During Demetriou’s seven-year tenure, he’s credited with adding more than $11 billion to the engineering firm’s market cap.
Steve Demetriou, the chief executive who moved engineering firm Jacobs’ corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Dallas in 2016, will step aside early next year and turn over day-to-day operations to his second-in-command.
Jacobs announced Thursday afternoon that Demetriou will become executive board chairman on Jan. 24, when president and chief operating officer Bob Pragada replaces him as CEO.
“It has been the highlight of my career to lead Jacobs over these past seven years and work with our outstanding people to transform Jacobs’ portfolio, advance our culture and position the company for even higher levels of growth and success,” Demetriou said in a prepared statement released after the market close. “With a strong foundation and clear trajectory in place, now is the right time to implement our succession plan.”
Pragada’s 16-year career at Jacobs has come in two stints. From 2006 to 2014, he held various management jobs. He left to become CEO of industrial services company Brock Group before returning in 2016 as president of Jacobs’ global industrial and buildings and infrastructure lines. In 2019, he became president and COO.
Demetriou said his successor has a “strong track record of execution.” Pragada, a Florida native with degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy and Stanford University, described his boss as “an incredible leader who inspires all around him and leaves a tremendous legacy at Jacobs.”
Demetriou will serve as executive chair for a minimum of two years, advising Pragada on strategic and capital deployment initiatives, according to the company.
During Demetriou’s seven-year tenure, Jacobs grew in part through acquisitions, including the 2017 deal to buy CH2M and the 2020 purchase of a majority stake in PA Consulting. Last year, it bought software provider BlackLynx Inc. to bolster its cyber and intelligence portfolio.
Those deals and several others added more than $11 billion to Jacobs’ market value, the company said.
“Steve set out to create ‘a company like no other’ and achieved it,” said Chris Thompson, the board’s lead independent director. “He was the architect of a visionary portfolio transformation that led to accelerated growth at Jacobs.”
Pragada will take over a company with $14 billion in annual revenue and more than 55,000 employees. It’s the 17th-largest public company headquartered in Dallas-Fort Worth and the biggest of three major engineering firms based here.
The scope of Jacobs’ work is as expansive as today’s most pressing issues and includes climate change, sustainability, nuclear power, potable water, advanced building design, environmental cleanup, life sciences, aerospace and cybersecurity. It’s also NASA’s largest service provider, with 6,000 employees performing such duties as engineering the next rocket headed to the moon and manning mission control systems in the launch room at Kennedy Space Center.
The company also credited Demetriou with diversifying its executive team and board of directors. Today, the leadership team is 67% diverse based on gender and ethnicity. The company’s board is now 50% diverse.
Original source: https://www-dallasnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.dallasnews.com/business/local-companies/2022/09/15/jacobs-ceo-steve-demetriou-to-step-aside-turn-over-reins-to-bob-pragada/?outputType=amp
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