Partners: network

Michael S. Burke

Active 1990-2015

Firm Notes

AEOCM developed as a unit of the Ashland Oil & Refining Company of Lexington, Kentucky, founded in 1924. Following Ashland's purchase of the Los Angeles-based architectural firm, Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall (DMJM) in 1984, the oil company created its own construction unit, Ashland Technology, in 1985. Ashland Oil made the decision to focus on oil by the late 1980s, and allowed employees to buy out its stock in 1990. The new entity, AECOM, established its headquarters in Los Angeles, and began buying approximately 40 engineering, construction and architectural firms, most notably EDAW, Incorporated, and Ellerbe Becket. By 1991, Ellerbe Becket employed 1,100 workers and earned $114 million, making it one of the largest architectural firms in the US. EDAW, Incorporated, was known formerly as Eckbo, Dean, Austin and Williams, Incorporated, a major San Francisco-based landscape architecture firm. According to data compiled by McGraw-Hill Construction, AECOM had the highest architectural revenue of any firm in the US in 2011. It earned $666.40 million worth of business at this time. Gensler of San Francisco, CA, was second, with $656.86 million. One of AECOM's many large insitutional clients was the State of California; it noted on its web site in 2012: "California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB), Energy Efficiency and Infrastructure Upgrade AECOM is the provider of choice for the California State University (CSU) school system." (See "Where We Are: Americas,"accessed 02/07/2012.)

Tel: 213.593.8000 (2012)

PCAD id: 4787