arden Building Co. Based in Woburn, Mass., Battaglia previously worked as a vice president for Boston-area mechanical contractor J.C. Cannistraro LLC.

Burlington, Mass.-based Erland Construction hired Jay Sturdivant as project executive in the firm’s advanced technology/life sciences group. He will manage Erland’s specialty lab, clean room and complex mechanical, electrical and plumping system projects. Sturdivant previously worked for William A. Berry & Sons.

David Hecht has joined APTIM as director of sales, Northeast region, which includes New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Based in New York City, he previously served as a project control specialist for WSP.

Kristen Gowin is elevated to  executive manager of the National Electrical Contractors Association Boston chapter. Previously assistant manager, she succeeds Glenn Kingsbury, who retired but serves the association as an adviser. Gowin formerly was the director of government affairs for the National Electrical Contractors Association in Washington, D.C.

French & Parrello Associates, Wall Township, N.J., has promoted Mathew S. Gizzi to chief financial officer and board treasurer. He had been a senior vice president and serves as technical organization leader of the firm’s geotechnical, environmental, construction engineering and materials testing groups.

Obituary

Jaquelin “Jaque” Taylor Robertson, co-founder of New York City architecture firm Cooper Robertson, died May 9 at age 87. Robertson “mentored and instilled certain values in dozens of young architects over his career” and that had been “his greatest legacy,” the firm said in announcing his death.