McKim & Creed, established in Wilmington 36 years ago, has announced a major turning point. In a news release Tuesday, the engineering and planning firm stated that it will bring on a new president and CEO to succeed co-founder Michael W. Creed.
 
As of Nov. 1, new executive John T. Lucey Jr. will take the helm. Creed (at left) will continue as McKim & Creed’s chairman of the board, the news release said. Co-founder Herbert P. McKim Jr. (at right) will continue his full-time role, assisting with key clients, helping with the transition and remaining on the board, firm spokeswoman Marianne Boucher said Tuesday.  
 
“Herb and Mike have been the firm’s leaders since founding it in 1978,” Boucher added. “They both will remain involved.”
 
Lucey was previously the executive vice president of engineering and business development at Heckmann Water Resources (now Nuverra Environmental Solutions), an oil/gas water management company that is “dedicated to the protection, enhancement and advancement” of the environment through environmental compliance and sustainability, according to the company’s website.
 
He began his career in 1977 with Chester Engineers in Pittsburgh and took on roles of increasing responsibility as the firm grew and was acquired by larger companies. In 2005 he moved to HDR Engineering, leading growth in the company’s industrial water and wastewater practice group. He joined Heckmann Water Resources in 2011, according to the release.
 
Lucey has an undergraduate degree in water resources engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, the release stated.
 
“John Lucey was selected from several very qualified candidates because of his experience leading a similarly sized firm through a successful period of growth, because of his experience in synergistic markets that we can enter, and most importantly, because of his leadership ability, his business skills, and his cultural fit with McKim & Creed,” McKim said in the release.
 
McKim & Creed has grown significantly since its founding as a two-person structural engineering firm. Still based in Wilmington, it now maintains 19 offices throughout the South and employs about 350 people, 50 of whom work in the Wilmington office, Boucher said.
 
The firm specializes in water, wastewater and storm water projects as well as civil/environmental engineering, facilities engineering, airborne and mobile LiDAR, subsurface utility engineering, and hydrographic and conventional su­rveying services for the water, energy, transportation, land development, building and federal government markets, according to the release.