Burns & McDonnell is an engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 design

Design

Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...

 firm headquartered in Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

.

Burns & McDonnell is one of the leading design firms in the United States. The company provides engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting services for the aviation, defense, environmental and utilities markets. The group ranks among the top 10 designers for the power industry market, and nearly 40 percent of its revenues are earned from projects for that market. In 2005 the company created a new business unit to offer architectural, engineering and construction management

Construction management

Construction Project Management is the overall planning, coordination and control of a project from inception to completion aimed at meeting a client’s requirements in order to produce a functionally and financially viable project that will be complete mingement is project management that applies...

 services to the health care

Health care

Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

 industry.

Burns & McDonnell is a 100 percent employee-owned company with more than 3,000 employees.

Board of directors

On January 1, 2009 the board of directors expanded from five to seven.
With the retirement of Joel Cerwick (immediate past Chairman of the Board) and the additions of Ray Kowalik, John Nobles, and David Yeamans the board consists of:

• Greg Graves - President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board
• Don Greenwood - President, Construction Group
• Ray Kowalik - President, Energy Group
• John Nobles - President, Process and Industrial Group
• Mark Taylor - Vice President, Treasurer and CFO
• Walt Womack - President, Transmission and Distribution Group
• David Yeamans - President, Aviation and Facilities Group

Global Practices

Global practices are the internal business divisions of Burns & McDonnell.

• Aviation & Facilities
• Business & Technology Services
• Construction/Design-Build
• Energy
• Environmental
• Environmental Studies & Permitting
• Healthcare & Research Facilities
• Infrastructure
• Process & Industrial
• Transmission & Distribution

History

Burns & McDonnell, Consulting Engineers, was founded in 1898 by Clinton S. Burns and Robert E. McDonnell, two Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 engineering graduates. They based their new engineering consulting firm in downtown Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

. They specialized in providing clean water, reliable power and effective sewer systems to growing municipalities throughout the growing Midwest. The firm's first major project was a combined water and light plant for the city of Iola, Kan.

Burns died at age 53 in 1924, having designed more than water systems and patented railroad and sewer equipment. In 1930, the firm name was changed to Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. McDonnell died in 1960 at age 82.

In 1942, the company began its first aviation industry project, the Smoky Hill Army Airfield, the Salina, Kan., home of the B-29 bomber. In 1971, Burns & McDonnell was bought by Armco Steel. Burns & McDonnell acquired the C.W. Nofsinger Co. in 1983, establishing what would become the Process & Industrial division.

In 1985, employees purchased the firm. It has operated as an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) ever since.

Leadership

• 1898-1924: Clinton S. Burns, co-founder
• 1898-1951: Robert E. McDonnell, president and co-founder
• 1951-1974: R.H. McDonnell, president
• 1974-1982: Raymond B. Luhnow Jr., president
• 1982-1984: Newton A. Campbell, president
• 1986-1993: Newton A. Campbell, chairman of the board
• 1984-2003: Dave G. Ruf Jr., president
• 1993-2003: Dave G. Ruf Jr., president, chairman and CEO
• 2003–present: Greg Graves, president and CEO

Locations

Kansas City World Headquarters

• 1898: Startup in the New England Life building
• 1908: Moved to the prestigious Scarritt Building
• 1915: Interstate Building at 13th and Locust
• 1933: Carmen Building on Linwood Boulevard
• 1947: 95th and Troost
• 1959: 63rd Street and Elmwood, east of Swope Park
  Swope Park
  Swope Park is an 1805-acre city park within the city of Kansas City, Missouri. It is the 29th-largest municipal park in the United States , and the largest park in Kansas City. It is named in honor of Colonel Thomas H. Swope, a philanthropist who donated the land to the city in 1896...
  
  
• 1996: Current world headquarters building at 9400 Ward Parkway
• 2005: Expanded into building I-435 and Holmes Road
• 2007: Expanded into building at 9201 State Line Road

Branch Offices

• Atlanta
• Chattanooga, Tenn.
• Chicago
• Dallas-Fort Worth
• Denver
• Houston
• Miami
• Minneapolis-St. Paul
• New York Metropolitan Area
• O'Fallon, Ill.
• Phoenix
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• St. Louis
• Wallingford, Conn.
• Washington, D.C.
• Wichita, Kan.