David Baer recently joined El Paso-headquartered C.F. Jordan LP as vice president of the company's San Antonio commercial division, covering Austin, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley markets.

Baer's responsibilities will include managing all business development, construction activity, estimating, safety, quality control and scheduling. He has more than 30 years of experience in the construction industry, including project administration, field coordination, scheduling and coordinating with owners/architects, and project staffing.

Baer has a civil engineering degree from the University of Pittsburgh. His areas of expertise include healthcare, education, ecclesiastical, high-rise, hospitality, industrial, retail and entertainment facilities.

Pasquale "Pat" A. Di Filippo was recently promoted to senior vice president and general manager for the Texas operations of New York-based Turner Construction Co.

Di Filippo began his career at Turner in 1984 as a field engineer and assistant superintendent. Since 1999, he has been vice president and general manager of the company's New Jersey office.

He is a civil engineering graduate of Rutgers University.

Brian Nance was recently promoted to project director at Corpus Christi-based precast concrete firm Heldenfels Enterprises Inc. In his new position, Nance will be responsible for customer service and ensuring that all manufacturing is tied to customer requirements and their project schedules.

In addition to retaining project management responsibility for Central Texas projects, Nance will assume lead responsibility for the company's project planning, master scheduling and production and materials planning, scheduling and reporting. He will also be responsible for training and supervising new project managers.

Nance has seven years of experience with Heldenfels as a project manager and has been responsible for managing major projects such as SBC Center in San Antonio, the North End Zone Expansion project at Kyle Field at Texas A&M University and the recently completed new four-story parking garage at Southwest Texas State University.

Richard A. Keeler, AIA, recently became a principal in the San Antonio-based architectural firm of Rehler Vaughn & Koone Inc.

Keeler joined RVK in 2002 and has over 30 years of experience with a primary focus on planning and design of healthcare facilities.

He has an environmental design degree from the University of Kansas and a master's degree in urban planning from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Rod Smith was recently named vice president of corporate development at Houston-based Pate Engineers Inc. He has 30 years of transportation experience and has provided professional service in planning, design and construction management of transportation projects.

Smith previously played key roles in the creation and setup of Houston's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and served a director of capital development for VIA Metropolitan Transit in San Antonio.

Bruce Bayless, Lawrence J. "Larry" Zatopek,Jim Freeman, Walter O. Crook and Lonny G. Traweek recently retired from the Texas Department of Transportation. The five men combined for nearly 175 years of service to the state highway department.

Bayless retired as Yoakum District Engineer, completing a 35-year TxDOT career. He began his career in 1965 as a summer-hire in the Yoakum District's La Grange office and has been district engineer since 1998.

Zatopek retired as director of the General Services Division after nearly 35 years with the department. He began as a summer employee in 1966 with the San Antonio District and has been General Services Director since 1993.

Freeman retired as Paris District Engineer after nearly 36 years with TxDOT. He began his career as a summer-hire in the Brownwood District has been district engineer since 1999.

Crook retired as Beaumont District engineer after nearly 35 years of department service. He began his TxDOT career in 1968 and was named district engineer in 1993.

Traweek retired as Bryan District engineer after nearly 33 years with the department. He began in 1970 as an engineering assistant in the Dallas District office, and was named Bryan District engineer in 1992.

Bayless, Zatopek and Freeman are graduates of Texas A&M University. Crook is a graduate of Prairie View A&M University and Traweek graduated from the University of Texas at Austin.

Robert J. McCluskey was recently promoted to senior vice president and president of the Flat Rolled Group of Houston-based Metals USA Inc.

McCluskey was most recently senior vice president of finance for the company's Flat Rolled Group and has served in various financial and management positions since Metals USA was founded in 1997.

Robin J. Beckwith recently joined Houston-based Interface Consulting International Inc. as senior consultant and editor.

Beckwith will manage the quality control, communications and continuous improvement programs for the company. A published writer with over 20 years' experience, she previously served as a copy editor for a major publishing house and instructor for an MBA business communications course.

She holds an English degree from York University in Toronto, Ont., and a master's of business administration degree from Houston Baptist University.

Interface Consulting International is a service provider of construction management, litigation consulting, management consulting and construction claims.