Bilfinger hires Ed Emmett as advisory director

Global engineering and industrial services company Bilfinger has hired Ed Emmett as a consultant for its North America division, which is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas. Emmett’s will act as advisory director, as well as a member of Bilfinger North America’s advisory board.

Bilfinger North America provides various construction services, including ground-up design and renovation, in the United States. In his new role, Emmett will focus on disaster preparation, response, and recovery projects, according to an article in the Houston Chronicle.

“Since the creation of Bilfinger North America, it has been our aspiration to organize our legal entities to support the federal, state, county, and municipal governments as needed in response to disasters and crises,” Terrance Ivers, executive president of Bilfinger North America, said in the article. “To this end, it is imperative that we have the demonstrated expertise within our team to meet this challenge. Ed has the experience and knowledge and has had the responsibility in this regard in one of the most important counties in the United States.”

Emmett is the former county judge of Harris County, Texas, the most populous county in the state. He served in that role from 2007 to 2019, simultaneously acting as director of Harris County’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1979 to 1987, as well as commissioner at the Interstate Commerce Commission, from 1989 to 1992.

Emmett holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rice University, where he is a professor, and a master’s in public affairs from the University of Texas at Austin. He is the receipt a “Call to Service” award from President George W. Bush in 2008, and was presented with the Transportation Club International’s “Transportation Person of the Year” in 2005.

“I have been deeply involved with emergency management and community resilience for over a decade,” Emmett told the Chronicle. “Becoming an advisory board member for Bilfinger provides the perfect opportunity to pair my experience with a highly regarded professional operation in order to develop and implement plans to keep communities safe and to help them recover from disasters.”