KANSAS CITY, MO — Burns & McDonnell has promoted four Employee-Owners to Vice President in the Kansas City, Missouri, office. These individuals contributed to another record year of growth for the 100 percent employee-owned engineering, construction and architecture firm.

"Our new Officers have been critical to leading our success and growth," said Ray Kowalik, Chairman and CEO of Burns & McDonnell. "They are game changers within our company and the industries we serve, exemplifying the values of our employee-owned firm.”

Mike DeBacker serves as General Manager of the Transportation Group at Burns & McDonnell. An industry veteran with nearly 30 years of experience, DeBacker leads the charge in facilitating market development and delivering transportation infrastructure nationwide. He has managed and participated in capital transportation studies and projects across the nation, including multi-state planning projects, bridge and highway projects and asset management planning and implementation.

Kelly Jeffcote serves as Director of Procurement for Burns & McDonnell. Since assuming her current role in 2016, Jeffcote has managed supplier relations and developed purchasing strategies, policies and programs for the firm. She currently oversees expenditures throughout the enterprise, leading more than 100 professionals who provide sourcing, contract negotiation, purchasing, expediting, supplier quality, transportation and business diversity services. Prior to serving as Director of Procurement in Kansas City, Jeffcote led procurement efforts for Burns & McDonnell in Houston for eight years.

Chris Norquist serves Burns & McDonnell as Director of Engineering for the firm’s T&D Group. In this role, Norquist oversees more than 600 design professionals providing substation, transmission and communication solutions for electrical utilities across the U.S. Under his leadership, the team has grown by more than 10 percent annually. In his previous role, Norquist served as Director of Transmission Projects, where he led a revenue growth of more than 50 percent in four years.

Scott Strawn serves Burns & McDonnell as the U.S. Sales and Marketing Director for the Energy Group. Since joining the firm as a Mechanical Engineer in 2006, Strawn served as an Account Manager for more than 10 years before being promoted to his current role in 2018. Strawn’s ability to develop solutions to meet the demands of the energy market has been essential to his group’s growth and continued success. His industry insight helps major utilities develop future capital projects, new generation and renewable initiatives and capital investment strategies.